Thread: Newbie Question

Well, I have taken the first few steps down the slippery slope of shaving with a straight razor. I have picked up 18 razors in the last couple of weeks (they seem to be raining on me). I picked up an old but new (never used) Henckels Platinum 401 for $6 bucks, stropped it, and it passed the HHT. Thus, I have been using it for shaving. I turned to the Bokers to get them up to snuff (a King Cutter and a Red-Injun). However, it can't seem for get them honed and up to the standard of the Henckels (I have Norton 220/1000 and 4000/8000 waterstones). I used the the pyramid as set forth on the forum.

I figured that I was doing something wrong, so I bit the bullet and honed the Henckels tonight to see if I would kill its "shave readiness" due to my "newbie" bad technique. I didn't. I did a short pyramid (failed the HHT after the passes on the 4000) and it started to consider passing the HHT after the pyramid. Then, I stropped it (passed the HHT) and it shaved the same as always.

Okay, that was a long story to get to the question. Do different razor brands have quirks with regard to honing and stropping? or is there something that I am neglecting? or do I just need to suck it up and keep practicing?

Thanks!

Well practicing more is never a bad idea, however I think many will agree that different razors may require different technique, or possibly the same technique with more laps on the hone.

Remember, there are different qualities of steel, some harder then others, so some razors will take an edge much quicker then others. You may even find two of the exact same razor, one of which will take little work to sharpen, while the other will require more honing. The process for making razors although precise, is not exact enough to ensure every razor is exactly the same.

As a side note, sounds like you got a great set of razors, as well as a good honing technique. Have fun and I hope I answered your question

Most razors simply require more honing than expected. Another issue is that many razors have spine/bevel geometry issues that can not be seen with the human eye (or more accurately they can not be understood with the human mind).

I would do some high grit passes and examine the bevels, or just keep honing a bit. Sometimes I'll just throw a layer of tape on the spine to prevent damage and go around the geometry problem, but I'm a lazy honer sometimes. Do a search on marker tests if you'd like as well. To me they are a little silly, but they are effective. Often, with experience simply examining the spine critically will illicit the knowledge you are looking for.

The two razors that require different techniques are the wedge and the smiley, offsetting those that simply have bevel/spine problems.

There is a good chance that the difference between your Henckels and the Bokers is that the bevel is already set on the Henckels, and it's not on the Bokers.

I had the same problem when I started. If the bevel was already set, I could finish it from there. If the bevel wasn't set, I couldn't get it to where it needed to be.
Realizing this was half the battle.

One thing I did find when I first started honing is to make sure that you dont move off your 1k bevel setter until you are SURE that the bevel is set.

I was making my strokes based on pyramid patterns, or what I'd seen in videos or read here on the forum, but that isnt necessarily enough for all razors. So I'd read that someone took 40 X patterns to set a bevel on their razor, so I'd do 40 X strokes on my razor and think that was enough, when it actually wasnt..! Different strokes for different folks... err.. razors!

Once your bevel is set on the 1k you should be able to shave arm hair at skin level, easily and with no pressure. This is basically my benchmark for checking whether a bevel is set or not, and I'll only move onto my 4k once I can do this test.

Check out the videos of Lynn honing at the '09 meet. Theres some great pointers in there and Glen demo's all the different arm hair tests at different grit levels and talks about the results. Those videos really did help me get the grips with assessing the edge at different levels.

Good luck!

Thank you all for the great advice. I will go back to the hones and make sure that I have the bevel set correctly!!