Thread: Newbie Honing, no HHT just sound

Hi All,

I've tried honing a few ebay straights I got. Both of them are fairly old and not the Pakistian stuff.

I tried honing on both oil stones (Smith's tri-hone) and also some Japanese stones of 800(didn't use), 1000 (didn't use), 4000 and 6000 grits. Also have a pasted diamond strop of 3, 1, .5 and .25.

The HHT seemed a tad better from the oil stones but the Japanese stones gave the blade a real nice machined polish look. In any case, the HHT barely cuts the hair. However, when the hair passes the blade, I can certainly hear a sound like its about to cut but it doesn't.

How close or how far is this to shaving sharp? At what point should the HHT pass, is it before the pasted strop?


Have a great day and God bless.


-kelly

How does it shave?

The HHT (and all the other tests) is only a proxy; the real test is the shave itself. If it passes the HHT but doesn't shave then it's still not sharp enough. If it doesn't pass the HHT but shaves well anyway then it is sharp enough.

Wow, thanks for the quick reply. Actually being too eager, and not practicing more honing, I actually shaved with it. The blade pulled the stubble like mad but it worked... Glad to say, I didn't nick or cut myself once.

Well, actually I cheated, I shaved with a disposible first and then took the straight to clean up afterwards.


-kelly

As you suspect, it sounds like that blade is close. What you have described is exactly what I experience when my blades are close, from the sound and hair action to the pulling.

I do my HHT after the 4000/8000 Norton pyramid and I'm not certain you'll get a positive result from that test with anything coarser than the 8k. That's not to say you can't get a good shave if you follow it with the pastes.

Something to think about. Pressure is a key issue. Make sure it is always even along the edge and in general it is gentle going from medium/light at the top of the pyramid to ultra light at the end. I also use less pressure on the 8k than on the 4k side of my hone. I don't know what that might mean for your stones, but you could experiment a little. I think the same might be true for the progression of pastes you have, especially if you're going to use the 0.25µ. I'd actually recomend you NOT use that paste for a little while and go a little easy on the pastes, particularly the finer ones until you can get a sense of how the edge is progressing throughout the various steps.

Try the Thumb Test. Gently draw your moistened thumb pad across (not along!) the edge at regular intervals throughout the honing process and pay attention to the sensation. It usually goes from tickling to slightly catching. That's an important time to stop and shave test.

Good luck.

X

Personally

If I hear this distinctive sound trying to chop the hair.
I know I have nearly the "initial" sharpness then some more laps ( 10 to 20 ) on my 8k.
with less and lesser pressure while honing.

Then test HHT no force my razor cuts the loose hanging hair -
then some lap's on the paddle and green paste.

This gets the razor to it's sharpness and there is no pulling when I shave

nice an smooth..

This is one of those areas where experience is invaluable. After awhile you'll know what it means when the blade does this, how many more laps are needed on which stones etc, and it won't be so mysterious. Unfortunately, everybody's hair and honing techniques are different, so this is something everybody has to learn for themselves. For me, once I get to the point where it catches and half-cuts arm hair, the razor needs about 6-10 more feather-light laps on the 4k (depending on the steel), then it's almost certainly ready for polishing on the 8k and higher grits.