Thread: Time to start honing?

I have been in the straight shaving game for a few months now and am never looking back. I think my first few weeks of learning to strop have taken its tole on my edge and I probably need to touch things up. At this point I don't think I want to get into full restoration work just touch up between professional honing. It looks like the Naniwa 12k is a popular choice for this. What do I need to get started? Dose honing/touching up have a steep learning curve? I still have my free honing coupon from SRD so I plan on using that after I screw up my razor trying to learn to hone.

First and foremost, I’m glad to hear that you are enjoying the journey down the path to a better world of shaving.

My counsel would be to use the coupon and wait to get into honing. I waited for about a year and a half before I took the plunge. I’m very glad that I did!

As a former meat cutter I’ll tell you straight up that honing is an art all in its own! I had to re-learn muscle memory and I had to learn entirely new techniques! To answer your question; yes honing has its own huge set of learning curves!

Don’t get me wrong, I think that everyone should learn to hone, it’s just that when you are starting out, there are so many variables to learn to do correctly that by attempting learning to hone just adds too much to the mess.

You said that you felt that your stropping led to the demise of the edge. This is one example of what I mean. Keep working on your stropping, it should help not hinder an edge!

Hang in there and be patient! There will come a time and with time you will be putting excellent edges on your own blades!

IMHO if you can shave with a straight razor then you can hone.

If you have only one razor though you might want to consider buying a professionally honed second razor first. This way you have a point of reference for your current razor and you will not risk getting stuck without a straight you can shave with. To get started with the Naniwa you will need to have a means for lapping it. To simplify things you can start with lapping with wet/dry sandpaper over a flat surface (countertop, mirror, etc.). For a touch up full Monty I would get a DMT 325 continuous hone for lapping. Be sure to watch and re-watch the videos on both honing and lapping. To gain confidence in your strokes (circles and/or X strokes) you can always practice with a butter knife or something similar.

It is a very rewarding thing to restore an edge yourself!

now you have learned to shave and strop correctly i would send it back to Lynn for a professional touch-up now. then down the line when it needs refreshing again you now it will be a trouble free edge that will just need a quick few laps on the nani 12k.

I think you don't have to wait a year to start with touchups myself. What I second is a second razor. One always professionally hone, that you use to compare your touchups or honing with, and the other to use and touchup as needed.

If you get a Naniwa 12k or any of the other synthetic finishers out there, I would also recommend CrOx .5 or CBN .5 spray to paste a medium with it, like hard wool felt, linen, nylon web (old seat belt material), leather or balsa (last choice). They say that paste can cover a multitude of sin, and it is true. It can be a crotch if you never learn to get the most out of each stone. What I do is, I shave after the finishing stone, and depending how off I think I am, I would go back to the stones or continue with the paste for the next shave, if I need it at all (most natural finishers I have, don't need paste after). It has worked for me so far. Good luck and enjoy the other part of this hobby (honing)! Double O

I do have a second straight for reference\backup and I don't see my collection stopping at two. So at this point I am looking at getting a third blade or my first stone. I saw the suggestion of the DMT lapping stone or wet/dry sandpaper. Is that a better option than the Naniwa lapping stone?

Originally Posted by nickrich1418

Is that a better option than the Naniwa lapping stone?

I would suggest that it is seeing that you have to flatten the lapping stone as well - from what I have heard, anyway.

Originally Posted by nickrich1418

I do have a second straight for reference\backup and I don't see my collection stopping at two. So at this point I am looking at getting a third blade or my first stone. I saw the suggestion of the DMT lapping stone or wet/dry sandpaper. Is that a better option than the Naniwa lapping stone?

As I’ve posted many, many times;

You will find that 99.9% of everything that is involved with straight razors is ‘PERSONEL PREFERENCE’!!

Honing has its own Huge Learning Curve and Personal Preference!!!

It starts with stone selection!

Natural or Synthetic

What to use to flatten the stone

Tape or no tape.

Slurry or just clear water

Circles, X-Strokes or Pyramids!

How many repetitions!

After honing, how to strop!

Etc, etc, etc, etc!!

My counsel is to stick to Mastering the Lathering, Stropping and Shaving before attempting to hone.

Even For A Touch Up!

Once you master those, I hope you will enjoy honing as much as I do as I find it very relaxing and rewarding!

Originally Posted by nickrich1418

Is that a better option than the Naniwa lapping stone?

Yes, and better than the DMT 325, Atoma 1200 for finishers and Atoma 400 or 600 for 8k and less. You would still need to smooth the Naniwa after the DMT 325 with some 1200 or 1500 sand paper, unless your DMT 325 is well worn.

I used a Shapton glass 16k and at the beginning I used a well worn DMT 325. That worked, but then I got an Atoma 1200 and used it with the shapton 16k and the results where better, and even better than the Atoma 1200 to smooth the Shapton glass, is a Turingian natural stone, with slury. True that my honing has gotten more refine with more honing practice, but I know that the smoother the finisher, the better the edge. Double O

I think if you have been shaving for months without a problem then a touch up is within your powers.

I like your idea of trying a touch up first, then using the coupon if you need it.

If you get a 12k, then the dmt will work great to keep it flat and clean. A hone base secured to a flat surface will keep the dmt and the hone from getting stuck while lapping.

Michael