Getting to 11 with a hone

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Originally Posted by kelbro

Looking at the pic of that blade, I don't think that it will ever make it to 11. In order to save you a tremendous amount of time, energy, and frustration, I will PM you my address and you can ship that miscreant to me for disposal.

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Thank you so much, Kelbro! You've arrived to save me at the precise moment I needed you. Please, though, instead of a PM, I am going to send you a money order to cash for me, as I am currently indisposed in Nigeria, where it's damn near impossible to find true badger hair. If you can procure true badger hair, or better yet, a true badger, I will send you forty-five million drachmas, half of the dowry I am to received from a local princess who insists I be clean-shaven before I receive payment. As soon as you send me the money order cash, and/or a badger, I will send you your millions, and the W&B.

How does maintenance of that pro edge work out for ya?

I ask because like you when I can shave my mustache without effort, I figure I've done a good enough job sharpening. Most of the time it comes down to stropping.

I suggest refreshing your edge on the 8.(just to be sure you have clean edge) when you are ready to shave start sets of 20 on the linen until it feels right on the 'stache. If you get to 100 probably time to reboot. 3 or 4 sets I reckon should get close.

finally finish with 20 or so laps on the leather-

Hi M,
Just a suggestion and it does not have anything to do with my ancient family secrets passed down from generation to generation and now in my head. Get a microscope and look at an 11 then look at your best efforts. This will give you more feedback literally in black and white. The more feedback you give yourself, the faster you will learn what works best and how to get there.
I think a facinating study would be to get ten of the very best honmiesters and categorize what they all have in common and what they do different to reach the same result. Also to identify what they do different to see if there is anything different in the final product.
I thought the project recently discussed regarding using only one cotecule stone to achieve everything from bevel set to finish shows just how radically different approaches to honing there are.
Mike

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Originally Posted by Kingfish

Hi M,
Get a microscope and look at an 11 then look at your best efforts. This will give you more feedback literally in black and white. The more feedback you give yourself, the faster you will learn what works best and how to get there.
I think a facinating study would be to get ten of the very best honmiesters and categorize what they all have in common and what they do different to reach the same result. Also to identify what they do different to see if there is anything different in the final product.

Mike

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Now that would be an experiment for the WIKI - Take a magnified picture of different honemiester's edges for comparison - not to say which is the best, since it is purely subjective - but to see what they are doing side by side in order to give a really nice cross section of what is "Honemister" quality.

I propose sending our blades to Leighton for photography since he seems to have a knack for getting good pics so far. Or, maybe someone here is a amateur/professional photographer with a magnification lens who could give back (or charge a nominal fee) with high quality professional pics....

I've got a guy here in Taiwan who takes some very good magnification pics for a good price, too.....:hmmm:

and which honemeister is going to subject themselves to such scrutiny?

I'm only a honester, but I have enough confidence in my abilities (knowing full well that there is still much to be learned).
:D

Now that we have access to this magnification and sharing technology, we should use it. Again - not to say whose is the best, but get an idea of what is being produced by those confident enough and able to successfully sharpen a razor blade. The trick is the consistency of the angles of the pictures and their magnification.