Thread: Sharpening Experiment, anyone?

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I guess I have been doing something similar in that I hone many different razors with various different combinations of hones. I haven't approached it from a scientific point of view. Just trying to learn to hone well and get a better shave. I tend to go for quality new and vintage razors though and no knives. Look forward to reading of your results.

Lynn, I didn't know you were going in for hip surgery. Best of luck and I hope all goes well and you're back on your feet in no time.

I missed this one. No knives for me either.

Yep on the hip. 11 AM tomorrow morning. Be out for about a week.

Have fun and thank you!

Lynn

Good luck Lynn!

Hope the new hip works better than the old one!



Back on topic,
While I can understand that different hones require different strokes, pun intended. The number of strokes is still another variable. By limiting the number of strokes, the experimenter can determine the agressiveness of the hone. However, I do agree that the testing should not end there. Once the agressiveness of the hone has been determined, the "final polish" ability of the hone should then be tested. The edge should be examined under microscope and pictures taken so that us amateurs may oooh and aahh at the pictures and make our unscientific determinations as to how "smooth" the edge looks.

In the end, it probably just comes down to personal preference. For the average person, the 12k requiring 3x as many strokes as the Shapton or whatever stone you want to compare it to, will work in the end. Whereas the person who hones more than one razor a week will definitely want something more agressive.

Actually, I'm sort of interested in which stones offer the best compromise between agressiveness and smoothness. I know, its probably like everything else in life, 3 options, choose two.

edit:
There is also only so much comparison that can be done between natural hones. They aren't exactly identical to begin with.