Thread: Best...Shave...Ever

Do you have any tips for us new guys when it comes to honing? What were some of the things you were doing wrong that were pointed out to you?

I learned the following...

Less pressure on the spine, more pressure on the blade edge. But not too much pressure. The right amount of pressure is something I learned. Tape the spine. NO pressure on spine, as you're not trying to sharpen the spine. You're trying to sharpen the edge. All your focus goes there. Lightly. Basic, but when someone points it out, it clicks.

Also, what to look for with a glass. Striation marks are left behind with each grit of stone. Really, it's the job of each stone to remove the previous grit's stria. Higher grit stones merely polish the edge. The smoother the bevel edge, the smoother the shave. No stria, just a mirror finish. Must use a glass or magnifier, cannot really be seen with the naked eye. Bevels meet, stria honed out, mirror finish, straight edge. Hair test. I did the shave test at home, and it was night and day compared to before.

A glass also helps to look for microchips in the bevel. Must remove those with correct honing.

Learned the difference between jointing and breadknifing. I've never done breadknifing, likely never will. Jointing helps, a small little move, that makes the edge straighter. Looked through glass to see the difference before and after jointing, before and after each grit, before and after every step.

Found out I was stropping correctly, but wasn't sure. It was good to get feedback. I assumed my honing was OK and my stropping was making a mess of things. Turned out my honing wasn't quite right and my stropping was good. All of it improves with time and practice.

And like I said before, which is really quoting many here before me: a few hours with a mentor you can learn more than months of reading posts.

I think of it this way; when a person wants to learn to ride a bike, they don't read about it, they get out there and do it. Successfully riding a bike is self evident. Successfully honing a SR, not so much. Guidance goes a long way.

Good luck and have fun!

Originally Posted by MarkC

I learned the following...

Less pressure on the spine, more pressure on the blade edge. But not too much pressure. The right amount of pressure is something I learned. Tape the spine. NO pressure on spine, as you're not trying to sharpen the spine. You're trying to sharpen the edge. All your focus goes there. Lightly. Basic, but when someone points it out, it clicks.

Also, what to look for with a glass. Striation marks are left behind with each grit of stone. Really, it's the job of each stone to remove the previous grit's stria. Higher grit stones merely polish the edge. The smoother the bevel edge, the smoother the shave. No stria, just a mirror finish. Must use a glass or magnifier, cannot really be seen with the naked eye. Bevels meet, stria honed out, mirror finish, straight edge. Hair test. I did the shave test at home, and it was night and day compared to before.

A glass also helps to look for microchips in the bevel. Must remove those with correct honing.

Learned the difference between jointing and breadknifing. I've never done breadknifing, likely never will. Jointing helps, a small little move, that makes the edge straighter. Looked through glass to see the difference before and after jointing, before and after each grit, before and after every step.

Found out I was stropping correctly, but wasn't sure. It was good to get feedback. I assumed my honing was OK and my stropping was making a mess of things. Turned out my honing wasn't quite right and my stropping was good. All of it improves with time and practice.

And like I said before, which is really quoting many here before me: a few hours with a mentor you can learn more than months of reading posts.

I think of it this way; when a person wants to learn to ride a bike, they don't read about it, they get out there and do it. Successfully riding a bike is self evident. Successfully honing a SR, not so much. Guidance goes a long way.

Good luck and have fun!

Great info!
Would be good to have this in the "honing" section, too.