Thread: Honing problem

Hey welcome to the Forum!

As others have said honing isn't as easy as Lynn would have you believe on his videos! He's probably one of the worlds top straight razor honers and has years of experience! Many of us have watched his videos and jumped in the deep end without any real clue as to what he's actually doing. The motions are just part of the equation.

What you need is either a few hours with a mentor, or a few hours just sat with a cheap blade learning to hone it. The mentor route is the fastest as a good mentor will watch and correct you as you work. Show you what to look for, and give you an indication of the feel of the rocks. Doing it yourself is harder and is more a trial and improvement system. If you post your location there might be someone local who can assist you.

You should understand what each rock does. And what the razor should look and feel like after those rocks.

You should also understand the grind of the blade. Every grind has some finess to getting the edge right. A smiling edge will generally want a rolling X stroke, A more conventional grind might want a heel forward X, Or a toe Forward X. If you post a picture of the blade so we can see the edge and the grind we will set you on what we think the edge might want. Be warned that without having the blade in hand this is only ever a guess.

Spine taping. A lot of honers will tape an edge with electrical tape. If your razor was honed with this method it will change the edge angle slightly. Attempting to hone without tape and not checking to see if the bevel was fully set will mean you are not actually on the edge in some cases. Again a mentor would correct this instantly.

1K you should have a set bevel, It should cut arm hair at this point. If the blade isn't set at 1K you will not make it sharp later down the line.

3-5K you are pre polishing the blade. Removing the deep scratches of the 1K, but not putting a polish onto the edge. A well set 5K edge will shave if done correctly, It's just not going to be smooth.

8-12K is the polishing phase. This is where a sharp edge starts to become smooth. The edge will still want stropping to align it.

Stropping:

Pasted strops can add smoothness and pep up the sharpness of a dulling blade. The most common paste is by far Chrome oxide. It's a functional stable abrasive that sits between 15 and 30K grit depending on who you speak to.

Plain strops are for shaving with. They realign the edge but offer no abrasion. The pasted strop every 3-4 shaves, and a decent plain strop can keep an edge alive for many many months if used correctly.

Stropping technique is more important than honing technique. You strop on plain leather every shave. And the strop needs to be of a reasonable quality, and must be leather. Plastics PU leathers will not do what you want.

I would advise you send the razor out to be honed. And pick up a second pro honed cheap razor. With that you can have a tool to learn to strop and hone with. The classified here will often have 1 or 2 that will be perfect.

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