Thread: how far can you go

After the 1K-3k-8k- and 12K naniwa if a person wants to go further with a polishing stone what would it be. I look at the bevel with a 10 jewelers loop and still see a few small marks instead of a perfectly polished edge. any suggestions.

You have the Shapton 16 and 30k, which some find harsh. Lately, I've been using the Suehiro Gokumyo 20k. It leaves a nice smooth shaving edge. I normally use the Shapton GS stones up to 16k and finish with the Suehiro.

If you see a "few small marks", it sounds like a finer grit is not what you need. After any grit, you should see MANY small marks (scratch pattern) all consistent with the last grit used. At some point, your magnification may not be great enough to see them.

If you are seeing a few small scratches among an abyss of nicely polished bevel, I'd suggest that they are left behind from previous grits (not completely polished out). Moving to finer grits will only take you further down the road of brightening the areas between the scratches.

I'd suggest working backwards (coarser grits) until you find the finest grit that is coarse enough to remove these scratches.

Often times these scratches do not impact your shave, but sometimes guys want bevel to look as perfect as their optics allow them to judge. I recently chased away a single scratch on a nice custom razor. It shaved great before, but I simply wanted to not see that scratch anymore. I have to go all the way back to 1K, but I feel the exercise was worth it (opinions vary).

A little Hint:


Chasing a "Mirror Bevel" usually results in a weak fragile harsh edge... Remember that there is only so much steel there, once you get to a certain point the edge will give up and collapse leaving you back at square one...

Chase a comfortable shave, not the pretty looks on the sides of a bevel... Took me a while to realize this, so I am pretty sure that you will have to prove it to yourself also, just trying to save ya some steel

Most natural stones leave a scratchy hazy finish, yet many profess to their excellent comfortable feel while shaving, keep that in mind...

For my eyes a 10x isn't enough power. I use a 30x and am actually thinking of going to a 45X. My finest stone is the Naniwa 12K and I'm really happy with it. Remember to use light strokes and don't move on to higher grits until your satisfied with the current stone.

Only as far as smooth and comfortable take me.

almost every blade I finish has a few imperfections if you want to call left over fine scratches imperfections.

I have know some college grads that are not worth a *&%$ and some folks that only have real world experience that I would have by my side gladly.

In other words what works and theory can be two different things.

thanks to all. looks like I'm chasing and should be shaving. if it feels good it doesn't matter if it has a scratch or two.

I know its one mans opinion against another, YMMV, many paths lead to the same destination and on and on... What a moot point it is to determine what is the right approach for that desired edge. I have edges from pinklather, cudarunner and gssixgun. All of them shaved at a level that the first time out took my breath away. With time, and what I now realize is a wiry beard, I get to where I need a re freshening after four uses (22 razor rotation) and was faced, finally with the need to learn to refresh them myself. Much reading, watching videos and talking I took the plunge off the cliff three days ago and dug out my Swaty, whipped up a little lather, held the BH in my hand, thought "I am the wind, a light breeze" and imaged a micron of space between the blade and the hone and did five laps. Moved to a crox linen for seven, 25 on leather and then 75 on my Russian shell strop. It didn't take my breath away but it did make me catch my breath and realize what a series of simple movements can produce. I will master re freshening, I 'm too old to for the learning curve to be a honer, and look forward to a year from now when I might have to call upon those three worthy gentleman for their ethereal skills in bringing an edge of steel to perfection. As for the debate 'how far can you go' viva la difference!

Originally Posted by Razorfeld

I know its one mans opinion against another, YMMV, many paths lead to the same destination and on and on... What a moot point it is to determine what is the right approach for that desired edge. I have edges from pinklather, cudarunner and gssixgun. All of them shaved at a level that the first time out took my breath away. With time, and what I now realize is a wiry beard, I get to where I need a re freshening after four uses (22 razor rotation) and was faced, finally with the need to learn to refresh them myself. Much reading, watching videos and talking I took the plunge off the cliff three days ago and dug out my Swaty, whipped up a little lather, held the BH in my hand, thought "I am the wind, a light breeze" and imaged a micron of space between the blade and the hone and did five laps. Moved to a crox linen for seven, 25 on leather and then 75 on my Russian shell strop. It didn't take my breath away but it did make me catch my breath and realize what a series of simple movements can produce. I will master re freshening, I 'm too old to for the learning curve to be a honer, and look forward to a year from now when I might have to call upon those three worthy gentleman for their ethereal skills in bringing an edge of steel to perfection. As for the debate 'how far can you go' viva la difference!

Excellent words of encouragement Razorfeld that's about as far as I made it....hahaha! Think I even thought, "I am the wind, a light breeze", as I practiced on this old Boker Phil at the Classic Edge gave me to practice on my coticule. I didn't die, the blade didn't crumble, just used water, also re-read Ryan82's advice several times about refreshing on the coti, and afterwards felt like I'd accomplished something, until I realized that I'd never shaved with the blade, it already looked pretty good, and it was to practice on!!

So after reading your revered words, when I have a blade that I figure needs refreshing, I'll give it a go on the coti, then the crox etc...I'll just make sure I don't try it on a blade I'm not willing to potentially damage.

[QUOTE=Phrank;1266208]So after reading your revered words, ...QUOTE]

Revered huh? Is that a reference to my Popeness?