Thread: Get in line!

I have a honing question that I hope y'all will be able to answer for me.

Background: I got in my new SG 20 K, and was really excited to bring it home to try it out. I thought that since it's the weekend I'm out also take this time to learn a little bit about my hones under the microscope. So I grab my laboratory microscope from work brought it home and set it up and started honing.

The magnification is at 100x. I done my normal routine using my Chosera 1k, Shapton 4K, 8K, 16K. Before moving to my SG 20 K, I tried to get the most out of my 16 K. I done about 15 strokes on the 16 K, and was afraid that I may have done too many strokes. I thought this because the edge it looked jagged. I went ahead and went to the 20 K and done 10 strokes just for learning sake. Then I looked under the microscope and examined the edge, And then done 10 more strokes. At this point I noticed something unusual. My Edgeline started tightening up. I done 10 more strokes, and looked under the microscope and noticed that my Edgeline was tightening up even more without any chipping. I've done five more strokes and noticed the same thing and called it done, And stropped the edge and test shaved. And the test shave seemed to have done very well.

However my question is not about anything to do with the test shave but rather has anyone ever noticed this tightening of the edge on this finishing stone using so many strokes and not seen edge failure. I would have thought I would have seen chipping but haven't yet. I will see over the course of a few shaves whether the edge is going to hold or not but do you think that I wasn't doing possibly enough work on previous grits?

Feel free to ask questions, because I feel as if I had I hard time getting my thoughts across well.

Any picks ??

Yeah. They are just not as clear as if they were in person.

1k


4k


8k


16k


20k-10 strokes


20k - 20 strokes


20k - 35 strokes


Stropped

I'm no pro, but that looks like some pretty deeps scratch marks after using your finisher.... I see a much smoother surface, almost mirror like, from my 8/12k... they look as deep as the grind marks

Originally Posted by ecormier

I'm no pro, but that looks like some pretty deeps scratch marks after using your finisher.... I see a much smoother surface, almost mirror like, from my 8/12k... they look as deep as the grind marks

All the more to learn from. Like I said, I'm afraid I'm not doing enough lower grit work.

too many random scratches on that bevel IMHO. In your pics I can see a large scratch all the way from 1k to 20k, that should at least become a lot shallower over the progression.
I am not sure what tightening of the edge means, but 30-35 strokes on the hone does it for me. Some people have stated that the edge starts to over hone ~50 strokes, never tested it my self.

Well in y'alls opinion what would be the best course of action to fix the scratch problem? Go back to the 4k and work my way up again?

Originally Posted by rlmnshvstr8

Well in y'alls opinion what would be the best course of action to fix the scratch problem? Go back to the 4k and work my way up again?

Go back to the 1k and until the scratch pattern is uniform do not move up. From your pic at 1k your bevel is not yet set IMO.

For me the lower grits is where I fee the work is really done. My progression is somewhat similar to yours - Naniwa 1k, 5k, 8k, 12k and the Suehiro 20k. After setting the bevel (it's own task all together) I really put time in on the 5k and 8k steps. Then just 10-20 strokes on each are thereafter.

My guess is that your self diagnosis is right- more work setting the bevel and in the lower grits will mean less work for that 20k.

Originally Posted by Substance

Any picks ??

And yes- Kentucky over Duke by 12.