Thread: Novice Honing a Thiers-Issard

Originally Posted by LX_Emergency

hahaha, I do 4 passes on my face....I garantee that some of them are against the grain.

But then again I don't have to shave for 2 days after that.

That's pretty much what I did last night and I won't be shaving for two more days either ... it's going to take that long for my skin to grow back! Seems my learning curve is a corkscrew.
Jack

Although TI's require more effort as mentioned it actually makes them easier for me to hone them as I can be slightly less ginger. The few TI's I have honed seem to fit exactly how I would like them to as far as pressure on the hone goes.

Remember none-the-less to start the honing pyramid with a firmer hand and ease off to ultra gentle for the end, concentrating on even pressure throught the effort and you should see an improvement.

X

So I followed mparker's advice...

I lapped my norton hones and the kitayama. Then, I honed the TI razor using Lynn's progression for harder types of steel (i.e., 3-3, 1-5, 1-7 on the 4K/8K, followed by 20 strokes on the Kitayama). Following this, I took the razor to the 1 micron and 0.5 micron pasted strops and then to the linen and leather finishing strop for 30 strokes per side.

Lo and behold, I effortlessly popped a hair with the hanging hair test!

However, I do realize that it's not over yet... the real test will come when I shave with this razor tomorrow.

well i think i maybe the only person that seems to be fairly relaxed with sharpening, for the price i might just send my straights overseas (Lynn) for sharpening twice a year or something, i know, i know it must feel great when you get your own straight to shave quality but Why re-invent the wheel if it already works well. Keep up the good work Honemeisters you will be still sharpening Straights for me when i am 60

I'd love to And I think I might be around a little while after Lynn retires. (After all I'm only 25 now)

Okay, so I shaved with that TI razor today. The shave was okay (but nothing more than just okay). The razor does pass the hanging hair test and the thumb nail test quite easily but I still wonder if this thing can't get any sharper. Maybe it's not a good idea to compare it to the Dovo, but the Dovo seems to be sharper. Maybe I should not be complaining because the shave is relatively close and comfortable, but I feel that maybe there is a secret to getting this razor super-sharp. It seems to not shave that close on the first pass, making the second pass absolutely essential.

I never use only one pass....The only closeness that's good enough for me at the moment is 4 passes on most places and 3 on others....but I might be spoiled.

Originally Posted by osiris

It seems to not shave that close on the first pass, making the second pass absolutely essential.

I shave everyday with a straight (including Saturdays and Sundays) and always have at least two passes - never NS or SN, but more diagonally, sort of NW to SE and then SE to NW.

My shaves have never been closer since I discovered this place!

I've sent a few razors to Lynn so far and they've always come back stunningly sharp, but I really want to work on my honing so I can be as good as or at least close to the same level of skill (in time). For me honing is all part of the experience of straight razor shaving.

I bought a TI LE Pierreforged from Classicshaving a couple of weeks ago, and decided to try honing it myself from the outset. When it arrived I simply did 20 passes each on 1 and 0.5 micron pastes, I had a reasonable but not great shave from that. Then I took it to the Norton and did a standard pyramid, followed by 20 passes on 1 and 0.5 micron pastes. This time my Pierreforged is very good indeed, maybe not the best shaver I own but certainly up in the top 2 or 3.

I guess its just practice at the end of the day, and with practice comes getting a feel for when a razor is too dull, just right, or overcooked.

Now I'm starting to be able to judge a razors sharpness by how it feels on a hanging strop, by the way it drags - that gives me a good pointer as to whether it needs more time on the hone or not.

I'm thinking of going for a yellow coticle stone next, as for new brand razors (or ones in good condition that just need refreshing) I feel the 4K/8K is a little too much, and the 1/0.5 pastes are a little too fine...

Matt, Maybe it didn't get sharp enough on the 4k/8k. If it's stainless, it will take longer. Are your paste strops hanging? I've read that hanging pasted strops can actually damage an edge making it duller - they need to be on a flat surface. I'd work backwards. If light 20-30 round trips on the linen and leather didn't do it, I'd do 30 on the 1u and 30 on the .5u pastes, clean, linen and leather and see what that did. If not, I'd go to the hone. I've found in actual practice that it has taken 100 round trips on the 4K, and 100RT's on the 8K to bring a bade of mine up to good enough to paste and leather it. I also have a jewlers loupe that I use to check and see if the stones are still making a difference in scratches made by the stone and it was about 100 RTs. But that was me, at that time, with that blade. Anyway remember to pay attention to pressure, not too much, just enough for the stone to do a little work. Same on pastes (on flat surfaced strop). Stropping on linen and leather with less pressure inproved my edge just by itself! Wish there was a meter to hook up to know how light is light. But then as you work towards getting that perfect edge, you'll be the meter. Good luck, Matt.
Regards,
Zig