Why don't people rehone their own razors anymore?

[johnmrson]

I was talking to my Dad today who is 82 years old so I wanted to pick his brain regarding straight shaving. He said that he did it when he was young man but switched to a saftey razor when he went in the Army in 1945. His father (my Grandfather) was a career British soldier and straight shaved pretty much everyday of his life. I mentioned that I bought a straight but needed to find a honemeister to get it rehoned as it isn't shave ready. Dad said that he found that odd and that as far as he remembers everyone that used a straight in the old days just rehoned their own. Some older male relative or neighbour would just pass on their knowledge to the younger generation. Everyone had a honing stone and a strop and they just did their own.
So why doesn't everyone do their own anymore? Is it that the knowledge has now been lost? Are people not willing to have a go themselves? I thought that I'd buy a cheap straight (I don't want to wreck my EKS) and a stone and have a go myself.

 

[mark3d]

Interesting question. Remember that the culture has changed to disposable razors being the norm. The modern equivalent of wet shaving is considered to be better so why would you be crazy enough to mess around with old fashioned razors. My wife sewed her own wedding dressed and a number of friends were completely amazed that she could do it. The time that people used to spend maintaining their blades, or sewing top quality clothes, they probably now use to watch TV. It's fine for some things - in many ways the modern things are better (computer vs telephone), but as people are realising, sometimes the old ways are better (diets, razors!, tailored clothes).

As to the knowledge being lost - i reckon it very nearly was, but was rescued in a big way by the Internet, and those guys who have promoted straights over the years through forums such as this. They saved a dying art - many actually: manufacturing, honing, stropping and shaving technique. I read somewhere that Dovo sales went up 7 times over the past few years (I dont have a source, but I tend to believe it).

.

 

[mainaman]

I can think of a few reasons.
#1.People do not feel like dealing with that.
#2.Eventually the razor will have to hit more than a touch up stone, which could be extra expenditure for many. A razor needs to see the hones a few times a year only.
#3. Learning curve.

 

[Go West Young Man]

#4 - our expectations and standards for our shaves are a lot higher than previous generations. I doubt that your grandfather obsessed over his edge like guy's here do, he just made do with whatever he got.

 

[gstep51]

#4 - our expectations and standards for our shaves are a lot higher than previous generations. I doubt that your grandfather obsessed over his edge like guy's here do, he just made do with whatever he got.

I wouldn't bet on that. My father-in-law said time spent sharpening a tool is never time wasted. I think the culture of today is one of instant gratification. I want it now and I don't want to have to learn or work for it or my time is too valuable for that. Why I could be texting or playing a video game. I have never subscribed to that. In fact, I would put the edge on my wood working chisels up against most straights. If it will not pop the hairs on my arm it isn't sharp enough for me. Like shaving tools, any dull tool is more dangerous that a sharp one.

 

[johnmrson]

My Grandfather was a Drum Major in the British Army and used to perform soldier inspections including whether or not they had shaved properly so I'd imagine he was pretty obsessed about shaving standards. My Dad said that he was a dab hand with performing a test on soldiers faces with a cigarette paper, whatever that was.

 

[Cheech]

I'd also raise the question of how many straight shavers eventually do end up honing their own blades? I'm guessing that most, if they stay with a straight long enough, will eventually learn to hone their own razors.

It makes sense to send it out for honing at first. Its only over time, and a long time at that, honing your own blades saves money.

 

[English]

I think that people generally don't make the time for what some consider the good things in life. But that's just me. Fast food and throwaway razors is the norm today. Certainly when I watch my son, he will spend his time with his wife and children before spending time on himself. He spends minutes shaving and thinks the way I go about things is nuts. Interestingly, I saw him sharpen his kitchen knives the other day and to my astonishment he pulled out a Japanese synthetic hone. Now if he can learn how to do that................

100 years ago, if you wanted a good close shave you would bother to learn how to sharpen your own razor. Otherwise you paid somebody to do it for you and took pot luck. Stropping on your leather belt (the one with the big brass buckle) was commonplace as was touching up on a folded newspaper. My dad and grandad were always clean shaven. They used to cut themselves as well.

Same coloured blood and same skin.

The truth is, Gillette make pretty good razors. I know most of the guys on the forum prefer old school shaving, but some people regard us as eccentric, even if DOVO sales of traditional razors has increased a bit.

 

[English]

My Grandfather was a Drum Major in the British Army and used to perform soldier inspections including whether or not they had shaved properly so I'd imagine he was pretty obsessed about shaving standards. My Dad said that he was a dab hand with performing a test on soldiers faces with a cigarette paper, whatever that was.

A cigarette paper is the thing they use for rolling joints. Comes in a little orange or green packet with RIZLA written on the front. You can see them in all the newspaper and sweet shops. You know, the ones that used to sell cigarettes.

 

[thanks]

I believe they also use playing cards sometimes. The point was to rub the paper or card against the grain and if enough noise was made- you had better get better at shaving.

I don't buy the thought that it's an instant gratification thing, seeing as how they're willing to straight shave in the first place. If they stick with it, and then decide to keep sending their razors out then maybe they're just worried about "ruining" their razors. It's quite hard for me to hone, as I have very shaky hands that I got from my grandfather. He's also had them all his life. Now when stropping or actually shaving my shakes are never an issue, but with a hone things need to be extremely delicate.

 

[CloseShave]

I have honed my own razors since starting straight shaving 2 1/2 years ago. I have bought razors honed by others and only been satisfied 1 out of 4 times with the edge (Martin at rasupur). A shaving edge is the ultimate in personal taste, your missing a lot if you don't learn to do it yourself.

 

[Seraphim]

Hone my own is the only way to go.


Using a honemister is helpful for someone who feels a bit overwhelmed as a newbie, or something, or someone who likes to send his shirts out to the drycleaners everyweek.

 

[Slartibartfast]

You could probably get by with just a barber hone and stropping for a year or more.

And that is what most people should probably do to start.

One thing to keep in mind, our grandfathers were not dealing with ebay specials.....

 

[professorchaos]

Hone my own is the only way to go.


Using a honemister is helpful for someone who feels a bit overwhelmed as a newbie, or something, or someone who likes to send his shirts out to the drycleaners everyweek.

Hey! I resemble that remark!















But I hone my own.

 

[JPM]

I just started straight shaving and right now I'm not planning on honing my own blades. I felt like it was enough to figure out how to use it properly and how to strop properly. I also got the "free lifetime honing" deal with a couple of my razors so I thought it was an easy way to not have to spend the money on hones and learn how to do it right away. At some point, I'll probably try it but not for now.

 

[mparker762]

So why doesn't everyone do their own anymore? Is it that the knowledge has now been lost? Are people not willing to have a go themselves? I thought that I'd buy a cheap straight (I don't want to wreck my EKS) and a stone and have a go myself.

Many of us do, hence all the discussions about hones and pastes and such. But it's not information that we're born with, after all. Back in the day you probably didn't start out immediately honing and shaving right off the bat either, you would have started with your dads old razor and he would teach you how to hone and strop it, and would help you keep it sharp until you were good enough to do it on your own, in which case your dad played the part of both "honemeister" and "helpful forum members". But even today it's possible to buy a razor and hone and just jump in with both feet, but the learning process can be pretty steep and frustrating, and it's easier to separate the two problems - shaving and honing - and learn just one at a time. But shaving is a necessary skill for honing, because without shaving you can't really tell how good the edge is, so it makes sense to tackle that problem first.

 

[Left Coast DJ]

I think the washing your own clothes vs. getting them dry cleaned is a good analogy. Back in the day, shaving with a straight was the only option. So most working class stiffs probably bought a cheap barber's hone or something similar along with their razor. The genteel folks who walked around with top-hats and a monocle probably had someone else hone their razor or went to a barbershop.

Shaving with a straight these days is strictly a sub-culture for shavegeeks. Eventually, everyone who sticks with straight will probably get their set of stones.

 

[Go West Young Man]

I wouldn't bet on that. My father-in-law said time spent sharpening a tool is never time wasted. I think the culture of today is one of instant gratification. I want it now and I don't want to have to learn or work for it or my time is too valuable for that. Why I could be texting or playing a video game. I have never subscribed to that. In fact, I would put the edge on my wood working chisels up against most straights. If it will not pop the hairs on my arm it isn't sharp enough for me. Like shaving tools, any dull tool is more dangerous that a sharp one.

Not trying to disparage your relations or yourself, who I'm sure can put an excellent edge on a blade. My comment was more along the lines of back in the day someone would buy or inherit a hone and do his best to sharpen the blade alone. Maybe, if he was lucky, his father or uncle or barber would have given him a couple lessons.

Today, OTOH, you can obsess over 7 grits of paste, chinese stones, paddles, balsa, hanging, crox, and probably 100 other variables. Then you can watch tutorials online and discuss your technique at length with your online buddies, and if you're at all serious about it you need to break out the electron microscope and take high magnification pictures of the edge.

With all that, of course the average home honer today is going to get considerably better results.

 

[SliceOfLife]

1. Touch up honing of an undamaged/altered razor is automatic. It requires no skill at all. Hell, the old barber stones came with 2 picture diagrams as a means of "instruction".

2. These days you aren't just touch up honing. You're buying razors that have been kept in drawers, abused, left to oxidize for decades. They often need more significant work. This required at least the ability to know when you're finished at a particular grit level. Also, many blades are damaged or altered in some way. Slight warps, smiles, frowns, half smiles and frowns, uneven bevels, chips, etc, etc, etc. You need to know how to repair these or in some cases (smiles, warps) hone around them.



I can see the logic of owning a single "touch up hone" and sending every razor you buy to a honester once as soon as you get it. But like you said, damned near everyone (barbers DID offer honing, but from the folks I've spoken to, it was little used) before this generation did all their own touch up honing. And the straight razor was developed so as to accommodate that. But sending a razor (unless it's a really tricky one to hone) out for simple touch-ups seems damned silly to me. You're spending $10+ and waiting a week or more to avoid less than a minute's work.

 

[OldSchoolYoungin]

I think a lot of it has to do with people having a lot more faith in the abilities of a honemeister rather than themselves. Assumedly, I imagine there were not a bunch of guys back then that had honed thousands upon thousands of razors and marketed their services. Even if they did, I'm guessing they weren't as easy to get in touch with as sending the guy a PM on a message board and instantly transferring a small amount of money for the honing.

That said, I'm still not aware of many guys that have been straight shaving for a while who HAVEN'T learned to hone for themselves. Maybe they will send their razors off if they're having a lot of trouble with a particular one, but by and large, the veterans take care of things themselves.