It's funny how much thought is put into the honing, stroping, using a straight razor. Our great grandparents would just smak the razor a few times on whatever hone they had and would remove hair from their face. Thank you for the honing lesson. I wish I had this info 25 years ago when I started teaching myself to use and hone straight razors.
Seems like that on the surface, but back in the early 1900s, a lot of thought went into honing/stropping/etc - it's just that no one made a big deal out of it. People were different back then, social media was bingo games, fish frys and church sales. Also, there were fewer choices than we have today. Typically, shaving was taught from father to son - that ended in the 40s/50s for the most part. Now its taught via videos and forums. My grandfather had several barber hones, strops, compounds, etc. I had a barber's kit from 1889 that was chock full of hones and strops and stuff. Barbering catalogs from the 1800s are telling, tons and tons of gear was offered. The hone pages alone are amazing. But no one ran out into the street yelling about it, like people do on the internet today. Back then, their version of YT was the monthly visit to the barbershop, maybe. Go further back, most guys didn't even own a razor so anything/everything about shaving was learned in the barbershop.
Please, could you tell me where or how I can get the amazing wooden holder appearing in this video? I find your work extremelly useful and I really like the straightforward way of looking at things when referring to razor honing. Keep up your good work!
Hi, thank you for watching and commenting! That stand is a Japanese Dai. I used to sell them in my Etsy store, the one in this video was made from Hinoki wood.
New to the game and I am learning a tremendous amount from you. Really appreciate your straight talk, no frills presentation. Thanks for sharing the benefit of your years of experience with the community.
I can't get enough of these videos! And I agree wholeheartedly with your last statement before finishing that those "highly educated"types have difficulty with application of the knowledge. I think many of them forget that much of what they learn is theory. I have a saying that "there are those that talk about it, and there are those that simply go and be about it..." GREAT STUFF man. Great stuff. I just bought a set of stones because I now have 3 razors and it's going to get expensive real fast to take them to get sharpened and honed regularly. I use my razors my to shave a scraggly beard and my entire head which is like shaving the cheeks and chin 3 times. And the last blade I bought was new, I took it to get shave ready to a really good shop who did my last razor (different type of steel, I think) and I paid and got it home to shave, and wouldn't you know it? It was no better than when I first took it out of the box. So I decided I'm gonna learn to do this myself. So again, I thank you for teaching just by doing and talking from a realist's perspective. In your other video you say, you just gotta do it. That's me in a nutshell. Looking forward to this journey.
Great videos Keith. I love your no bs attitude towards this preoccupation of ours. This video reminded me of the days when I first got my first Sheffield wedge and all the forum gurus were telling me to slap multiple layers of tape to hone it. It never shaved well and of course I blamed myself. One day I put a caliper on the old W&B and realized I was honing to a bevel angle pushing 21 degrees I lost the tape reset the damn thing and it shaves like it was supposed to. Thanks for affirming what my gut feeling was telling me all along. Cheers.
Makes so little sense to me but I've been freehand sharpening knives as a side business for almost a decade yet learning to sharpen a razor the last few months is totally foreign. I've shaved my face super comfortably with knives a whole lot of times, but doing it with the appropriate tool is tricky.
Every time I walk away from your videos, I feel more confident and eager to get some steel on some stone. I know I'll never buy a new razor again, I'm willing to pay the dues. Thanks Keith
Hey Keith, I use a Sharpton 1K/1.5K combo stone - the glued combo I got from you a few years ago. Love it! The 1K has it's place but I prefer the 1.5K - it just sounds right. I was picking up some of the sound from yours.
Another classic Keith. You had me laughing out loud a few times here. When I started honing I used tape all of the time and now I'm starting to see the benefits of not using tape unless necessary especially on my Japanese blades. Doesn't sound like much but that 1 degree change from 1 layer of tape can make a difference. Good stuff again. Looking forward to the next video where you describe why you don't dilute your slurry.
Keith I was wondering is there a certain amount of laps you are doing on each stone? Seems like your honing for along amount of time. I’m using 1000 super stone, 3000 chosera, 8000 shapton then a 12,000 Naniwa GOUKEN Kagyaki. To set the bevel to finish it takes me about 25-30 minutes. Should I be spending some more time on a certain stone?
Hello! No, I don't count laps, or hone for a set amount of time, or try to go fast. I like to immerse myself in what I am doing so I can enjoy it. Time is irrelevant for me when I am honing. This is just fun for me, not a chore. I don't time it. Some people hone faster, some slower. I tend to focus on what I am doing, and not compare of judge what others do. It takes as long as it takes. That said, the videos are just demonstrations, they are not meant to be a 'do it this way' kind of thing. What you see, or think you see, is not necessarily what happens or how it happens when I am not making a video. The lack of a need to hone faster is the main reason. But for videos I turn it down a notch for a couple of other reasons; one is that I don't use a script, everything I say is spur of the moment. Being more conservative with actions and approach allows me to assemble and verbalize thoughts into coherent passages. Sometimes I spend more time on a stage so I can complete a thought. Moving slower allows a better view of what's happening on the stone. The tactile and audible feedback presents better when going slower too. Speed tends to blur the feedback, and it will give a false positive on undercut. Bevels are done when they are done. Same for the rest of the progression. There is no way to time the work, or assign a set number of laps for any stage. If someone wants to hone faster, that's their thing. The only thing that matters is if the work is done correctly, it's not better or worse to go faster or slower. If I have a razor in good condition the honing is faster than when I am starting with an auction site save. Rolling stroke blades take exponentially longer because the entire edge isn't on the stone all at the same time. Every bevel starts off with a different condition, every piece of steel has different hardness and wear resistance. Every user applies pressure differently. So there are all these variables to deal with. The only method that works is to hone until I am done and however long it takes is how long it takes. Longest I've spend on a rough bevel is probably 90 minutes, shortest is probably 7-8 minutes. Depends on the blade and my mood and which stones, etc, etc, etc, I spend the bulk of my time on 1.5k and whatever the next stone is. How long that takes depends on myriad variables. Setting a bevel that I can get a 3 pass shave with requires time on the stones. There's no getting around that. My 8k and 12k efforts usually take less than a minute combined.
Thanks for watching and the kind word Mark. The Shinogi - 鎬 - is the ridgeline on a sword that seperates the Mune from the Ha. I usually refer to the line of the bevel that is closest to the spine as the Shinogi because it reminds of that part of a sword. It's just one of those things I picked up along the way..... lol.
sometimes water, sometimes water & soap, sometimes glycerine with water, sometimes oil. Slurry is from rubbing two stones together, swarf is slurry plus abraded metal from the blade.
@@KeithVJohnson1 Thanks! I will need to look for a video you do with soap and water. I've never heard of such a thing. I use to shampoo my hair with vinegar for years. Not sure why I stopped.
A tiny bit of soap breaks the water's surface tension, and it adds some lubricant to the mix too. It's a nice finishing liquid. But only use a very very teensy bit of soap.
I dont like using diamond plates for nagura either. The edge is definitely different in the way it feels. Henk Bos' article on coticules explains how the diamond cuts the slurry differently and it affects the stone.
You talk about finisher, pre finisher, and middle? stones. Are these all specifically natural stones? Do you start on artificial stones then progress to the "middle" natural stone? Or is there a lower grade natural stone before the middle stone?
This... This video right here... I've been watching these videos for hours - this video is the first one that mentioned the black marker trick to check the edge. Tried that - saw my spots not getting hit... BOOM... got my edge on a cheap amazon 20 dollar razor - though there was so much work to be done, I dropped down to a 400 for the quick work then back up to the 1k.
A lot of (almost all of) those inexpensive amazon razors are made from soft steel, so you may get an edge and then lose it quickly, or it might not take at all.
@@KeithVJohnson1 Yeah I didn't anticipate it being a super nice razor when I got it - but it's been a great learning tool. I was able to get the cheap one to shave - though not a great shave. We'll see what happens when I buy a nicer one next week. I'm thinking a dovo?
If you are learning to hone - I would suggest picking up a couple of vintage razors that don't have huge obvious issue - you can probably get 2-3 of them for the price of a new Dovo. You can beat up on them and once you're skills are in place you can get a new new blade and you'll be ready to hone it without putting excessive wear on it.
Hi Keith, I've been watching along while honing a blade of my own. I've also extended the spine over the edge by the heel creating as you called a 'chevron' but was wondering if this will comprismise the edge at some point or if I can continue to wear it all the same?
Hello, I was referencing around 34:50 in your video. I just wondered if continuing to hone would inevitably cause issues with that segemented part of the steel. Maybe you might have asked before but why would a blade be designed like such? It seems counterintuitive to obstruct the last cm or so of the blade... anyways I don't know so much about this yet :)
@@Brandon-mr2oh I can't find anywhere I used the word chevron - sometimes time stamps are off on different viewers I think. Long ago, tolerances were not tight, perfection took a back seat to making more money, etc - so a lot of razors were made 'imperfectly'. Honing errors ocross 100 years takes a toll too.
Ah I reviewed your video a little more to clarify myself, so the shoulder is what is strange to me, as you say around 36:20 there will be discrepancy with bizzare heel/toe. If the shoulder makes it difficult for us to hone equally, why is it designed such? Other than my possibly irrelevant question.. when honing onto the shoulder in order to extend your bevel at the heel would I want to take care not to create much more than a small stretch of the spine? Hopefully i'm making a little more sense. Thank you for the help.
@@Brandon-mr2oh There's no way to imagine what to do with an imaginary razor. You have to take each situation as it comes and work with it to achieve the desired results. How anyone approaches each of their own challenges is up to them.
Are you torquing the blade's edge into the stone heavily, lightly, or not at all? Great information, as well. I'm about halfway done with all of your videosn(I've been watching for a couple of months now). Just ordered a Shapton Glass 1k to set bevels with instead of the very cheap 1k from Amazon I purchased 😐
Torque and pressure depend on the blade and the work needed to be done. I do all of the above, but not all at once and not all the time. Thank you for watching and commenting!
I'm new to honing razors, from what source do you get your stones from, and how many do you require to go from start to finish? What or how many different grit types do you use?
HI, welcome to the hobby! that is a very long and broad-viewed conversation, way too big to hold in a text box in the comments section here. Luckily, there are a lot of videos that address this subject on YT, I highly recommend watching as many of them as possible. It's not a one-size-fits-all idea so you'll have to take in a lot of info and sort it out to suit your personal needs.
Good evening Sir I got a question? I you had the choice to have three stones due to moving a lot "military" because you bearly have space and you don't to have a moving quarry, what you recommend
Great question with a lot of possible great answers but cost is a major consideration here. What I would use and what I'd recommend are, prob, two different things. I have a lot of experence. Someone learning how to hone is going to have different needs. But - in general.... Least expensive and smallest footprint. 1.5k Shapton pro, a coticule, and then a linen strop and some finishing paste. Most expensive but max flexibility. 1.5k Shapton, Coticule, very hard Jnat with full Nagura set. Literally - there are probably 100 different combos that would work here though.
My wife gave me a coticule I have already a dovo strop but the other two stones no clue but I will follow your advice because you have light year's of experience thanks and I am a fan because you talk like real people with a day job and I started to understand that honing you need to do it because you enjoy doing and not trying to imitate some "troll know it all" thanks again for your advice and time Sir.
You're welcome and thank you and if you need help choosing/selecting just check out my Etsy shop and send me messages there if you have more questions. www.etsy.com/shop/TomoNagura
Really enjoy this video. Agree 100% on the speed honing bullish$it.. It's not a race! Only problem is I now want to swap my 1k pro to an 1.5k.. The green stuff on the 1k makes a mess.
hi Keith, how are ya man? so I have the shapton 1k... do you think its worth it to me to get the 1.5, or would that just be beating a dead horse? also I have the 12k, I've heard that the 15k is practically the same grit. the 12 being ha no kuramaku, the 15 being pro. is there a difference in grit or are the 2 marketed different according to the different grading of grit size, in the different regions. pro being marketed to us, ha no kuramaku being over seas.... or am I making zero sense and losing my mind?
Compared to the 1k Pro - the 1.5k is a much nicer option to hone on IMO; I believe the performance is better suited to setting bevels on razors - that's more like an 800x stone tbh. The 12k and 15k Pro stones map out the same to me - there was some marketing b/s from Shapton USA about a binder difference but side by side, they hone the same to me. You're making perfect sense but that doesn't mean you're not losing your mind! Lol... jk, good to see you here and thanks for watching and the comment too!
I thought I cant survived over 1 hr of honing video but I was wrong. After watching this video and reading your webside I am feeling like theorical expert in honing LOL
Straight razors are designed/made so that the spine is part of the geometry - so yes, in a way, that makes it a guide because the width of the spine determines the angle of the bevel.
Hi - sorry, but I'm just way too busy to take on any outside projects. I barely have the time to take care of what is on my plate as it is. I refer all honing queries to Nelson G.
Bloody awesome video as usual. I have a question. I’m about to lay out some dosh for my first stone. Have found Shapton to be in my budget and availability. Could I also use these stones to sharpen my kitchen knives or would I spoil them. I would obviously want to use them for main purpose of honing my straight razor. Appreciate the advice! J
Keith V. Johnson I also get what you said on the “ touch up” stone. Ie and this is just me confirming what I’ve learnt. But if it’s just to “ touch up”. You don’t need to take it all the way back to 1k or 1.5. However if I been shaving with same blade for a while and it’s “ shuddering” perhaps a bit on each stone .... checking the bevel..... then moving up gradually should do the trick? Given there’s no damage to blade. Is that the basics of it?
That's pretty cool, I just started recently and I got a pentax k-50. I'm still trying to learn it so i'm mostly just shooting birds and animals in my back yard.
Man I love the depth of knowledge on stones and quarrying of stones. I hate buying stones on a trial basis because its an expensive way to learn.
Thank you for watching and commenting! Yeah, it can get expensive, you're right about that for sure.
It's funny how much thought is put into the honing, stroping, using a straight razor. Our great grandparents would just smak the razor a few times on whatever hone they had and would remove hair from their face. Thank you for the honing lesson. I wish I had this info 25 years ago when I started teaching myself to use and hone straight razors.
Seems like that on the surface, but back in the early 1900s, a lot of thought went into honing/stropping/etc - it's just that no one made a big deal out of it. People were different back then, social media was bingo games, fish frys and church sales. Also, there were fewer choices than we have today. Typically, shaving was taught from father to son - that ended in the 40s/50s for the most part. Now its taught via videos and forums. My grandfather had several barber hones, strops, compounds, etc. I had a barber's kit from 1889 that was chock full of hones and strops and stuff. Barbering catalogs from the 1800s are telling, tons and tons of gear was offered. The hone pages alone are amazing. But no one ran out into the street yelling about it, like people do on the internet today. Back then, their version of YT was the monthly visit to the barbershop, maybe. Go further back, most guys didn't even own a razor so anything/everything about shaving was learned in the barbershop.
@Keith V. Johnson very cool. im going to try and find some of the old barber catalogs. Sounds very interesting to look at. Thank again.
I really appreciate your straightforward attitude and comprehensive approach to your videos. Keep up the good work!
Thank you for watching and commenting John! Happy Honing!
Every time I watch one of you guys I learn something. Thanks for making this.
Awesome, thank you for watching and commenting!
Please, could you tell me where or how I can get the amazing wooden holder appearing in this video? I find your work extremelly useful and I really like the straightforward way of looking at things when referring to razor honing. Keep up your good work!
Hi, thank you for watching and commenting! That stand is a Japanese Dai. I used to sell them in my Etsy store, the one in this video was made from Hinoki wood.
New to the game and I am learning a tremendous amount from you. Really appreciate your straight talk, no frills presentation. Thanks for sharing the benefit of your years of experience with the community.
Cool comment - thanks for watching and sharing!
I can't get enough of these videos! And I agree wholeheartedly with your last statement before finishing that those "highly educated"types have difficulty with application of the knowledge. I think many of them forget that much of what they learn is theory. I have a saying that "there are those that talk about it, and there are those that simply go and be about it..."
GREAT STUFF man. Great stuff. I just bought a set of stones because I now have 3 razors and it's going to get expensive real fast to take them to get sharpened and honed regularly. I use my razors my to shave a scraggly beard and my entire head which is like shaving the cheeks and chin 3 times. And the last blade I bought was new, I took it to get shave ready to a really good shop who did my last razor (different type of steel, I think) and I paid and got it home to shave, and wouldn't you know it? It was no better than when I first took it out of the box. So I decided I'm gonna learn to do this myself.
So again, I thank you for teaching just by doing and talking from a realist's perspective. In your other video you say, you just gotta do it. That's me in a nutshell. Looking forward to this journey.
Thank you for sharing - and watching the video too!
Great videos Keith. I love your no bs attitude towards this preoccupation of ours. This video reminded me of the days when I first got my first Sheffield wedge and all the forum gurus were telling me to slap multiple layers of tape to hone it. It never shaved well and of course I blamed myself. One day I put a caliper on the old W&B and realized I was honing to a bevel angle pushing 21 degrees I lost the tape reset the damn thing and it shaves like it was supposed to. Thanks for affirming what my gut feeling was telling me all along. Cheers.
Those damn gurus! lol. ... Thanks for watching, great comment too!
You could do these Audio only and they would still be great. You just keep popping out with the great videos and even greater monologues. Bravo.
As always James, I really appreciate your candor and support - thank you.
thats what i just thought haha like a podcast 😄
Makes so little sense to me but I've been freehand sharpening knives as a side business for almost a decade yet learning to sharpen a razor the last few months is totally foreign. I've shaved my face super comfortably with knives a whole lot of times, but doing it with the appropriate tool is tricky.
Every time I walk away from your videos, I feel more confident and eager to get some steel on some stone. I know I'll never buy a new razor again, I'm willing to pay the dues. Thanks Keith
Cool comment - thank you!
Safe to say that this vid and the bevel setting vid I have watched for every bevel set*
Classics!!👍👍
Thank you for watching and commenting, it's always good to know that these vids are helpful! Happy Honing!
Hey Keith, I use a Sharpton 1K/1.5K combo stone - the glued combo I got from you a few years ago. Love it! The 1K has it's place but I prefer the 1.5K - it just sounds right. I was picking up some of the sound from yours.
Wow - you still have that home-made combo, very cool! Agreed - the 1.5k is the way to go. Totally.
Another classic Keith. You had me laughing out loud a few times here. When I started honing I used tape all of the time and now I'm starting to see the benefits of not using tape unless necessary especially on my Japanese blades. Doesn't sound like much but that 1 degree change from 1 layer of tape can make a difference. Good stuff again. Looking forward to the next video where you describe why you don't dilute your slurry.
Hey Greg - thanks for watching, really glad to hear you enjoyed it too!
Great stuff, I always come away from your videos having learnt at least two or three (or more!) new things, thank you Keith!
Really good to hear you're picking up some of the stuff I'm puttin' down.. lol. Thank you for watching and thank you for your support too!
You sir sound like one cool Wise Guy! You know your shit and you don't talk shit: both qualities I hold in high esteem! Keep up the excellent work!
Thanks for watching Tony, I appreciate the support!
Keith I was wondering is there a certain amount of laps you are doing on each stone? Seems like your honing for along amount of time. I’m using 1000 super stone, 3000 chosera, 8000 shapton then a 12,000 Naniwa GOUKEN Kagyaki. To set the bevel to finish it takes me about 25-30 minutes. Should I be spending some more time on a certain stone?
Hello!
No, I don't count laps, or hone for a set amount of time, or try to go fast. I like to immerse myself in what I am doing so I can enjoy it. Time is irrelevant for me when I am honing. This is just fun for me, not a chore. I don't time it. Some people hone faster, some slower. I tend to focus on what I am doing, and not compare of judge what others do. It takes as long as it takes.
That said, the videos are just demonstrations, they are not meant to be a 'do it this way' kind of thing. What you see, or think you see, is not necessarily what happens or how it happens when I am not making a video. The lack of a need to hone faster is the main reason. But for videos I turn it down a notch for a couple of other reasons; one is that I don't use a script, everything I say is spur of the moment. Being more conservative with actions and approach allows me to assemble and verbalize thoughts into coherent passages. Sometimes I spend more time on a stage so I can complete a thought. Moving slower allows a better view of what's happening on the stone. The tactile and audible feedback presents better when going slower too. Speed tends to blur the feedback, and it will give a false positive on undercut.
Bevels are done when they are done. Same for the rest of the progression.
There is no way to time the work, or assign a set number of laps for any stage. If someone wants to hone faster, that's their thing. The only thing that matters is if the work is done correctly, it's not better or worse to go faster or slower. If I have a razor in good condition the honing is faster than when I am starting with an auction site save. Rolling stroke blades take exponentially longer because the entire edge isn't on the stone all at the same time.
Every bevel starts off with a different condition, every piece of steel has different hardness and wear resistance. Every user applies pressure differently. So there are all these variables to deal with. The only method that works is to hone until I am done and however long it takes is how long it takes. Longest I've spend on a rough bevel is probably 90 minutes, shortest is probably 7-8 minutes. Depends on the blade and my mood and which stones, etc, etc, etc,
I spend the bulk of my time on 1.5k and whatever the next stone is.
How long that takes depends on myriad variables. Setting a bevel that I can get a 3 pass shave with requires time on the stones. There's no getting around that.
My 8k and 12k efforts usually take less than a minute combined.
Shanogie; you have a hilarious selections of words! As always enjoyed the video. Rewarding results staying on the 1.5k. Thanks for your video's.
Thanks for watching and the kind word Mark. The Shinogi - 鎬 - is the ridgeline on a sword that seperates the Mune from the Ha. I usually refer to the line of the bevel that is closest to the spine as the Shinogi because it reminds of that part of a sword. It's just one of those things I picked up along the way..... lol.
Great sense of humor! Cheers man! Like always very informative and interesting video!
Thank you so much!
you are always welcome!
1:03:07 Do you finish on just water with black Arkansas? Is there a difference between swarf and slurry?
sometimes water, sometimes water & soap, sometimes glycerine with water, sometimes oil. Slurry is from rubbing two stones together, swarf is slurry plus abraded metal from the blade.
@@KeithVJohnson1 Thanks! I will need to look for a video you do with soap and water. I've never heard of such a thing. I use to shampoo my hair with vinegar for years. Not sure why I stopped.
A tiny bit of soap breaks the water's surface tension, and it adds some lubricant to the mix too. It's a nice finishing liquid. But only use a very very teensy bit of soap.
I dont like using diamond plates for nagura either. The edge is definitely different in the way it feels.
Henk Bos' article on coticules explains how the diamond cuts the slurry differently and it affects the stone.
Thanks Keith, another great video and excellent information!
It's always good to hear when people are getting something out of these videos James, so thanks for sharing and watching!
You talk about finisher, pre finisher, and middle? stones. Are these all specifically natural stones? Do you start on artificial stones then progress to the "middle" natural stone? Or is there a lower grade natural stone before the middle stone?
Sometimes I use synthetic stones for early and mid-range work. Sometimes I use natural stones instead.
I see. Thank you!
This... This video right here... I've been watching these videos for hours - this video is the first one that mentioned the black marker trick to check the edge. Tried that - saw my spots not getting hit... BOOM... got my edge on a cheap amazon 20 dollar razor - though there was so much work to be done, I dropped down to a 400 for the quick work then back up to the 1k.
A lot of (almost all of) those inexpensive amazon razors are made from soft steel, so you may get an edge and then lose it quickly, or it might not take at all.
@@KeithVJohnson1 Yeah I didn't anticipate it being a super nice razor when I got it - but it's been a great learning tool. I was able to get the cheap one to shave - though not a great shave. We'll see what happens when I buy a nicer one next week. I'm thinking a dovo?
If you are learning to hone - I would suggest picking up a couple of vintage razors that don't have huge obvious issue - you can probably get 2-3 of them for the price of a new Dovo. You can beat up on them and once you're skills are in place you can get a new new blade and you'll be ready to hone it without putting excessive wear on it.
Nice watch.
Happy Honing!
What does it mean when you say under cut?
when the water runs up over the edge onto the blade. As if the edge is 'cutting under' the water.
Ok, thank you for explaining that.
Hi Keith, I've been watching along while honing a blade of my own. I've also extended the spine over the edge by the heel creating as you called a 'chevron' but was wondering if this will comprismise the edge at some point or if I can continue to wear it all the same?
Sorry, I don't understand what you are describing or referring to. Could you explain in detail or point out a time-stamp in the video as a reference?
Hello, I was referencing around 34:50 in your video. I just wondered if continuing to hone would inevitably cause issues with that segemented part of the steel. Maybe you might have asked before but why would a blade be designed like such? It seems counterintuitive to obstruct the last cm or so of the blade... anyways I don't know so much about this yet :)
@@Brandon-mr2oh I can't find anywhere I used the word chevron - sometimes time stamps are off on different viewers I think. Long ago, tolerances were not tight, perfection took a back seat to making more money, etc - so a lot of razors were made 'imperfectly'. Honing errors ocross 100 years takes a toll too.
Ah I reviewed your video a little more to clarify myself, so the shoulder is what is strange to me, as you say around 36:20 there will be discrepancy with bizzare heel/toe. If the shoulder makes it difficult for us to hone equally, why is it designed such? Other than my possibly irrelevant question.. when honing onto the shoulder in order to extend your bevel at the heel would I want to take care not to create much more than a small stretch of the spine? Hopefully i'm making a little more sense. Thank you for the help.
@@Brandon-mr2oh There's no way to imagine what to do with an imaginary razor. You have to take each situation as it comes and work with it to achieve the desired results. How anyone approaches each of their own challenges is up to them.
Are you torquing the blade's edge into the stone heavily, lightly, or not at all? Great information, as well. I'm about halfway done with all of your videosn(I've been watching for a couple of months now). Just ordered a Shapton Glass 1k to set bevels with instead of the very cheap 1k from Amazon I purchased 😐
Torque and pressure depend on the blade and the work needed to be done. I do all of the above, but not all at once and not all the time. Thank you for watching and commenting!
I'm new to honing razors, from what source do you get your stones from, and how many do you require to go from start to finish? What or how many different grit types do you use?
HI, welcome to the hobby! that is a very long and broad-viewed conversation, way too big to hold in a text box in the comments section here. Luckily, there are a lot of videos that address this subject on YT, I highly recommend watching as many of them as possible. It's not a one-size-fits-all idea so you'll have to take in a lot of info and sort it out to suit your personal needs.
Hi Keith, very nice vide. I learn much of you. I have a lot of stones but not the jnat. Do you sell them?
Hi, I sell hones on Etsy. link is in the description. Thank you for watching and commenting. Happy Honing!
@@KeithVJohnson1 Thanks for answering. When your shop is open again I wil order one.
Good evening Sir I got a question? I you had the choice to have three stones due to moving a lot "military" because you bearly have space and you don't to have a moving quarry, what you recommend
Great question with a lot of possible great answers but cost is a major consideration here.
What I would use and what I'd recommend are, prob, two different things. I have a lot of experence. Someone learning how to hone is going to have different needs.
But - in general....
Least expensive and smallest footprint.
1.5k Shapton pro, a coticule, and then a linen strop and some finishing paste.
Most expensive but max flexibility.
1.5k Shapton, Coticule, very hard Jnat with full Nagura set.
Literally - there are probably 100 different combos that would work here though.
My wife gave me a coticule I have already a dovo strop but the other two stones no clue but I will follow your advice because you have light year's of experience thanks and I am a fan because you talk like real people with a day job and I started to understand that honing you need to do it because you enjoy doing and not trying to imitate some "troll know it all" thanks again for your advice and time Sir.
You're welcome and thank you and if you need help choosing/selecting just check out my Etsy shop and send me messages there if you have more questions. www.etsy.com/shop/TomoNagura
Really enjoy this video.
Agree 100% on the speed honing bullish$it.. It's not a race!
Only problem is I now want to swap my 1k pro to an 1.5k.. The green stuff on the 1k makes a mess.
Exactly - it's not a race, well said. I think the 1k pro is orange, not green? It's been a while since I used one though.
Keith V. Johnson I was talking about the naniwa 1k pro.. Not the shapton..
Thought that might be the case.
hi Keith, how are ya man?
so I have the shapton 1k... do you think its worth it to me to get the 1.5, or would that just be beating a dead horse?
also I have the 12k, I've heard that the 15k is practically the same grit. the 12 being ha no kuramaku, the 15 being pro. is there a difference in grit or are the 2 marketed different according to the different grading of grit size, in the different regions. pro being marketed to us, ha no kuramaku being over seas.... or am I making zero sense and losing my mind?
Compared to the 1k Pro - the 1.5k is a much nicer option to hone on IMO; I believe the performance is better suited to setting bevels on razors - that's more like an 800x stone tbh. The 12k and 15k Pro stones map out the same to me - there was some marketing b/s from Shapton USA about a binder difference but side by side, they hone the same to me. You're making perfect sense but that doesn't mean you're not losing your mind! Lol... jk, good to see you here and thanks for watching and the comment too!
I thought I cant survived over 1 hr of honing video but I was wrong. After watching this video and reading your webside I am feeling like theorical expert in honing LOL
Cool - I appreciate the support! Thank you for watching!
so the spine is a guide?
Straight razors are designed/made so that the spine is part of the geometry - so yes, in a way, that makes it a guide because the width of the spine determines the angle of the bevel.
bt the spine wears down over time doesn't t? I have seen people tape it. would you recommend?
The spine is supposed to wear down, that is how the bevel angle is maintained.
Huge question bud. Would you start a bevel on my w&b?
Hi - sorry, but I'm just way too busy to take on any outside projects. I barely have the time to take care of what is on my plate as it is. I refer all honing queries to Nelson G.
thanks for the info bud
Bloody awesome video as usual. I have a question. I’m about to lay out some dosh for my first stone. Have found Shapton to be in my budget and availability. Could I also use these stones to sharpen my kitchen knives or would I spoil them. I would obviously want to use them for main purpose of honing my straight razor. Appreciate the advice! J
Shapton Pro stones are fine for cutlery; they're hard enough to deal with the pressure easily. They work well for razors also.
Keith V. Johnson thank you for a straight answer ;-). Just placed my order for my very first 1.5 k stone :-))). Enjoying the journey!
Keith V. Johnson I also get what you said on the “ touch up” stone. Ie and this is just me confirming what I’ve learnt. But if it’s just to “ touch up”. You don’t need to take it all the way back to 1k or 1.5. However if I been shaving with same blade for a while and it’s “ shuddering” perhaps a bit on each stone .... checking the bevel..... then moving up gradually should do the trick? Given there’s no damage to blade. Is that the basics of it?
Not really sure what you mean by shuddering but moving gradually is usually a good plan.
When you get a raw stone, how or what do you use to lap it flat?
Depends - I have a 'Lapping' playlist actually, not sure where you will find it, maybe at the bottom of the 'video's page.
As a noobie thanx for the intel 😉 it's a big help
You're welcome Aaron, and thank you for watching and commenting!
Do you own the DSLR's just for product photography? Or do you do other kinds of photography as well?
I have one of my DSLRs with me every day, all day long, everywhere I go. I use them for whatever, whenever.
I'd ask what cameras you use, but that's usually a good way to start a flame war on the internet :^)
Maybe it's hard to tell but I'm sorta used to flame wars on the internet. Lol. At the moment I have a Nikon D810 and a D750.
That's pretty cool, I just started recently and I got a pentax k-50. I'm still trying to learn it so i'm mostly just shooting birds and animals in my back yard.
Awesome!
What magnification loupe do you use?
90% of the time I use a 4x .
Sounds like you had couple bumps ...
Great video Keith, what stone is that 1.5k?
Shapton Pro 1.5k.
@@KeithVJohnson1 Hi Keith, is that shapton a narutal stone. It looks like one.
@@pontisexmaximus Shapton makes synthetic stones.
31:30 Violent undercut
What magnifying glass do you use? Thanks
I usually use a 4x photo loupe.
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Это натуральная бритва!