Thread: I’ve A Beginners Honing Question

Good afternoon fam. Being relatively green at honing, I’ve made some good progress if I say so myself. I’ve gotten several of my razors shave ready on a 3k8k combination stone. However, these were initial honings. When these eventually and inevitably require edge refreshment, where should I start? Back at the 3k or freshen things up starting with the 8k? Your thoughts?
-TBS

Refreshing can be done on a finishing stone

in your case the 8k

a 3k is too aggressive to refresh a razor



if you ever get other stones, you can also do it on a 10k or 12k, but an 8k is always gonna be good capable stone for an edge that needs a "big" refresh where you need to get a little lower in grit.

Anything below an 8k is unnecessary to me for refreshing unless there's serious damage to the edge

I think starting by looking it over with a loupe and making a descision based on what you see. Typically you would return to a finisher as mentioned above, but you should look first.

Finisher as suggested unless you have damaged the edge

Get a pasted strop and start there. If that doesn't work then go backwards. 8 then 3. Magic marker test is your friend. You will see where the edge hits the stone.

I think what everyone is saying, more or less, is to start your refresh on the least course media you have to remove as little metal as possible. Once metal is removed you can't replace it. If that does not work drop back one level and work back up and so on. Less is more in this case to prolong the life of your blade.

Bob

Can you be more specific as to the 3k/8k combo in question? Naniwa, or something more generic? But yes, refresh on the 8k side as mentioned.

Sounds like everyone agrees. Maybe this might be the truth? Ha.
You never know until you ask so it was good you asked. Now you have to put it to practice.

Yup, look at it with magnification, then do what it needs.

Reading here and on other razor fora, one would think, all razors need a complete bevel set progression, but that is not the case.

All the razors in my progression, have been bevel set and fully honed, but most will never see another full bevel set again, as long as I own them.

There is no need. The goal of setting the bevel, is to flatten the bevels, at the proper angle and get them to meet at a straight, chip free edge. Once that is done, it is not needed again, if the razor is properly maintained.

The problem is, many folks wait too long, strop improperly or on a contaminated strop, or fail to maintain an edge on paste or touch up on a finish stone. Then the edge begins to chip. The best way to remove all the deep scratches and chipping is to bevel set and do a full honing progression.

Years ago, a few of us stropped the same razor daily on Chrome Oxide and shaved with it for a year, to see what the effects would be. After a week or two, all the visible stria was removed from the bevel and the shaves continued to improve until they plateaued to a keen, smooth consistent shave. After a year it got boring, nothing changed and there was no damage to the bevel or edge, only microns of steel were removed.

You don’t need to strop on paste daily, though I do, but if you did at least once a week, you can get an edge to last months or years. It all depends on your technique.

The trick to honing a razor is doing what the razor needs.

Originally Posted by Euclid440

Years ago, a few of us stropped the same razor daily on Chrome Oxide and shaved with it for a year, to see what the effects would be. After a week or two, all the visible stria was removed from the bevel and the shaves continued to improve until they plateaued to a keen, smooth consistent shave. After a year it got boring, nothing changed and there was no damage to the bevel or edge, only microns of steel were removed.

This is very interesting. I have heard rumors of people using white paste on a strop and keeping their edges sharp indefinitely. Good to get it straight from the horse's mouth so to speak.