I'd be broke if I was paying someone else to hone my straights. I think if you're a dedicated straight shaver, you should be able to at least touch up an edge.
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I'd be broke if I was paying someone else to hone my straights. I think if you're a dedicated straight shaver, you should be able to at least touch up an edge.
Very well put.
To me, being able to maintain my own razors is one of many aspects that makes this a very enjoyable hobby.
It takes a while to be good at that, but as you said, reading up on all the great info on here sure helps a lot.
And, honing is just plain ol' fun:)
I use a King 1000/6000 combination stone and a Pike Wireless barber hone to finish with. I don't think 4-5 stones is an absolute necessity...i am new to honing and straights in general, but using those stones (+ a 180/320 stone i borrowed) i managed to bread-knife a razor with a wavy edge and hone it back to a shave ready state. The razor passes the HHT and shaves very close and comfortable. I find that the most dramatic change in sharpness is through stropping. If i want to polish the edge, i will look at pasting some CrOx on the back of my strop.
I started honing my own about six months ago. I had some mishaps but with practice I do pretty good of I do say so myself
I hone my own but try to keep at least a one or two professionally honed razors on hand at all times just to be reminded of where the bar is set. There are tons of options and ways to spend lots of money, but try to be rational. Like Glen, you only need one or two razors, a stone and a strop. Pick a system and stick with it at least a year before buying or trying another. Just my two cents. I wish I had followed my own advice sooner :) Any more I only use the King 1k or DMT for bevel setting, then the whole nagura progression on an Asagi. I've had unbelievably good and bad results, but time will hopefully improve my batting average.
I have never had a razor pass the HHT with one of my head hairs... I have a full head of hair, but the stuff is like silk. I also have very few body hairs, but if I pass a razor near my Goatee they do pop off, but I can tell if my razors are ready with a wet thumb pass. What beard I have is a 'once a week' thing - twice at most. Must be the Native American in me.
I'm 55 so nowadays I never spill milk on my face so the cat can lick it off.... 'cause I enjoy that SR shave and wouldn't want him to ruin it for me.
:D
Three and half months into srt8 shavin. Had to get norton stone set and 7 "rough" razors from antique store to try to sharpen so i could send the DOVO back for the free honing. Didn't want to be without a razor. Well DOVO never went.....and now have 9 shaving str8's soon to be 10. After having to shave in shower with disposable sensitive Bic's for years, I've found BLISS! Practice,practice,practice.
I have all these stones but have settled in with Naniwa 5k, 8k & 12k. Will use my Suehiro 20k as well. Started using my Mastro Livi loom strop and find I no longer need my stones unless I buy a razor and have set the bevel or do some major blade work. Once the bevel is set, I may use the 12k but mostly stay with the loom strop.
:tu It's a good thing Halloween is around the corner katman this is a fairly old bone you dug up, that's OK though I'll chime in and say, I think it's a little easier than most people would think, now I do have some honing experience but with butcher knives not SRs, I have a lesser expensive 3k/8k I use on my Boker along with balsa wood with crox for the finish, a brand spanking new Shapton 12k is being delivered tomorrow along with a 30/60 loupe.
I'm like a little kid just waiting to play with me new toy:w
Ahhhhhhhhh.
It was delivered today and I didn't go to the post office !!!!!
A new Carhartt hoodie to boot.
:gaah::banghead::cry:
To me now i maintain my straight whit a little hone, chromox balsa strop fire hose strop and a few Leather strops. I'm still in The beginer level but so far i refresh 6 of them and They all came in shave ready, i guess The trick is to maintain them as soon They Start to pull or drag.
Yea I personally found 4-5 laps onece a week on the balsa CrOx along with normal pre shave stropping does the trick for me and my overly tough whiskers.
I think the large jump from the 8k stone to the CrOx is a bit much, I'm hoping the new 12k stone will smooth out the striations then finish with the CrOx balsa, for a bit smoother of a shave. Not that it's uncomfortable but I think I could get it smoother.
Happy honing and shaving ✌
I use the Norton 4/8 to get the basics. Thereafter my Chinese 12 or the Shoubundani Asia that I purchased from Jim Rion several years ago. The Chinese 12 and the Shoubu are my maintenance go stones.
I've practiced on some banged up eBay razors and listening to Glenn, Lynn, Stephan and Bob has been of immeasurable help. It does take practice but the results are well worth the efforts
So thanks guys for your patience and encouragement.
I just got these this week. Honed one and feels great.
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...868da09e75.jpg
Stropping well (learned from this forum) allows me to hone to my Hart's content every four or five months. The money saved over disposable razors more than makes up for the cost of top notch hones, with the incredible bonus of luxurious, relaxing, deeply satisfying shaves instead of perfunctory scrape-and-go ordeals with a multibladed plastic and metal piece of landfill garbage momentarily posing as a razor to line the pockets of the lavatory-industrial complex...
Deep breath. Relax. Strop. Shave........ That's better.
Toy report.
I just got done playing with my new toys, a 30\60x loupe and the Shapton 12k. I'll start with the loupe, at 30x magnification I was able to see the bevel easily, along with the striations I could see a spot about a half inch long that looked slightly different but I couldn't see real details I switched to the 60x and the details really popped out. What I found, my bevel was not set the entire length of the blade, that ˝” spot, the bevel was not a uniform width, there was a small what I would call micro chip on the cutting edge approximately ⅛ the the width of the bevel.
The good news is all of the striations were very uniform in spacing and alignment. I have come to the conclusion that my lapping stroke is to blame, the toe of the blade had lifted slightly from my stone on several laps, From a prior honing session. For correction I went to a 3k stone and used both hands to on the razor to reset the bevel, this only took 10 or 15 laps I didn't count, then back to the loupe for a close inspection, nice the bevel was set, on to the 8k and more inspections paying careful attention to the lapping strokes as to not lift the blade.
Now for the new Shapton 12k, with no more than 10 light laps the bevel was so mirrored I had a hard time finding the right angle for viewing through the loupe, with out the perfect angle the light reflection was blinding, how cool is that? 5 laps on the balsa with CrOx and I'm good to go. The conclusion, even an inexpensive loupe is worth It's weight in gold, even a very minor mistake in honing stroke can cause unseen problems and Shapton makes a damb fine product.
Woohoo hold on, I know what yer thinking, “how's this noob come up with a conclusion and no shave test?”
Well he did a shave test, the first pass wtg left him with the smoothest first pass to date.:y
I have started honing my own after the initial cost and learning curve its worth it. I found a local barber that has a bunch of blades a decorations and display. I talked him into letting hone them since they are just wall hangers anyways
I hone my own, I have more hones than I need, I do use most of em,
Like Jimmy says, I also enjoy it.
A skill that's worth acquiring.
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I usually recommend learning to touch up a razor, then learn to work down the stones versus learning to take a razor from start to finish. The "voodo" is in the bevel set, this is the most important part of honing a razor. If you are just touching up a razor, you will start to get a feel of honing & as your feel improves, so will your comfort level. You will also know what a shave ready razor is versus "thinking" you have done a good job, but you are just scraping whiskers off.
I hone my own.
I need to touch up most of my razors after 5 or 6 shaves.
Learned to hone my own out of necessity.
Bob
I got tired of my razors spending time in the mail instead of in my rotation, and started to hone myself. I am still practicing and need help with wedges, but am getting pretty good.
Who found this dusty old thread....lol...yah...I hone my own....it's too expensive to pay twice for shipping and 20.00 bucks ( last time I checked) for a sharpening.
Honing can be "relaxing" to do.. :tu
OR
Honing can be your "GREATEST FRUSTRATION" :td
:roflmao
How about both. Two sides of the same coin. Great when it produces a shave-able edge and frustrating when you end up going back to the stones several times. Although, the many trips often proves to be an education on how to handle imperfect blades. Failure is one of the best teachers around.
SO TRUE!
I must have my PhD in honing then.... :rofl2:
Seriously though.... Failure is sometimes a good thing.
If you do any type of restore work for yourself you will NOT get a perfect "easy" blade to hone 100% of the time.
Glen calls it honing gymnastics....sometimes I find it necessary to leave one alone for a period of time because its frustrating me or i just am not skilled enough to hone it at the present time.
I WILL get it sooner or later though. :rock:
I turn the big Six-O next week. When I started shaving and honing my razors years ago my techniques were quite different. Back then it didn't take much of an edge to mow off those soft "kid" whiskers. Now days those gray ones are like cutting barb wire and I hone more often. Nose hair is a big problem with us old farts too. Sometimes I wish I could get inside my nostrils with a straight so I can breathe again. It would be a lot less painful than pulling them out with a pliers.
I never thought of braiding it but I think I've pulled enough out in the past 10 years I could have made a nice carpet for my shave den out of it.:rofl2:
I hone all of my own straight razors. That's just part of the experience and responsibility of owning a straight razor. My personal opinion is that if you can't hone your own razors, you shouldn't own them. There will come a day when I won't be able to hone my own razors and when that day comes, I'll get rid of my straight razors. It's the natural order of things.
I don't hone my own, so your telling ME I shouldn't own them? That's pretty ballsy for a guy who doesn't know me. Tc
Plus I find it inflamatory and insulting.
That would be like me saying something about marines, orSan Antonio Texas. But I wouldn't cause how you did things or live ant my affair.
I'm learning to hone does that count?
Calm down, Tom
Tom??