My first piece of honework

Howdy folks :)

I just thought I would share my story of today with you all.

I recently bought a set of hones off of ebay, from a polish dude, I bought them on the recommendation of a very nice gentleman here, but I digress....

So recently I have been using my milwaukee razor, and had forgot my gotta had been a little tuggy, so as I was looking it over today I took to shaving my arm, and realised it wasn't as smooth as one remembers.

So I dug out my hones, actually just the 12k finishing stone, my thought being I shall learn to hone in a manner of great great slowness, so I gave the razor a few laps on the finishing stone 15 to be exact and it felt considerably better. I went to the pasted strop, another 15 laps and then 30 on hardwool felt and 50 on leather, and ping a nice edge :) I'll give it the good ole shave test tomorrow probably, but so far tis looking good.

So there's my story, ok not a massive amount of honing but a slow waddle in the right direction at my own little pace, and well I'm rather proud of my small achievement lol.

Geek

Before you know it you'll be honing other guys razors.

heh I have a bunch of restores on my list, I'm collecting quicker than I can restore so I'll be a while lol, although a few of the guys I have convinced to start straight shaving recently have asked when I'm proficient if I would mind maintaining theirs.....

So we shall see how that goes.

Thanks for the confidence :)

Geek

That is exactly how I started, just maintaining my two lonely razors on my one lonely stone... from 1981 to about 2001...

Then at the end of 2006 I got back into it and then found SRP caught MAD and well, I am doomed hehehehe

Starting slow on the hones is perfect...

Hey :)

I know how we all love to be kept up to date with each others new endeavours, so I am keeping yall up to date :)

I shaved with the Gotta this morning, it all went ok, but not wothout problems. It was fine to start with, first pass was ok, but near the end of the second it started to tug a little, so rather than risk a third I went to another razor.

However it was a vast improvement on the last shave I had with it by a great measure.

So am I bummed that it wasn't super duper sharp and slicey? Hell no, this was a baby step into honing, and there was a vast improvement on the edge, so I am considering this a successful first step, so now for a question, how many laps on a finishing stone is a rough guide, I went 15 because I didn't wanna overhone, also would it be worth possibly moving to the 8k and doing and 8k/12k pyramid to try to bring the edge on, mostly I wanna do this progressively till I get a good edge on the Gotta so that I have a starting point to work from with a little experience on others.

Well thanks for any help :)

And I'm still proud lol I took a small step on a long possibly windy road.

Geek

So just an update :)

I had me a little free time, so I broke out the stack of hones, and the ole gotta...

I started with the pyramid, now I have a 5k an 8k and a 12k..

So as I say I went with the pyramid, knowing this blade was in ok condition as it was a regular go to for me I decided I would start low down on the pyramid, so as not to overhone (baby steps still) so I started at 10 laps and worked down the list, substituting my 5k for the 4k got to the bottom of the pyramid and moved to the 12k, after 15 laps on the 12k I shaved my arm, it cut ok but a lil tuggy, so I continued this trend of do a few laps try my arm for a little while as I didn't wanna got back a level just in case, I noticed the centre seemed not to be edging as well as the heel and the toe, so I started honing at and angle across the stone so that the centre was contacting for slightly longer than the heel and toe (is this acceptable form??).

Once I was getting a better edge I moved to the pasted strop, did 15 laps and onto the paddle, the edge seems nice and cutty :) so I'll try a shave with it tommorow and see how it holds up, this my honing razor I'm seeing the improvements so I'm gonna stick with this gotta until it holds a good edge, that way I can keep measuring how I'm improving (sound reasonable?)

So the culmination of this big post lol is that I can feel myself getting better :)

Geek

Ok so I am fairly impatient and couldn't wait.

The shave was ok, the razor cut fine, not as close as usual, and a bit of irritation but no pulling, and I think quite a bit of it was due to me not having used suck a wide blade for some time, so it was abit unweildy in my hand, so I think I'm gonna try it for a few days and see if I cant refine the shave a bit with some dedicated strop work before resigning it back to the hone :)

Geek

just a touching update, I have been stropping the gotta whenever I get a break in all the other junk I have to do today I've easily stropped on linen 150 - 160 times and on leather closer to 270 - 300 laps, and I must admit the edge is coming along, lol as you can imagine in excess of 500 laps on strops is not something I wanna be doin every time I hone a razor, but to my mind the noticing that stropping is bringing it on is a guide that im in the right direction :)

Geek

It's amazing what happens when one follows the advice found around here.:)

Sounds like you are well on your way.
A fellow SRp'er let me try that same set of hones. For the cost, they seemed quite effective.

Glen suggested to me to use a light slurry with all my finishers, synthetic or not, (If I understand him correctly) and it seems to make a big difference. You might want to try starting on your C12K with a very light slurry and diluting it as you go until you finish with lots of laps under clear water. One thing I do that helps at the very final polish is to use a nice thick lather on the hone after water. It seemed to work for the old time barbers, and it seems to help me.

BTW, nice journal, it's nice to watch someone learn and grow at this... learn to do by doing, as they say...:)

I was just having a reminisce over old threads of mine. This was a little while ago now, and I am happy to say I now maintain my own razors happily. I have moved hones now to nortons and a bbw. However I have learned much.

Geek