Thread: A theoretical discussion about honing particles

BTW, I was writing my latest post as Howard published his. It should be clear that he and I are saying the same thing in different ways. Great post Bart!!!

Originally Posted by Bart

IF SO, an ideal progression might be:
1. Coticule with slurry till bevel is set and keennes levels off.
2. Belgian Blue with slurry to refine the edge till keennes level off.
3. Coticule with water for 100 laps.
4. Blue with water for 100 laps.

High time I got away from the laptop and started honing...
I'll keep you guys posted.

Bart.

Here I am, quoting myself, this SRP-hobby is definitely not going in the good direction.

A few hours ago, I took one of my Double Arrows, breadknifed 3 strokes on the side of a Belgian Blue, to make sure it was no longer shaveready.
Then I honed the above progression and stropped 60 laps on clean leather.
Next I took another Double Arrow, that has a secondary bevel from a coticule with water on it, and that I know shaved very well during 2 previous test shaves. I stropped that one my regular 20 laps on linen and 60 laps on leather.
I shaved half of my face WTG with the Blue-finished razor and the other half with the Coticule-finished razor. Then I relathered and did my ATG pass on both halves of my face, with the corresponding razors. During a normal shave I always do a bit of additional tweaking to get a few stubborn spots completely smooth, but when I assess a honing effort, I always skip the tweaking part, taking whatever smoothness lacks for granted.

I have speculated on honing issues before, ussually ending up back at the drawing board, one illusion poorer (as we say in Dutch), so I wasn't expecting much. The edge was popping hanging hairs with some effort, which improved to swiftly cutting them after I stropped it.
The shave went very well. Both razors shaved comfortably without pull. The Blue-finished razor felt a tad smoother, but that could have easily been a self-fullfilling prophecy. I finished with a cold water rinse and ran the alum block over my face. The degree of sting, although mild and within good limits, was definetely different. The Blue finished razor shaved with less irritation.
Now I have been doing the majority of my shaves comparing two razors during the past 5 months and I have experienced differences in stinging sensation before. On most cases, the half that stings the least is also the least closely shaved. But not this time. The half shaved by the Blue finished razor is significantly smoother than the half shaved by the razor with the secondary bevel of a coticule with water. I'd give the former a 9 and the latter a 6 on my smoothness scale.

Of course this is a much too partial result to start screaming EUREKA. I need to devise a serious test with more razors, and set up a double blind experiment.
But at this point, I can honestly encourage everyone that ownes both hones to try it at least once.

Bart.