Thread: Just cant get razor sharp following Lynns video at all

Agree with the feedback your getting here on your questions. The one thing I will add is that trying to hone a straight razor 5 times (even following the video to a "T") is a VERY short amount of time to get the honing technique down correctly.
I am not exaggerating when I say that I probably honed 50 times before I even understood what I was doing that was improving the edge vs what I was doing that was degrading it. And I would say that's almost the norm (other members feel free to chime in on that, maybe i'm just really slow lol) I literally went out and bought junk razors off the bay to hone on so as to not wear own my "good ones" at the advice of my mentor.
And then after I found myself in a position where I was grasping the concept of a technique, there was no proverbial "ah Hah" moment for me. It continued to be observing, improving, and repeating. I am at a place now where I know what I need to do in order to get what I consider an acceptable edge from each of my blades, and it still takes an extraordinary amount of concentration, observation, and especially patience on my part.

Doesn't sound like you are getting the bevel set correctly.

As suggested, I think by BobH on the previous page, sharpie the edge, then inspect under strong light to ensure the ink is removed evenly tip to heel and all the way to the very edge. If it isn't, you don't have the bevel set, yet.

You might wanna look for feedback markers from the stone / razor.

You might wanna try a couple of edge probing assessments after each hone, you gotta know and get the feel of what an edge should look / feel like after every hone.

If you've worn out the spine you might not even be honing into the very edge of the razor anymore, and it can take a long time to get there, you might wanna add a layer of tape to aid in that.

Very good points have already been made, maybe try posting a picture of the razor?

The Naniwas are very fast stones IME so generally speaking beyond the bevel setting it really shouldn't take long at all to polish and finish that bevel. If the bevel is indeed not meeting correctly, you can do and try anything you want, it just will not shave.
I actually did/do find the Naniwa 1K a little tricky to figure out for some reason, ergo why I like to set my bevels using a very fast Coticule, they're a somewhat easier to judge for me and shave arm hair well so I know the bevel is set.

Good luck!

Originally Posted by Butzy

And then after I found myself in a position where I was grasping the concept of a technique, there was no proverbial "ah Hah" moment for me. It continued to be observing, improving, and repeating. I am at a place now where I know what I need to do in order to get what I consider an acceptable edge from each of my blades, and it still takes an extraordinary amount of concentration, observation, and especially patience on my part.

I'm probably at close to 600 razors honed, like you said no definitive "ah hah" moment but there were tons of mini "ah hah" moments that all get stored for future reference. And I'm still learning. It's a never ending process, at about 50 full bevel sets I was pretty confident I could handle most edges

Well, videos can't show you everything. They cannot show you how much pressure is being applied, and they cannot show you how the razor honer is biasing the pressure heel to toe.

This is what you have to learn to hone straight razors well.

Cheers, Steve