Thread: One of my blades has a nick on it, should I hone myself?

Hey, I'm glad it helped. Kudos to Glen and Spdster for making it. It's a classic because it really mirrors what each one of us experience in our introduction to honing.

I think it's an excellent video!!

Howard

Well it was a few days before I could take the time to shave, but WOW!!!!!! I actually got this to shave and it was my best, smoothest shave to date!!! That's what it is supposed to feel like! My first blade was bought from SRD so I know it was probably this sharp but my lack of technique I'm sure ruined it. I'll be sending it back to them for my rehone to have an accurate comparison now. Thanks so much to Glen and Spdster for making that video and to SirStropalot for reposting it!

Originally Posted by fschulenburg

... Anything else I should keep in mind when trying to fix the part with the nick?

If i was fixin' it (in your shoes, and I am another student of the Idaho School): I'd tape the spine and use a marker to test my honing strokes-starting on the 4 or 8k. That way you don't burn a lot of blade just getting "oriented" and marker test is more accurate at finer grits. Once i had developed a way to evenly work the full edge, then I'd drop down to the 1000 and settle in for a long ride, of being diligent with strokes-checking now and then. It'll take a few (dozens), but don't even think of going back to 4k until the nick is completely (with magnification) gone and the bevel is sticky sharp end to end. Work on mixing up the various strokes and varying pressure and slurry. Then move to 4 and 8.

If you focus on the nick, you'll start uneven wear on your blade. I'd try to remove the same amount heel to toe to keep proper original blade shape.

Never tried sandpaper on the Nortons, I use the DMT coarse continuous 8", a/k/a 325. Be double dang sure to check for and eliminate any abrasive particles that my stick to the hones. But yes, flatten them out good that first time.

Nah, that's not a 'small nick that will come out easily', esp. with your coarsest hone norton 4000.

There are more issues with thee edge too, but that's the major one. Here's a pic to highlight some, but your whole edge is pretty serrated (make sure you dry the razor well and strop it well including the fabric component):


You can give it a try and see how it goes. Do 100 laps without slurry see your progress, then make slurry do 100 laps with it and see the progress again. That will give you some ideas how slow it is.

Be careful with pressure too, you can't put back the steel, may be tape the spine to be on the safe side.

Hi Frank,

Using Norton 4000 will take some time, but it's perfect for practice since you are just starting out. I do recommend that in the future, you should get a coarser stone, for example a 1k stone because it will set the bevel faster/remove metal quicker.

Some 1k stones you may want to consider are: Naniwa SS 1k (SS stands for super stone), Naniwa Chosera 1k.

Hope this helps!