Well there you go!

I'm very new to the world of honing (& shaving with a straight, to be honest). I recently bought my first hones. Shapton glass 4k, 8k & 16k. After "honing" for half an hour on the wrong side of the hones (doesn't it make sense to hone on the glass side of a "glass" hone?), I had a go at my good, birthday razor. Was worried I may be doing more harm than good so I decided to practice first.
I got a gold dollar razor from eBay that wouldn't shave a hair on my arm. I looked at it through a jewelers loupe - I have no idea what I'm looking for; just for comparison as I worked on it.
I gave it about 100 strokes on the 4k stone & looked through the loupe again. I could clearly see where I was hitting the blade. There was an obvious second little bevel forming but it wasn't consistent along the edge.
I gave it another round of 100 & had another look. Slight difference but still miles from covering the entire edge. There was good wear near the heel & toe but the heel & toe, themselves, were untouched, as were a couple of spots near the middle.
I've read that you can set/reset a bevel on a 4k; you just need 4 times the strokes as a 1k. Also read you shouldn't have to guess when the bevel is set; if you're not sure, it's not set.
So I just went bananas on it, checking every so often to see if I was gaining ground. I lost count. After about a gazillion strokes I decided to call it a day. The edge was still totally uneven but I figured I'd had good practice.
Against my better instincts I decided give it a few strokes on the 8k & 16k anyway, & then I stropped* (which I also probably suck at). The edge still looked like absolute crap.
But here's the thing. I attempted a shave with it. It was awesome! Smooth, no irritation, no problems at all! I guess it goes to show that I seriously have no idea what I'm looking for when examining an edge under magnification.
I'm not patting myself too firmly on the back until I do it again on a different razor to see if it was beginners luck but I'm pretty chuffed :)

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Good on ya! Sometimes, honing has a 'leap of faith' characteristic. Nothing seems to be quite right, but after too long...just go ahead and finish it to see. The shave test is the best test, IMO.

Magnification sometimes casts doubts, esp too much of it.

This is how we learn! :)

Now...Try a better razor next time. You may learn a great deal more!

There is good loupe pictures in this thread. Give it a read, and at your first chance go to a meet. There are many subtitles that you will take a very long time to figure out on your own. http://straightrazorpalace.com/honin...ggestions.html

Good on ya! I'd say you've done extremely well to set a bevel on a GD with a 4K as a first attempt. Read up on bevel setting and testing. The loupe is a great tool, but try all the tests to see what works best for you. I like to use a loupe and the TNT.

Gold Dollars are hard, most have “issues” but some are not too bad and will easily hone up, especially the ones without stabilizers.

You can set a bevel on a 4k, but usually will have to use some pressure. A couple layers of tape will increase the angle, make it a bit easier and save some spine wear.

The goal of honing is to find a repeatable technique. Ink on the bevels will help you see your progress and if you are honing to the edge. Knowing what you are seeing is half the battle,

You want to get the bevels flat and in a single plane, from heel to toe and from the back of the bevel to the edge.

When honing a GD, first lay it on a flat stone and see if it is warped, test both sides. If it is warped, you will have to use an X stroke to hone it, or parts of the razor will not touch the stone. Ink will quickly show you your progress.

My technique was about 50 back & forth strokes all on one side of the razor; then the other side. After that, I alternated single straight up-&-back for 20; and finally 20 X-strokes. All of it was leading with the heel.
As I said, I went through this whole routine about 10 times on the 4k, alone.
I now know this was overkill but it never looked done! I was very pleasantly surprised :D
I only did the 20 straight & 20 X-strokes with the 8k & 16k.

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I use back and forth strokes for bevel setting with good results. 50 is OK for edge restoration, but keep in mind that it will create a burr. I would recommend not doing more then 10 back and forths when the bevel is getting close te where it needs to be. This will also creat a burr, but a much smaller one. The burr will change the results of your edge tests too, so only test after regular strokes.

If a blade is warped, the issue may well be in the spine instead of the edge. In this case, I figure out where the high spots are and grind the crap outta them until the spine is of one uniform thickness. Perhaps "grind" is too strong of a word, but I hone them on a 600 or 1000 grit stone until the blade will lie flat on a glass plate or a lapped stone. I mark the high spots with a sharpie and use a good deal of pressure on the high spots while honing. Of course, all this is done without tape, which would defeat the purpose of removing metal from the spine. All future honings after the blade is made flat, are done with tape on the spine.

good progress mate
give us a hoi when you are off next so we can work out a day to catch up again & go through it if you want

cheers
D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Substance

good progress mate
give us a hoi when you are off next so we can work out a day to catch up again & go through it if you want

cheers
D

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That would be great. I was wondering if I'd be a pain in your butt by asking.

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Get some good magnification, at least 60x, a 60/100, Carson Micro Max or 60x lighted loupe, just a few dollars. Then check out the thread, Second try at Honing, that ResDog linked, to see what to look for. The thread is full of good micrographs of bevels and edges.

Once you know what to look for, you remove a lot of the guessing, and just do as many laps, as the edge needs.

When using a Half lap/ knife honing stroke, use pressure only on the edge leading stroke, it will make a smoother edge. Too much pressure on a half lap stroke can cause a frown. If you use it on finer grits, lift the blade off the stone on the return stroke.

If you have warpage, you will need an X stroke, with the heel off the stone to hone the concave side, and hone the whole bevel.