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Thread: Is honing really rocket science?

  1. #21
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    No not rocket science at all. I think for someone new it can be confusing. There are so many threads, videos and blogs that involve sharpening(bevel setting), honing (refining an edge) and restoration, they all kind of get lumped together under honing in a beginners mind. If you have a shave ready razor with good geometry you will only need to hone it occasionally on very high grit stones. This is fairly straight forward and picked up pretty easily. In some ways it is easier to learn and gain the muscle memory for than good stropping habits.

    When you get into bevel setting and restoration on razors that may have geometry issues, rust, hone wear, chipping etc. That is where greater experience and craft come into play, especially in evaluating how to best solve those issues

  2. #22
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    It has already been said but a lot of it does go back to upbringing. A lot of quality and skills have been lost down the years to convenience. Even my dad who is almost 70 didn't learn to hone or sharpen. My grandfather who is over 90 had whetstones but said he wasn't very good at using them. If your knife lost its edge you went to the hardware store. Neither of them did a lot of straight razor shaving. In WWII they were issued DE razors. Let's be real about it for the most part Late Gen X to Millennials are the first generation to do a lot of looking back to less efficient equipment and methods for things in order to get back some of the quality lost over years of sacrifice. Think about how crazy we sound to the average older men. We are willing to pay 50 to 100 bucks for a razor that has to be constantly maintained and occasionally sharpened, has a 6 month learning curve in practicality, and requires a longer more complex prep and ritual to do. Our reasons vary from it is a better shave, the blades when maintained last longer and in the long run cost less, to it is just something different that is an enjoyable process. Why hone or learn to maintain a blade when you can buy new ones for a dollar that will get the job done. It goes dull oh well pop in another. Scissors, kitchen knives, pocket knives, these all used to be maintained and treated with respect, but now eh it cost me 20 bucks and I got a couple of years of use out of it, toss it and get a new set.

    When I was a kid all these knife sharpening tools were the rage. Why bother with those old hard to use stones just stick the blade in this slot and pull through. Maybe they bought a couple of extra years on some scissors but they weren't the same.

    Really none of this is rocket science, straight razor shaving was figured out by people that had never used a computer, people could cook over a camp fire before matches were invented, Rather impressive blades were made by Neanderthals. Its just that we have lost a lot of those skills because the perception is they aren't needed anymore.

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