Honing Obsession Continues:

Now that both of my straight razors are back and have an edge on them that NOTHING that's currently manufactured even comes close to, my obsession with Japanese natural water stones or "jnats" as I like to call them has been increased by 10 fold now. The stone that you see in the photo will NOT be needed for a really long time and no it was NOT used today except for photo purposes only. Today, I missed out on a honing meet up held by the Face Book group, The Gold Dollar Shave Club earlier this afternoon which I'm batting a 1,000 on when it comes to attending meet ups in general especially the honing meet ups. It's an opportunity to be completely independent and here's why. Once you learn the basics of honing and know what's involved and get some time in using various honing stones, you'll NEVER have to rely on a supplier or manufacturer again when it comes to having a sharp edge that's truly shave ready. You also don't have to worry about getting a bad edge either because you have the skills to put an edge on a razor that may be questionable or got sent out with no edge on it:

Plus after you start honing your own straight razors, you kindly end up liking your own edges as opposed to shaving with one from the various vendors that sell straight razors and offer a honing service and/or take the time to make sure that a razor they sell goes out truly shave ready. So get out there to these meet ups and try to find out when the next honing meet up is if you want to be truly independent and not rely on various vendors out there for straight razor honing and for sure don't be afraid to show people what you know and to experiment various techniques out there. By doing this, you will be keeping the straight razor hobby going. And who knows. Maybe one day someone you showed the basics of honing to might go on to teach others which is fantastic.