Thread: I think I'm close but...

My strippers anre quite flat and sit well on the hone. I also have a modified shavette that works well as a handle. It was a wreck hair shaper in its first life. The spine is quite wide and it did not take much coaxing to get it to take the wedge blades. I have honed both by pushing the blade on the hone and by using a handle. Without the handle it is very difficult to concentrate the effort on the edge, with the handle you can use torque to your advantage. Also with a swooping stroke you can bring a very mild smile to the blade, which I also like.

From the look of the bevel, I would suspect a holding issue. While I have never honed a razor like that freehand, I would use a holder.

I have honed small finger plane blades (about that size) free hand, with single directional strokes, with shop made wooden angle guide/ holders and with an edge pro. All with good results and even bevels.

If you want perfect bevels you need a jig, Holding the blade and moving the stone (a knife honing jig) is the easiest way to get perfect bevels on small blades. The smaller the blade the more critical holding the blade in a fixed angle is.

If the edge is not cutting hair at 1k the bevel is not fully set. Look straight down on the edge, any reflection is where the bevels are not meeting.

Alright so the next time I try this I'll use the stropping holder.

The stropper essentially slips onto the back of the spine which allows you to hold the blade similar to a straight razor in order to strop it. While the portion of the stropper which makes contact with the spine is flat, it bulges out towards the handle which makes it difficult to do anything other than single directional strokes if I'm using it to hone.

I spent 1 hour on the 1k. At this point I don't know what else I could possibly do on the 1k to get it to cut hair. I'm assuming more strokes won't do much...

While conceptually I get the whole "look straight down on the edge" thing, I honestly don't see anything when I do this, it just looks like an edge. I've seen pictures of what it's supposed to look like, but those were taken from a microscope, not sure if it looks different through a loupe.

If you are honing freehand, the angle is constantly changing and you may not be honing to the edge or completely across the edge with each stroke.

What you should see is the same thing, reflection of light , shinny spots. In strong light you can see that with the naked eye. Pick up a $10 Carson 60-100x, Micro Max and you will see a lot more of what is going on at the edge.

Also strop the edge to remove any flashing , then look at it. Holding the blade in the proper angle is critical.

Hmmm, I am lost.

Compared to the rest of the steel of the blade, the bevel is all shiny which can be seen from the pictures. Is that not how it's supposed to be?

Shiny spots on the edge, not the bevels. Look straight down on the edge, roll the blade a few degrees each way.

How much magnification are you using?

The first two pics are a bevel not fully set. The last one is fully set, notice no shiny reflections at the edge. You will see 4 tiny white dots in the last photo. One near the left side and 3 clustered near the right side about a third of the way down the picture. That is dust near the edge.

The edge is at a slight upward angle from left to right. The bevels are now meeting and no longer reflecting light. The edge is the straight line,the bottom of the shiny band.

If you load your last pic into a photo editor, and enlarge to its max, it looks like you have a double bevel on the left side. Most probably from freehanding.