Thread: My Learning curve - so far....

So it sounds like you have all you need, except for a new strop, some quality Chrome Oxide and possibly a bit more magnification and a true high grit finishing stone, for now the 8k will work just fine.

First lap you stones with you Diamond Plate, lap under running water or in a pond, I use a plastic shoe box. If you don’t you can ruin you diamond plate. Mark a grid with a pencil and remove the grid a couple of times and bevel or round the face edge. You will probably want to have separate stones for razors as knives and chisel can tear up a stone face.

Your 12k is probably not close to 12K, so for now do not use it. You can grit rate it by comparing the stria it produces to a known grit synthetic stria, start with 8K. For now…don’t use it. First learn the honing mechanics, there is plenty of time for playing with natural stones after you know you can hone. It will just confuse the issue by adding an unknown.

Make a new strop from any smooth leather, 3X12 inches or a bit longer, glued to a flat piece of wood, I use MDF. The sanded leather will probably contain imbedded grit from the sand paper, all of the grit is much larger than the grit of the finish stone. One errant grit can ruin your edge, why take a chance?

You sound like a capable guy where gluing up a new strop should not be a big deal.

So first of all understand that knife sharpening is different from razor honing because a razor must be keen and comfortable. A piece of meat or wood does not care if the knife or chisel has a chip or burr, your face does.

It is not just about sharp.

The most important skill to learn is the ability to repeatable be able to know when the bevel is set, (the bevels are flat, and meet COMPLETELY in a straight edge).

There are many way, the easiest, and most foolproof and guaranteed repeatable is the visual test, by looking straight down on the edge with magnification and light,

here is a video of this

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You will hear a lot about hair test and while it is cool it is simply an unreliable test because the sample is so small. You are only testing one micron of the edge at a time, how long will it take to test the WHOLE edge?

You want simple, quick and absolutely repeatable.

If you see ANY shiny reflections, the bevels are either not meeting (not set) or you have a chip(s).

Your Chrome Oxide is not pure Chrome Oxide and can ruin an edge, it is Green Paste and may contain little or no Chrome Oxide and unknown grit of unknown grit size. We want simple, consistent and repeatable results.

A stick of quality Razor Chrome Oxide or small quantity of powder is inexpensive 10-15 bucks and a lifetime supply, keep it simple and easy do not introduce any unknown variables, (do you sence a theme here?) Good Chrome Oxide should be .5um about 30k grit. SRD sells a quality stick.

Now look at your GD edge, then look at your new, hopefully still un-stropped razors. It is not unusual for a novice to strop a perfectly shave ready razor and ruin the edge before it was ever shaved with.

What you see will determine the next course of action.