Thread: First Honing gone good with question?

So I purchased a razor at an antique shop last week. No ID but one of the members thinks that it looks like a Torrey. At any rate I cleaned it up with MAAS and started to hone to set the bevel on a DMT D8E 1200 grit. There was one "divit" on the edge near the heal. I did a series of 20 laps x several. Inspected the edge with my glass,30x, and the edge was still notched. I proceeded to circulars at 20 then 40 etc. I examined the edge after each set. Finally the "divit", notch was gone. I proceeded to 10 more passes on the DMT. The razor now felt like the bevel was set. Nail test felt good, arm hair test ok etc. So I proceeded to the Norton 4k/8k. I did 5x5 (4k/8K),4x4,3x3, 2x2, 1x3,1x5. I then stropped 50x on Latigo by TM. Then to the shave test. I don't have a finer grit stone than the 8k nor any pastes. The shave test went well. Although all that was left from the morning was a bit of clean up. I think that the blade could be a bit more polished. Should I strop more, go back to the 8k, or what? I plan on doing a full shave in the am on the blade and see how it goes. I am encouraged. Thanks to all the help from you all, esp the videos 9 part series and Lynn's DVD.

If the shave test went well, I might try maybe 80 to 140 stropping laps on newspaper. Slowly though, more like using a paste.

Congrats on the good honing.

I've been suggesting for some time that it's beneficial for people to learn to hone on a blade with a small chip. When the chip is gone the bevel is set. Of course this doesn't help with uneven bevel (the solution of this is just practice to keep the strokes uniform), but it does ensure that the sharpness is there on any portion that the edge is straight.
The 8k side of the norton is good, most of the time it's our lack of skill to use it. If you want to play let the water dry while honing on it, is if you like the edge better.
But the newspaper may work quite well.

Thanks for the replies. I have read about honing on newspaper, but thought that was just a substitute for a leather strop. I guess not from your posts. Wonder which paper section is better. Maybe the Sunday funnies? Do you know how the news paper compares to the cloth on the strop?

The ink is abrasive, not as abrasive as CrO for example but more than say linen or leather.
So, you want the section with the big dark photographs, or ads.