Newbie Honing Questions

[jrmcent]

I just recently purchased my first straight razor after using a DE for about a month . I think I understand most on the maintenance requirements of a straight, and I will be having it honed by Jose in order to get me started with a nice sharp razor. I do have a couple questions regarding honing though, assuming I will start honing some time in the (near) future.

How often do most of you hone your everyday razors? I have read anywhere from 3-6 months if you use finishing stones, to a year if you use a diamond strop.

Now, say you hone every 3-6 months, does that mean use all your stones during that hone...going from (for example) a 4k to a 8k to a 12k each time? Or do you only need to use the finishing stone (8k/12k/diamond strop)? My guess is that people will say it depends on how dull the blade is. So, in order to get a little more of a specific answer, what do you guys generally find yourselves using during a normal maintenance hone?

Another question I have is whether or not you can over-hone. As an extreme example, could you hone your razor everyday on a 4k -> 8k -> 12k? How about just honing it everyday on a 12k? I know no one would ever do this, I'm just trying to understand how the different grits affect the razor.

 

[jendeindustries]

I think the general progression of maintenance starts with either a strokes on a pasted strop/felt or a few passes on the finishing stone to refresh an edge. This should last a while, depending on frequency, technique, preferences and quality of the steel. When that begins to fail, then you must step back to lower grit stones and work your way back up. You shouldn't need to go all the way back to 4K every time your razor feels dull, though, unless you have one of the many disorders that come with straights .

All of us are different, though. For example, I generally reserve the pasted strops for a mid-shave touch up if needed. But I also have serious HAD, so I look for any excuse to go straight to the stones.

Since you are having Jose hone your blade, I would ask him what he suggests.

 

[azmark]

One of the questions you'll get 101 responses and all I'm sure work.

With a razor coming well honed from Jose you would have a nicely set bevel and sharp edge. To maintain the edge, nothing but a barbers hone, strop and IMO a very well stropping technique. I've heard of razors being maintained sharp for years with just a barbers hone and proper stropping techniques.

I like others here are always searching for the perfect edge or do our own honing or just like honing as a hobby for what ever sick reason we come up with. That's where some may think you need a lot to maintain an edge when quite honestly it is very minimal that you really need.

You can over hone with your "extreme" example by taking it down to 4k where for example with hollow ground razors you will eventually change the shape of the grind to where honing will become more difficult.

 

[jrmcent]

Thanks for both of the responses! They were exactly the type of information I wanted to get. I have just been confused/nervous about honing because it seems so relative to your specific razor, but I want to try to get some general information so I can take care of my razor to the best of my ability.

I can certainly see myself honing very often and becoming obsessive, so I suppose it is good to know when that does happen...it's not just me .

 

[Legion]

Once my razors have been completely honed I just touch them up on either my 12k stone or a CrO bench strop, or both. I have never had to take a razor back to 4k and the only reason I can see I would need to is because I had some sort of accident with the edge or I forgot to store it properly and the edge degraded through oxidization.

This is assuming that you touch it up when it needs it, and you don't let it get too bad.