Becoming a priestess of the Ancient Greek Oracle at Delphi was a lot of work. Preparing to take part in the Oracle ceremony was exhausting for both priestess and seeker of knowledge. One of Socrates' students asked the Oracle (the Pythia) at Delphi if Socrates was the wisest man in Greece. The Oracle said he was. Socrates was puzzled, and remarked that rather than being the wisest, really he knew nothing! Later, in his travels, he learned that many who claimed wisdom, or were lauded as wise, actually knew nothing. His conclusion: at least he knows he knows nothing and is honest about it.

Straight shaving often appears to be cultish. We appear to have lots of "hidden knowledge" and many "keepers of the mystic arts", especially when it comes to honing. You can quickly become lost and disoriented when even reading about stones, films, balsa hones/strops, artificial versus natural materials, how to use them, how often, and in what order, and more. A haughty "honemeister" might ask you "what kind of edge do you want?" then deliver a belittling sneer if you reply "well, a sharp edge that shaves well would be nice..."

Folks have been shaving with copper razors since at least 3000 BC. Steel is great, and stainless steel is great, too. Yay, technology! But like the ancients, we take metal blades, and we keep them sharp with some abrasive surface like stone, and cloth & leather. Every now and again, someone will reference the master who can keep his razor honed with a concrete block and a few newsprint pages from the want ads (higher ink density means more abrasive from the carbon black, by the way), but usually we see attempts to make honing more complicated than it has to be. It almost appears that people try to substitute complexity and mystery for effort and experience.

This behavior is the worst thing for the straight razor shaving community. And here's why: every time you brag about the ridiculous lengths to which you go to hone, someone decides that a $4-per-cartridge Fusion isn't so bad after all, if he has to put up with learning how to use a dozen methods of honing before even finding one he likes -- and then investing years of time and tons of money getting good at that one method.

Are there differences in hones, films, pastes, etc.? Of course there are. Might some work better for you than others? Maybe.

At least one version of an old axiom (probably authored by Elmer Keith) says "beware the man with only one gun: he knows how it shoots." Now, I got lucky: Paul is my friend. He loaned me a great coticule (and a slurry stone) and taught me to use it. Teaching me only took him a few hours. After a few months, he sold me the stones for a nice price. Now I get a great edge and great shaves, and I can maintain my two razors myself, with (for now) one stone. I hardly think of this coticule, the edge it delivers, or my skillset to be "KMart" grade, even though I'm still a beginner.

But some honemeister is admonishing readers about how I must buy every stone, film, hone, spray, strop, and even brush before I can truly achieve greatness. Or rather, he did, and since he's so great, I have to get a 50,000 grit stone as well, or else I'm just a “sorely lacking” straight shaver.

Ignore his story, and ones like it. Get a quality 4/8 or 5/8 razor, a good linen/leather strop, a serviceable stone (maybe two -- the second one of a coarser grit), and learn to use them all. Nothing else besides shaving soap and a brush is necessary. Don't change your equipment for a long time. Learn every facet of your gear by using them exclusively. You will perhaps encounter shortcomings of your gear, but you'll identify them faster, and perhaps learn how to counter them (unless you have a warped blade or something similarly catastrophic). If you keep changing variables in hope of randomly finding the silver bullet (or worse, if you systematically change variables without learning anything), you won't feel compelled to "just make it work" with the tools you have. It's dis-empowering if you think the next item might "fix everything," rather than working to get a good shave today with the tools you have. We should stop intimidating people, and instead teach them that straight razor shaving and honing skills are attainable, without requiring they slay the Hydra, shovel out the Augean stables, etc.

Barbers in the last few centuries did not have sacred knowledge that is hidden from you. They consulted no oracle, nor performed miracles. They apprenticed, they learned, they practiced and improved, and that's it. I doubt many American or European barbers in the last century were obsessing about getting a Japanese hone (or razor, for that matter), because they were able to do their work well without worrying about unnecessary knowledge and expenses. I fully expect the Japanese barbers had a similar experience.

I also expect the response from these "new Oracles" to be something like "that's great if it works for you, but real honemeisters..." etc.

Ignore this attempt at creating a new priestly class: It is in their interest to convince you they know something you don't, so you'll pay them for access to their "hidden knowledge." Honing doesn't have to be expensive! Better still, you can learn to hone. I no longer pay $20 + shipping to have my razors honed. It's not magic, but it might feel that way when you realize you can do it yourself.