Is honing really that difficult?

I am at the stage where I want to do no harm, any major recommendations for stropping for someone that’s never done it before?


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Go slow
Pay attention
Light touch
Don't slap the blade on the leather
Practice with a butter knife
Go slow
Pay attention
Light touch

 

Add in that it is all about keeping the spine, moving evenly and equally back and forth on the strop
Pay attention to the spine the edge will follow along just fine
I always recommend putting a hanging strop along the edge of a table or a counter until you figure out the flip

Here is one little thing we notice at the meets..

The razor is actually held by the thumb and forefinger pads along the EDGES (corners) of the tang NOT the flats,,, same as honing

 

Definitely wasn’t holding it right. Thanks for that correction. Think I’ll start putting the strop on the table edge as well. Both should get me on a better track. Thanks!


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Get some cheap razors and give it a go.

I started on a coticule. on water or light slurry it allows the light touch ups on your good razors, and on thicker slurry it is a pretty good bevelsetter that even allows geometric adaptations on the cheap razors.
You will kill a strop and a few razors in the proces.

And there are many different ways to get a razors sharp,...

 

For me the laying the strop flat was the single best piece of advice I was given on learning the proper movement for preventing damage. But even after a year I still nick the strop from time to time. Still need more practice before I buy a nicer strop.

 

A loom strop helped me a lot to find the movement.
And a nick is always a risk. A quick extra dropping inbetween with wet hands, loose scales, the kids running into the bathroom,...

 

I found that having the (hanging) strop perpendicular to the floor helped immensely for me while learning to strop.The height about the lower rib cage. This helps with keeping the proper tension on the strop, having a nice "flat" surface, and will also aid in keeping you from nicking/cutting the strop. It's also easier to see what you're doing. I see many holding the strop angled about waste level to chest high or anything in between and it works for them, but I still keep mine perpendicular to the floor.

 

Different strokes (yes, pun intended ). My strop hangs waist high and I pull it horizontal to strop.

 

I hold mine horizontal at the height of the doorknob. I used to have it higher on a hook in the door but these hollow core doors do not want to let a hook stay in. Had to patch and paint. But found the doorknob is at the perfect level for me.

 

My short dovo and herold strop are used on the doorknop, my vintage japanese strop hangs on a hook shoulderhight.

It both works, but stopping up and down is a workout compared to horizontal stopping.

 

Learning to hone is not difficult. When I started SR shaving I purchased one new shave ready SR. I did this so I would know what a good edge looked like and felt like when I shaved. And I learned how to shave with that razor for about a month. And I learned how to strop properly. In the meantime I had purchased about a dozen antique store SRs and I also purchased my Naniwa 1, 3,8 stones. And a good loope. And some tape. At that time I was lapping on 400 grit wet dry sandpaper on a level surface.

I started honing on a couple of beaters and I learned the basics. I wanted to be able to get a top notch edge on the 8 k stone. And with a lot of good advice from many experienced guys on this forum and others, I progressed quickly. Then, once I mastered a good edge on the 8 k stone I purchased a 12 k stone and took my edges to a new level. As others have noted setting the bevel is like laying a good foundation when building your house. Very important. I made it a habit to always use one layer of tape on all my spines. Be patient, and practice and use a light touch and you will be an expert in no time. Indeed it is very satisfying to hone a razor and get a stellar shave.

 

I realise learning to hone is like learning alpine skiing.

First time you ski, plowing slowly on flat slope you think euforically, hey, i can ski!
Next season you learn parallel turns, and you think now I can really ski.

A week later you come down the icy black slopes and you realise, this is real skiing, and with my rental skies I am not able to follow the others, and you start to realise you are at best moderate on the slopes, a zero in deep snow, buckles,....
At that moment you can decide that you are happy with just going down the slopes and enjoy the mountain, or you put some effort into learning to ski faster, you learn to read the slope and the snow, you go off piste, go crazy in the snowpark,... you try boarding and you realize it also is fun and even easier in deep snow,....

Honing is comparable.
You start touching up a razor on a pasted belt and you are happy with the result, after a while you put the razor on a touch up stone and it seems even sharper than you remember,..
You buy some old razors, put a bevel and go to but sharp and you believe you are a honemeister.

After a while you see frowns develop, or you notice you neglected the heel, you notice asymmetric bevels,
So you are no honemeister yet.

You notice that sharp does not per se means better, that some knives crumble at hht5,...
You start honing for others and find that they have other expectations of the edge, they want it less sharp or sharper, or more aggressive, or softer,...

And,....