Thread: Honing on Wet & Dry… Oh no…

Honing on Wet & Dry… Oh no…

Recently, in a honing thread, it was asked, if 1k wet & dry could be used in place of a 1k stone and there was a reply, that doing so could ruin a razor.

Now, I have honed on wet & dry, though admittedly it was years ago, when I first began experimenting with lapping film. And as I recall, it worked fine and not one razor was ruined.

So, I had some beaters, that came in a collection, I recently purchased and thought, I would try honing on 1k paper again.

For the test I used a half hollow, Henckel 91, that I had cleaned up on the buffers with 600 greaseless, and Green and Pink rouge. The edge was a bit rough but no, large chips, the edge was fairly straight. I put 2 layers of tape on the spine.

I used 3M, 1,000 grit, wet and dry, and cut a piece to size, of a glass plate. I used just water, to stick the paper to the plate. I held it, to the paper for the first few laps, it then stuck to the plate well, curling a bit at the edge.

The feel was much like a Norton 1k, maybe a bit grittier. After 10 laps the bevel was meeting in the middle, with a nice even stria pattern and a straight edge. It was easily tree topping arm hair, but the heel and toe need some more work.

I jointed the edge on the corner of a 1k Chosera and did 10 more heel forward, X laps, to hone the heel and toe. After a total of 20 laps, (10 more) the bevel was completely set and cutting hair from heel to toe, with a nice, straight edge. The Wet and Dry, is much more aggressive than a stone, but not so aggressive that it burned through the first layer of tape.

I did about 6, more straight laps to lay down a straight, edge to spine stria pattern.

I then marked the mid-point of the razor with green sharpie and honed the toe end of the razor 20 more laps, and looked at the stria pattern with 100X magnification.

The stria pattern on both ends, looked almost identical, if anything, the Wet & Dry end looked a bit more uniform than the Chosera.

I then, honed the razor normally, and after about 20 laps on a Naniwia 2k the entire bevel looked identical from heel to toe. The rest of the honing went without incident and honed easily and well, finished on a 20kSG and stropped on .50 CBN.

The razor shaved nicely, just like an old Henckles should.

The bottom line is 1k Wet & Dry, can easily be used in place of a 1k, it is actually more aggressive, than a Chosera, but the edge was as straight as a Chosera edge. Wet & Dry might be good for repair work. I have found similar aggressive results with film and with the same even stria pattern, probably because the grit is more even on paper and you don’t have to deal with the binder.

The down side is the paper wants to curl, so you do have to be careful with your stroke, but you can do any stroke, to not tear the paper, that you would do, with any 1k stone.

The grit rating, (Stone vs Paper) is not an issue, as the stria pattern was almost identical to the Chosera. See if you can tell which photos are from the Chosera and which are from the Wet and Dry.

So, when you see guys make statements, that just don’t make sense, don’t take their word, try it yourself and see what happens. In this case, 1k is 1k, and if you had a 4/8 or 3/8k stone and were maintaining a handful of razors, you could easily use Wet & Dry, to set a bevel and even do minor edge repair work, use the 4/8k for the heavy lifting, and put off buying a 1k stone.

Your last paragraph,

"So, when you see guys make statements, that just don’t make sense, don’t take their word, try it yourself and see what happens. In this case, 1k is 1k, and if you had a 4/8 or 3/8k stone and were maintaining a handful of razors, you could easily use Wet & Dry, to set a bevel and even do minor edge repair work, use the 4/8k for the heavy lifting, and put off buying a 1k stone."

,,tied the post together for me. I am concerned that you were advocating the use of wet/dry over a stone. The only reason this concerns me is the "new to honing" member might want to skip buying the stone and their skills don't match yours. As you know the bevel is king and I see some new members making a mess of it with wet/dry.

1K stones are cheap Euclid.

I have used 1K, 1.5K and 2k for chip removal and repair work. I find I go through the wet/dry much quicker than film, but it can work!

“The only reason this concerns me is the "new to honing" member might want to skip buying the stone and their skills don't match yours. As you know the bevel is king and I see some new members making a mess of it with wet/dry.”

“1K stones are cheap Euclid.”

Agreed, but 1k Wet & Dry will not “Ruin” a razor.

Even if one did not fully set a bevel with the Wet & Dry, and just got them flat. The 3 or 4k would easily bring them to meeting.

If you were maintaining 2 or 3 razors, you would only need to bevel set it once, then a 3 or 4k could easily maintain it. Really either could bevel set it with just a bit of pressure.

It not only works, it works very well…

Point is, try it.

+1. I too have used sandpaper on many occasions with great success. Not too long ago people were saying Arkansas stones were no good for razors as the translucent is only 1200 grit. Today we know better. They also used to say if you tape a bevel, you would have to grind away on a 1k stone to remove the "tape effect". Glenn and many others have proved this inaccurate. Or that if you use paste on a razor for upkeep eventually it will grind away into oblivion or you will ruin it somehow. Again, Glenn along with many others tested this "theory" by using CrOx daily for months and months and some for years with no ill effect. Thank you for posting your findings.

Yep I can hone on 1k sandpaper and some of you can too, because you already know how to hone..

But to give that fast a cutting medium to a newb with a recommendation "That it Works" I find to be irresponsible


Sorry but I would not recommend it for that reason alone..


Your razors your choice

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Yep I can hone on 1k sandpaper and some of you can too, because you already know how to hone..

But to give that fast a cutting medium to a newb with a recommendation "That it Works" I find to be irresponsible


Sorry but I would not recommend it for that reason alone..


Your razors your choice

That's my take, and for exactly the reason stated.

--james

He isn't asactive on SRP as he used to be, but when I first came around Randydance took me under his wing and taught me a lot about honing. Randy sometimes used 1k sandpaper to set a bevel, and he said it works fine, but warned that you had to be careful. 'It' won't ruin on edge, but 'you' might if you're not watching what you're doing, using too much pressure, and all that. I guess the same could be said for lapping film, or any 1k stone. It ain't so much the arrow, as it is the Indian.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

He isn't asactive on SRP as he used to be, but when I first came around Randydance took me under his wing and taught me a lot about honing. Randy sometimes used 1k sandpaper to set a bevel, and he said it works fine, but warned that you had to be careful. 'It' won't ruin on edge, but 'you' might if you're not watching what you're doing, using too much pressure, and all that. I guess the same could be said for lapping film, or any 1k stone. It ain't so much the arrow, as it is the Indian.

So why mess with a tried and true system, with one that has possibility for error?

Originally Posted by chipvj

So why mess with a tried and true system, with one that has possibility for error?

They all have "possibility for error". Guns don't ruin razors. People ruin razors.