Bump
Newbie Honing Compendium
- Thread starter Slash McCoy
- Start date
Bump for @steveclarkus
- Thread starter
- #43
Slash McCoy
I freehand dog rockets
I think this:
www.badgerandblade.com
should be added to The Method. It is a way of dealing quickly and easily with an intrusive heel/stabilizer to make honing easier.
So, the whole thing is
Heel Repair Video
Lapping film, try it.
Setting the Bevel with the Burr Method
How To Use a Pasted Balsa Strop
Clearing a false edge
Is My Razor Sharp? The Treetopping Test
Hanging Hair Test - home of the famous Belgian Coticule Whetstone
The Key
Honing 101
<EDIT> Adding:
The Pull Stroke Explained
Heel Repair Video
This was discussed over on SRP and I thought I would throw a quick vid together to illustrate this method of fixing a heel prior to honing. It will take about 3/16" or your edge out of play, but will make honing of most razors a lot easier. Template is a nickel. Feel free to use a different...
www.badgerandblade.com
So, the whole thing is
Heel Repair Video
Lapping film, try it.
Setting the Bevel with the Burr Method
How To Use a Pasted Balsa Strop
Clearing a false edge
Is My Razor Sharp? The Treetopping Test
Hanging Hair Test - home of the famous Belgian Coticule Whetstone
The Key
Honing 101
<EDIT> Adding:
The Pull Stroke Explained
Last edited:
- Thread starter
- #45
Slash McCoy
I freehand dog rockets
I have nothing new to add since the post right before yours. That list is up to date.
will these steps work with stone hones also?
rbscebu
Girls call me Makaluod
They may. Try both and let us know how you go.
FarmerTan
"Self appointed king of Arkoland"
Thanks for doing this Slash.
Unless I've already thanked you. In that case, nevermind.
- Thread starter
- #49
Slash McCoy
I freehand dog rockets
Sure, if they are good stones, good quality, and well lapped. Otherwise, all bets are off.
Once you arrive at a GOOD 12k synthetic edge or GOOD Jnat edge or GOOD 1μ film edge, and proceed to the pasted balsa progression, all sins of the past are forgiven. If you hit the balsa with a GOOD edge, then the balsa will make it an unbelievable edge of you just use it correctly. If you hit the balsa with a mediocre edge, you will end up with a mediocre edge and a very bad impression of The Method, all because you didn't follow instructions.
- Thread starter
- #50
Slash McCoy
I freehand dog rockets
I just want to reiterate and clarify a few things, for the benefit of newbies with busy schedules or short attention spans.
1. The Method works. There are plenty of testimonials to that. It works quickly, often on the very first attempt, if done exactly as specified, and certainly by the second attempt, if done exactly as specified.
2. The Method delivers a sharper edge than the typical professional edge. Don't blame the pro honers. They don't have time to devote a couple of hours to honing a razor that they are only making 20 bucks on, out of which they have to pay for a lot of tools and materials, as well as devote workspace to, and pay a light bill for, and taxes, and then determine if they are paying themselves a fair wage for skilled work or not. That typical professional edge, if further refined with the three stage balsa progression, can be brought out to a much higher standard of sharpness, and possibly comfort as well.
3. The Method is very inexpensive, especially if film, rather than stones, is used before the balsa progression that largely defines The Method. The acrylic specified does not break or warp or wear out. Film is cheap. Balsa is cheap. Diamond paste is cheap, due to the very small quantity used. A standard Naniwa progression is probably close to $300 now. Your Sharp Pebble or Bear Moo or no-name combination stone is even cheaper, but will not be capable of this kind of edge. CrOx has been used for generations, with underwhelming results. If you use tools that others use to get mediocre edges, you shouldn't expect to ever beat that mediocre standard even with experience, let alone as a beginner.
4. The Method probably will NOT work for you if you do not follow it precisely and exactly in every detail, no matter how insignificant or unimportant it might seem to be. All failure can be traced to ignoring one or more specified details. Some details might BE unimportant. But if you start trying to cherry pick the ones you will follow, you will fail. The Method is a package deal. Take all, and it works, Take some, and you are not Method honing and won't get Method results.
5. A Method edge does not have to be "harsh", and won't be, if you do it right. However, it will be very very sharp. Sharp and harsh are not the same thing. If you use too high of a shave angle though, you will cut yourself. If you shave with a gap between face and spine equal to half the spine thickness, that is usually about right. A little less gap, if you really nail the edge.
6. The Method is for newbies. It is a system that is designed to help them hit the ground running, and produce a good edge right away, a superb edge in very short order. If you already know how to turn out great edges with your Knock ya mama antique vintage stone that cost you $3500 because it has a natural pattern in the stone that looks exactly like an ancient Japanese woodcut of a samurai writing a haiku by a waterfall, and was used to hone the first Shogun's prized katana before going into his final battle, and the mere thought of it touching your razor is enough to make you weep tears of bliss, by all means, stick with what you know and what works for you. If you wish to borrow elements of The Method, of course, feel free, as long as you understand it is not meant for you and it is not meant to be cherry picked, and random elements by themselves will not necessarily impress you.
7. The way that The Method works as it does, is through dictatorial micromanagement of all aspects of the process. There are a kadiddlyjillion ways to hone a razor. A small percentage will give you a usable edge. A much smaller percentage will give you a great edge. The normal way to achieve honing greatness is to try all sorts of ways and all sorts of honing media, learn from a thousand mistakes and a thousand mediocre edges and poor to average shaves, spending lots of money and lots of time on the learning of it. There are SO MANY decisions, and often the benefit or the damage is cumulative. You make one mistake that isn't really even a mistake, and compound it with several others, and next thing you know, you are locking yourself out of having that science fiction merciless laser beam edge. As a beginner, it is simply not possible to randomly make all the right decisions that work together to give you a great edge. Even getting a usable edge at all, early on, is a long shot. Eliminating random choices or subjectivity, and narrowing down the process to a highly refined and regulated one, makes it work, without a learning process. You learn by doing. (and usually doing it wrong.) But there is no reason why you CAN'T do it and get results right away, if you do it right, right from the start. You still learn, by doing, but your first "doing" session also gives you results. The Method is not a learning system. It is a DOING system.
8. Once you have achieved greatness with a few Method edges, there is no particular reason that you have to stick with it forever and always. Many Method honers go on to other styles of honing, particularly naturals. Some enjoy it for the challenge. Some actually prefer the natural edge. Some enjoy owning fine things, and using them. Nothing wrong with all that, if you get enough emjoyment out of the process or the results to be worth the money and time spent. But you can always come back to The Method.
9. The most critical part of honing is getting a good bevel properly set, and KNOWING that it is set. Most beginners simply guess that it is set. Some grow impatient, and think a finer grit stone will fix it right up. That is just wrong. NO honing system works without a good bevel. The bevel is the edge. All further work simply polishes and smooths it. You must know that your bevel is set, so you do not keep honing on coarse grits longer than needed, and also so you do not waste your time achieving nothing at all by going into the progression with no bevel to refine.
10. The most defining part of The Method is the pasted balsa progression. Without the balsa, it is just ordinary synthetic honing, with ordinary results. With synthetic stones or film, either one, you get a good usable but not exceptional edge. The balsa when properly prepared and properly used, makes it special. But the balsa will not make a dull edge into a sharp one. It can only make a sharp edge into a much sharper one. Do not expect the balsa to make your 6k King edge into a light saber. Not gonna happen.
11. If you are reading this post, then you probably have read all the posts before this one, and will probably read all the posts after this one. But make sure that you read all the threads linked or mentioned within this thread. The nitty gritty details are in those sub threads, and yeah, they are long. Read them from end to end, before you whip out the credit card or start abusing perfectly good razors. It is a lot of reading, but it is worth it.
12. My own opinion is that only the best possible results are worth striving for. It is pointless to settle for less than the best that you can achieve. If you want a mediocre shave, get a Mach 3 and a can of goo. Don't waste time and money without a clear goal of quality in mind.
13. As a beginner, FOLLOW. You don't have to follow me, or the other Method honers. But you need to follow someone. Follow an established path to a good edge, and you should get one, in fairly short order. Don't skip around from one path to another. If you want Honemeister X's results, follow Honemeister X's method, step by step, in every detail. Master that way of honing before moving on. If you skip around and skip around, you only prolong your agony. Random methods give random results.
14. Take a couple of weeks cooling off period before you buy any honing tool or material. It is dreadfully easy to end up with hundreds or even thousands of dollars worth of stuff that you don't use or rarely use. Think of all the razors and brushes you could buy with that dough!
Good luck, and happy shaves!
1. The Method works. There are plenty of testimonials to that. It works quickly, often on the very first attempt, if done exactly as specified, and certainly by the second attempt, if done exactly as specified.
2. The Method delivers a sharper edge than the typical professional edge. Don't blame the pro honers. They don't have time to devote a couple of hours to honing a razor that they are only making 20 bucks on, out of which they have to pay for a lot of tools and materials, as well as devote workspace to, and pay a light bill for, and taxes, and then determine if they are paying themselves a fair wage for skilled work or not. That typical professional edge, if further refined with the three stage balsa progression, can be brought out to a much higher standard of sharpness, and possibly comfort as well.
3. The Method is very inexpensive, especially if film, rather than stones, is used before the balsa progression that largely defines The Method. The acrylic specified does not break or warp or wear out. Film is cheap. Balsa is cheap. Diamond paste is cheap, due to the very small quantity used. A standard Naniwa progression is probably close to $300 now. Your Sharp Pebble or Bear Moo or no-name combination stone is even cheaper, but will not be capable of this kind of edge. CrOx has been used for generations, with underwhelming results. If you use tools that others use to get mediocre edges, you shouldn't expect to ever beat that mediocre standard even with experience, let alone as a beginner.
4. The Method probably will NOT work for you if you do not follow it precisely and exactly in every detail, no matter how insignificant or unimportant it might seem to be. All failure can be traced to ignoring one or more specified details. Some details might BE unimportant. But if you start trying to cherry pick the ones you will follow, you will fail. The Method is a package deal. Take all, and it works, Take some, and you are not Method honing and won't get Method results.
5. A Method edge does not have to be "harsh", and won't be, if you do it right. However, it will be very very sharp. Sharp and harsh are not the same thing. If you use too high of a shave angle though, you will cut yourself. If you shave with a gap between face and spine equal to half the spine thickness, that is usually about right. A little less gap, if you really nail the edge.
6. The Method is for newbies. It is a system that is designed to help them hit the ground running, and produce a good edge right away, a superb edge in very short order. If you already know how to turn out great edges with your Knock ya mama antique vintage stone that cost you $3500 because it has a natural pattern in the stone that looks exactly like an ancient Japanese woodcut of a samurai writing a haiku by a waterfall, and was used to hone the first Shogun's prized katana before going into his final battle, and the mere thought of it touching your razor is enough to make you weep tears of bliss, by all means, stick with what you know and what works for you. If you wish to borrow elements of The Method, of course, feel free, as long as you understand it is not meant for you and it is not meant to be cherry picked, and random elements by themselves will not necessarily impress you.
7. The way that The Method works as it does, is through dictatorial micromanagement of all aspects of the process. There are a kadiddlyjillion ways to hone a razor. A small percentage will give you a usable edge. A much smaller percentage will give you a great edge. The normal way to achieve honing greatness is to try all sorts of ways and all sorts of honing media, learn from a thousand mistakes and a thousand mediocre edges and poor to average shaves, spending lots of money and lots of time on the learning of it. There are SO MANY decisions, and often the benefit or the damage is cumulative. You make one mistake that isn't really even a mistake, and compound it with several others, and next thing you know, you are locking yourself out of having that science fiction merciless laser beam edge. As a beginner, it is simply not possible to randomly make all the right decisions that work together to give you a great edge. Even getting a usable edge at all, early on, is a long shot. Eliminating random choices or subjectivity, and narrowing down the process to a highly refined and regulated one, makes it work, without a learning process. You learn by doing. (and usually doing it wrong.) But there is no reason why you CAN'T do it and get results right away, if you do it right, right from the start. You still learn, by doing, but your first "doing" session also gives you results. The Method is not a learning system. It is a DOING system.
8. Once you have achieved greatness with a few Method edges, there is no particular reason that you have to stick with it forever and always. Many Method honers go on to other styles of honing, particularly naturals. Some enjoy it for the challenge. Some actually prefer the natural edge. Some enjoy owning fine things, and using them. Nothing wrong with all that, if you get enough emjoyment out of the process or the results to be worth the money and time spent. But you can always come back to The Method.
9. The most critical part of honing is getting a good bevel properly set, and KNOWING that it is set. Most beginners simply guess that it is set. Some grow impatient, and think a finer grit stone will fix it right up. That is just wrong. NO honing system works without a good bevel. The bevel is the edge. All further work simply polishes and smooths it. You must know that your bevel is set, so you do not keep honing on coarse grits longer than needed, and also so you do not waste your time achieving nothing at all by going into the progression with no bevel to refine.
10. The most defining part of The Method is the pasted balsa progression. Without the balsa, it is just ordinary synthetic honing, with ordinary results. With synthetic stones or film, either one, you get a good usable but not exceptional edge. The balsa when properly prepared and properly used, makes it special. But the balsa will not make a dull edge into a sharp one. It can only make a sharp edge into a much sharper one. Do not expect the balsa to make your 6k King edge into a light saber. Not gonna happen.
11. If you are reading this post, then you probably have read all the posts before this one, and will probably read all the posts after this one. But make sure that you read all the threads linked or mentioned within this thread. The nitty gritty details are in those sub threads, and yeah, they are long. Read them from end to end, before you whip out the credit card or start abusing perfectly good razors. It is a lot of reading, but it is worth it.
12. My own opinion is that only the best possible results are worth striving for. It is pointless to settle for less than the best that you can achieve. If you want a mediocre shave, get a Mach 3 and a can of goo. Don't waste time and money without a clear goal of quality in mind.
13. As a beginner, FOLLOW. You don't have to follow me, or the other Method honers. But you need to follow someone. Follow an established path to a good edge, and you should get one, in fairly short order. Don't skip around from one path to another. If you want Honemeister X's results, follow Honemeister X's method, step by step, in every detail. Master that way of honing before moving on. If you skip around and skip around, you only prolong your agony. Random methods give random results.
14. Take a couple of weeks cooling off period before you buy any honing tool or material. It is dreadfully easy to end up with hundreds or even thousands of dollars worth of stuff that you don't use or rarely use. Think of all the razors and brushes you could buy with that dough!
Good luck, and happy shaves!
New the to forum and new to SR shaving and blade upkeep, etc. Really great stuff and insight here in this thread. Thanks for all the detailed pointers. Looking forward to getting my Ralf Aust 6/8 Round Point soon from Matt at Razor Emporium and starting my shaves, stropping and honings!
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