Thread: Shaved Off the Naniwa 3K

This is utterly hysterical! I wonder if the brick+milk method would make honing stainless steel any faster...or easier...or maybe both...

Why in the wide world of sports would you want to try and shave off 3000K hone? I’m not drinking that Kool-Aid. I guess you could shave off a dull deer antler if you wanted to. I can see it now, a dull deer antler quaintly poised on a shave scuttle posted on SOTD. It’s the best shave ever!!! Wheeeeeeeeeee.

Think of it this way. If you can get a decent shave off the 3K stone, you've really done the job of setting the bevel and sharpening the edge quite well. There was a long thread elsewhere dealing with the importance of the lower grit stones where folks were trying this to learn something about the stage at which the razor transitions from being "pretty sharp" to almost shave-ready. I'm only a rank beginner at honing, so it's important to me to know how the edge performs at different stages of the process.

This AM I shaved with that same razor, having gone up the chain to the 8K, 12K, CrOx, linen and leather. It shaved very well, in fact, one of the best razors I've shaved with in my vast…months…of straight shaving.

But it was not hugely better than what I got off the 3K stone. I really saw the reality that 90% or so of the work is actually done by the time we move from the sharpening stone to the polishing and finishing stones.

Originally Posted by MODINE

Why in the wide world of sports would you want to try and shave off 3000K hone? I’m not drinking that Kool-Aid. I guess you could shave off a dull deer antler if you wanted to. I can see it now, a dull deer antler quaintly poised on a shave scuttle posted on SOTD. It’s the best shave ever!!! Wheeeeeeeeeee.

Originally Posted by LawsonStone

Think of it this way. If you can get a decent shave off the 3K stone, you've really done the job of setting the bevel and sharpening the edge quite well. There was a long thread elsewhere dealing with the importance of the lower grit stones where folks were trying this to learn something about the stage at which the razor transitions from being "pretty sharp" to almost shave-ready. I'm only a rank beginner at honing, so it's important to me to know how the edge performs at different stages of the process.

This AM I shaved with that same razor, having gone up the chain to the 8K, 12K, CrOx, linen and leather. It shaved very well, in fact, one of the best razors I've shaved with in my vast…months…of straight shaving.

But it was not hugely better than what I got off the 3K stone. I really saw the reality that 90% or so of the work is actually done by the time we move from the sharpening stone to the polishing and finishing stones.

Lawson i am confused with above message.
Just remember if you cannot see' hugely better 'differences between 3k and 12k edge then
Sorry to say you have to spend a lot time on honing .
Honing takes time . i don't think any of us learned after honing 3 razors.just work on razors and see how much better it will get.

I'm only a rank beginner at honing, so it's important to me to know how the edge performs at different stages of the process.

please check early posts on honing there is a lot clues when to move from 4k to 8k so on.
there is some sharpness test out there you can do them and see how edge changes or use small radio shack microscopes etc. instead of shaving after 1k,3k,5k,8k etc.
if you choose shaving after every stone you will loose a lot blood.
hope this helps.

Hmmm. Intriguing. I checked the edge on my 60x-100x 'shak microscope after the 4k and 5k grit and was impressed, but 3k? That's difficult to pull off. I would dare do anything that was flirting with ATG (for me on the jaw leftwards and upwards). I'd restrict movements to left-down and down. I recently honed up a $6.50 4/8th to 8k (Norton), shaved with it last night to check the length of the edge (no microscope to keep me honest and possibly learn to detect by facial shaving) and it went very well. Then I honed it up today a good while on the Spyderco Ultra-Fine (estimated 12k-15k ore more). I could tell the difference. For much of my face, for most of the directions, it is not dramatic enough to matter much, but for some regions with some directions... I couldn't handle it. I think a major factor is skin type, including toughness.

I've used a professional honer's blade, first time use, mind you, after months of only my own blades, which are never finished on what kind of stones/compounds they've got to play with. I can tell you, closest shaves I've gotten, no irritation either. Some of us can get away with rougher edges and some of us will be left forever wanting the smoooothest babied blades.

But that's pretty neat, Lawson.

Gosh I seem to have struck a nerve with a couple of you. Didn't mean to do that, wasn't trying to be controversial.

I have about 10 razors that were professionally honed. Some were new, some NOS, a couple vintage. I have about 20 that I've honed myself, all eBay finds that needed some restoration. I've used the professionally honed blades as my standard for judging my own work. Often on the same morning I use a razor honed by some SRP luminary on one side of my face, and a razor honed by me on the other side. It's crazy I know, but it's tons of fun! I have been able to measure how much I fall short and with pleasure have seen my efforts improving. Several hear, via e-mail and PMs, have given me blow-by-blow advice on different stages. I'm grateful for that mentoring (you all know who you are!).

I took to heart the statements by several, some posting early on this thread others on the earlier thread of shaving off the 5K stone, that 90+% of the work of honing is done on setting the bevel and sharpening the edge, that the 8K, 12K are polishing an edge that is already basically as sharp as it's likely to get.

I was testing that claim for myself, and felt it vindicated very well by my experience. The additional work on the higher grit stones is certainly well worth the effort involved, especially now that I know better what those stages actually accomplish.

I've tried all the famous sharpness tests, and I read over and over that they aren't absolute standards. I do shave leg/arm hair. I test on my thumbpad, which seems quite sensitive to an edge. The HHT I don't care about in the least because the only hair I can find is so fine not even the pro-honed razors cut it regularly. I don't plan to shave after every stage of every time I hone a razor, so Sham you don't need to worry! This was a specific test I was trying to learn in detail how each stage feels, tests, and shaves.

So thanks all for your feedback, and I'm sorry if some thought I was trying to be controversial. I am a theology professor in real life, and I understand orthodoxies and the need to uphold orthodox practice and principles. I also think experimenting and testing "orthodoxies" whether in religion or in honing razors, is valid too.

So the simple fact is that I honed a razor that gave me a nice shave after the 3K Naniwa, but there was room for improvement, which came with the higher grit hones and my strops, leaving me a nicely shaving razor to give back to my student.

Very insightful Lawson! Humans only really learn by trial and error, so we can all benefit from your experimentation. I think I am going to try this out for myself off my Naniwa 5K (I don't have a 3K, only 1,5,8 &12K)

Keep it up for all our sakes please.

Actually you can shave off a deer antler if you hone it right.

You first get a brick and some 2% milk…wait…

Originally Posted by MODINE

Why in the wide world of sports would you want to try and shave off 3000K hone? I’m not drinking that Kool-Aid. I guess you could shave off a dull deer antler if you wanted to. I can see it now, a dull deer antler quaintly poised on a shave scuttle posted on SOTD. It’s the best shave ever!!! Wheeeeeeeeeee.