Thread: Honing my blade

Ok, I have seen few vids about honing and it seems to be an easy process? so, why ppl would rather pay for someone else to hone their blades for them vs hone it themselves ! am I missing something? I mean, I'm seriously planning on buying Norton stone 4k/8k (is it enough to have a close shave) and start hone my own razor, any thoughts?

Give it a try. What can go wrong...


Okay seriously. It is not as hard or as easy as it looks. Find a mentor near you and have them go over what you are doing.

There is a reason why A LOT of people pay to hey them honed. My best advice is to get one PRO honed and then have another one that you honed to compare it to.

Good luck brother!

is there is anyone around fort knox ky?

The reason it looks so easy is that you're watching pros do it. In fact, the basics are simple...rub the blade over the hone in one direction, then the other and repeat.

However, unlike knives, razors have fairly delicate edges, and it is critical that the edge be maintained in a certain geometry to achieve a sharp and lasting edge. To do that requires considerable care and consistency of technique. Any deviation will create some anomaly that you will feel on your face or see in the longevity of the edge.

I'd suggest that if you haven't you watch this video, in which gssixgun walks a novice forum member through the learning process. I've only honed to refresh, but I watch it and Lynn's video on refreshing a razor before I go to my stone each time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxrs5kFkmJg

Having said all that, it's not brain surgery; however, it is altering a $100-500 "tool" which touches your face.

For me it comes down to cost. Lynn Abrams will do honing for $20 (and one free honing with purchase), meaning I can pay for around 10 honings for the same price as buying the equipment myself. Considering that you should only need to hone every 3 months or so, that's a year of honing on 2 razors for the same price and picking up the gear.

Originally Posted by Sergeant

Ok, I have seen few vids about honing and it seems to be an easy process? so, why ppl would rather pay for someone else to hone their blades for them vs hone it themselves ! am I missing something? I mean, I'm seriously planning on buying Norton stone 4k/8k (is it enough to have a close shave) and start hone my own razor, any thoughts?

for me it's not to save money. for what I've spent on straight razors honing and hones I could have bought enough throw away razors to last me 2 life times. for me it's what I like what I enjoy and of course the company I keep. for the most part I believe i'm in the company of GOOD PEOPLE. It's like a line of ants and every now and then one will go a different way. well that's us. the world follows suit with the throw away blades and we just want follow blindly we do our own thing. we're the hippies of the sixties well maybe not but we are different and for one i'm glad and proud of it. My wife says i'm an old fart and now and then get on my soap box and ramble on. I guess she's right. i'll get off now

As long as you are stating with a razor that has no geometry issues you will learn the ropes. How fast that goes is entirely left to your brain wiring. If you are good with your hands it stands to reason that you should b able to pick it up fairly quickly. There are two schools of thought. One is get the standard Norton set of 1K to 8K and learn on those until you can get a nice shaving edge consistently then get a finisher. The other school of thought is to get a finisher and learn to refresh an edge and then tackle the bevel set and up. The best plan of all is the one already mentioned and find a mentor.

Originally Posted by MajorEthanolic

For me it comes down to cost. Lynn Abrams will do honing for $20 (and one free honing with purchase), meaning I can pay for around 10 honings for the same price as buying the equipment myself. Considering that you should only need to hone every 3 months or so, that's a year of honing on 2 razors for the same price and picking up the gear.

Yea, there is the economics involed in the to hone or not to hone your own blades decision. The big thing to remember is that it will be a long long time before you get from a beginner level to a level approaching what Lynn Abrams can give you.

Bob

Originally Posted by Sergeant

Ok, I have seen few vids about honing and it seems to be an easy process? so, why ppl would rather pay for someone else to hone their blades for them vs hone it themselves ! am I missing something? I mean, I'm seriously planning on buying Norton stone 4k/8k (is it enough to have a close shave) and start hone my own razor, any thoughts?

If the blade has perfect Geometry.Honing is not that difficult (easy process?? not really) you can screw things up in a heartbeat.
I have my blades pro honed,Why?Because I want the best possible edge a few bux can buy.
You can keep a blade going for years just with a barbers Hone and some crox (once you learn how to use them)
I applaud you wanting to hone,go for it,But I can gaurantee you will not find it to be an easy process,Is alot more to it than just watching some Vids.

Another aspect is, obviously we are here for the hobby we appreciate the process while other ppl might see us a bunch of crazy/Un practical folks. So I think honing my own blade will add to the experience. What the worse could happen. .. ruin the blade, I'll send it then to a pro to fix and sell my stone here or ebay.