Thread: Honing problem

So my hones finally arrived and I decided to give them a go. I wanted to refresh my razor a little bit so I took a brand new Naniwa 8000 and did 4 strokes followed by chromium oxide paste and stropping.
I started shaving and at the end I had razor burns all across my face biting my teeth I applied bay rum and surprisingly it didn't burn much
I figured it was because the stone was coarse and I didn't lap it before honing (it sorta had small lumps all across the surface).
So I lapped it on the 220 Naniwa plate and it got way smoother.
Then I did 5 strokes followed by chromium oxide and stropping and laid the razor to rest.
Today the shave was absolutely horrible! The face started burning like hell mid shave and it got so bad i had to stop. The bay rum felt like someone was dissecting my cheeks and neck
I've just now done 10 strokes on the 8000 and I'm waiting till tomorrow to see

I'm not using any pressure at all when honing; I hold the razor with two hands at both ends to make sure it lays correctly on the stone.
Also, before shaving I did the hanging hair test and the razor passed it quite well; i even think it was sharper then before my failed honing

Bary im sorry to hear of your horrible shaves. How many strokes did you do on the chromox? was the razor shaving properly before the touchup? Did you strop on regular leather as well or just the chromox? You do want to lap those stones fresh from the distributor. Is there any damage to the blades edge that is visable to your eye?

I have a small loom strop that is only 4cm wide and 20cm long. So I did 4 X strokes, then 7 for each half of the razor and finished off by 2 x strokes (chromium ox).
The razor was shaving ok before the touch up, but the hanging hair test was sometimes ok sometimes not; I have hard time shaving under my jaw so I wanted to sharpen the razor a little and see.
I then stropped as usual on the leather.
I whacked the razor against the faucet the first day i had it and you can see under a strong light that there is something on the blade. It's not a chip, it just reflects the light differently; but I never had a problem with that. It's my first razor; I did 15 shaves with it, but I think I dulled it out by incorrect stropping.
Oh, and after the first touch up and chromium, while i was stropping, I felt there was something under the blade, like some dirt or sand, but the strop and the blade were clean (i also wiped it off with a tissue after chromium)

Send that out for a re-hone my friend. If you tap it on the sink there is damage. If it is reflecting light at the edge it needs to be rehoned. If it is reflecting light differently at the bevel it needs to be rehoned. You could be feeling the cromox on the leather strop. Its unlikely but could be the culprit for feeling something under your blade. IMO I would send it out get it re-honed and get another blade to learn with. Learning to hone and strop take time and practice. I would not practice on my daily shaver if I didnt have too. I hope this posts helps. Good luck- Stoney

Why you are getting your razor rehoned take some time and review all the excellent videos and articles on honing (Lynn Abrams, gssixgun). Also look up how to properly lap your hones. What you did is perhaps fine but I would not advise using one hone to lap another one. Then you could have cross contamination of grit particles and you could not always be confident that the dominant hone was perfectly flat. Perhaps its fine on the Naniwas but I would recommend a DMT diamond plate or wet/dry sandpaper on glass.

It's the same plate Lynn is using in one of his videos, but I'll watch out for that. Thanks!

Bary send it out to get honed. You do not have the proper tools to hone that razor. An 8k stone is great to have but if you have bevel problems, and you probably do, you dont want to try and set a bevel as a beginner on an 8k - Just saying.

Originally Posted by bary

It's the same plate Lynn is using in one of his videos, but I'll watch out for that. Thanks!

Hi Bary, I misread your post. I didn't realize that Naniwa made an actual lapping plate. I thought you were using one hone against another.

+1 on all the honing advice, but don't ignore technique. If you had the burn yesterday, your face is probably still sensitive today. As hard as it is, skip a day to let your face recover. Then when you try again, keep a very light touch on your face as well as on the hone. Watch your angles. Don't force it. If it hurts, something needs adjustment.

Good luck.

You know I almost hate to link this as you are a beginning honer, but just using the 8k and a few tricks you can do anything except serious bevel sets...

http://straightrazorpalace.com/advan...lynn-glen.html

Basically it can be done, I don't know if you want to try, but there is the info