Thread: How Many Can You Hone?

Hello honers,
I was just sitting here realizing that I haven't honed in a long time being busy, but still purchasing and accepting friends blades to hone I had a pile up of 14 blades of various needs. Most needed to be brought from a low grit stone and 5 wedges in the mix this is taking all day. It is almos 4pm and I just started hitting the 12k naniwa.
So how many razors do you limit yourself to when you have a mass honing session? I know this doesn't apply to everyone, but in the advanced honing section I was hoping to hit some of the guys honing professionally or anyone else as crazy as I am.

I limit myself to 8 blades per day max, that is all I can test shave at one time anyway, and it is a comfortable number...

I run about a half and half mix between "Simple" honing and "Restorations"

Most weeks I average 30-35 razors

One thing that I have learned the hard way though is to walk away, I set up a rack of razors and start honing but if one doesn't bevel set the first time through, I try again, if it still isn't there, I set it aside and continue with the rest of the razors. Once I have all the rest bevel set, I come back to the problem child, and try once more, but that is it for that razor on that day.. I will set it aside until the next day and continue on with the others...
I used to work that one razor until I got it right, but no longer, three tries to the bevel set is more than enough for one session IMHO, keeps me in a much better frame of mind while honing

I've maxed out at six, for two reasons. One, at that particular point in time that's how many I had on the bench to hone in one sitting. Two, my fingers got a tad sore....so if it happened again, I think I'd limit it to six.

I'm comfortable with 4 at once. Mostly because I'm still a toddler when it comes to the life of a honer like Glen, Max, Sham or Lynn.

When Joed weighs in, you'll be surprised. Didn't he do like 40?

I will do about 4-6 at the most when I hone.
Life rarely allows me time enough for any more than that.
I do enjoy it very much, so there are days when I sit up hours after the rest of the house have gone to bed.
Night-honing actually seems to be the norm these days

From your post I seem to get the feeling that you are doing all your honing on one stone at the time?
That is, you will finish one stage on all razors before moving up to the next level in the progression?
I wonder if that's what most guys do?
Me, I tend to do one razor from start to finish, then move on to the next one.

Originally Posted by Birnando

I will do about 4-6 at the most when I hone.
Life rarely allows me time enough for any more than that.
I do enjoy it very much, so there are days when I sit up hours after the rest of the house have gone to bed.
Night-honing actually seems to be the norm these days

From your post I seem to get the feeling that you are doing all your honing on one stone at the time?
That is, you will finish one stage on all razors before moving up to the next level in the progression?
I wonder if that's what most guys do?
Me, I tend to do one razor from start to finish, then move on to the next one.

You are correct. I find that method best for me. I'm less likely to use an improper technique for the stone in hand that way. I also will allow myself a one grit allowance so if I feel that I could have done better at the previous stone I will go back, but if I have a problem razor I will hone It from bevel to finisher in one sitting just so I can focus on what could be a potential problem.
Glen: I still need to teach myself to walk away, but I'm working on it.

Depending of the condition of the razors honed I can go up to 8 at once, from bevel setting to finish. If it is a touch up then well who knows I have never had to work with many razors at a time that need only a refresh.
When I have to fix frowns or large chips then the number goes down. Wedges with problems can really slow down the output.

I like to get all the bevels set (not always all at once), and then take everything up together. It's the bevels that take most of the time, the rest isn't so bad when you're in the groove.

I really prefer to spend a day or two on a razor. There is just something nice about the thoroughness I feel if I dedicate more than two hours, spread over at least one sunrise.

One or two at the most in a session for me. I don't normally hone for other people though. I spoke to Lynn the other day and he told me that he hones from 4 to 6 hours a day. I would end up hating it if I had to do that. But than again, grinding away on a tattoo for hours is fine with me. Different strokes for different folks I guess.