Thread: Tales of the Nippon Honing Miracle Worker

Hello thebigspendur,

I honed a couple of hours on the soft arkansas hone. The convex side is even after a couple of hours. I think this is important when I have to hone or to strop in the future. The steel is very hard and the convex side completely touch the hone. So I think I must hone like a wedge razor. The other concave side should be hone like a complete hollow razor. The concave side needs only a few strokes.
Now my Kiku Hiro razor looks good an the convex side is even. So I can go on on my Blue Belgian an my Thuringian Hone.
After the Hones the japanese razor becomes a Balsawood stropping. At first with a chomoxid paste, after these the natural balsawood side.
I'm sure this razor will be very good.

with best regards, Paysbas

Sounds good. keep us informed how she shaves when your done.

The blue is a very slow stone you might try it with some slurry at first and then switch to plain water. It might go a little faster.

About taping, I think with taping the convex side will not get even because the tape isn't hard enough to keep the pressure of honing

With best regards, Paysbas

Originally Posted by Paysbas

About taping, I think with taping the convex side will not get even because the tape isn't hard enough to keep the pressure of honing

With best regards, Paysbas

I don't think taping is an option with these razors because you have to tape the whole razor and like you said the tape will not last but a very few strokes.

why do you need to bear down so heavily?

Hello kevint,

I dont push so fast. But the angle it too big.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

I don't think taping is an option with these razors because you have to tape the whole razor and like you said the tape will not last but a very few strokes.

Also, taping it would completely screw the edge as you have different angles on the two sides of the razor. You would need to tape the wedge-side with one piece of tape and the other side with two pieces in order to get the angle right again.

Hello Moviemaniac,

I think taping makes the angle to big, it will be very difficult to get a real sharp edge at the wedgeside of the japanese razor. In this point my razor has a full wedgeside. The advantage without taping is an even wedgeside. This will make stropping easier. When the wedgeside isn't even, it will be more difficult with stropping. With my other wedgerazors I made the experience that they are sharp a very long time when I hone and strop as I described before.

With kind regards, Paysbas

Originally Posted by kevint

why do you need to bear down so heavily?

Its just the way it is with these razors. Probably the steel. If you tried normal edge maint. honing with just the weight of the razor you would be spending a lot of time at the hone and I'm not sure you would accomplish anything. You do need to apply pressure. Thats actually the true skill in honing Japanese razors. knowing exactly how much much pressure to exert to get the result you want for the given circumstances.

The one Japanese razor I have was seriously improperly honed. It was a nice one. Exactly what I wanted- thinking of having made... heavy. It's actually the heaviest razor I own. I returned a used tosuke for the same reason that was not near the weight of this one. I thought it'd give me the chance to decide if my 70mm spec was out of line. However its appearance has become so disturbing to me that I will probably ask Mizuochi-san to repair it for me.

All that to say I haven't honed a kamasori much at all. Even though they never seem to be nearly as flexible as a full hollow isn't there still going to be some distortion of the edge if you press too hard. As well the amount of pressure seems like it would depend on what kind of hone you are using - how well it cuts very hard steel. Not to mention foundation prep.

I'm not arguing just seeking further learning. Thanks BigSpender for sharing your experience.