Thread: Dedicated Bevel Setting ....

Only had a plane blade available. Gotta make do with what I got for the time being...


Was pleasantly surprised actually. Very smooth, no nicks. Looking forward to an proper instrument.

Stu.

I know this is off topic but I really have to comment on the "knife" guy sharpening a razor. I have been sharpening knives for about 40 years, by hand, no jigs what so ever. I can feel the bevel as it is being made and as it is being polished. I have met some very talented knife guys and these top tier gents also relate to me that they use no jigs or crutches. Actually a razor has a built in "crutch" called the spine. I have a journeyman's card as finish carpenter, welder, and elevator mechanic. I had no trouble with the actual honing of a razor once I found out what rocks to use. I may be off base here but one very important attribute for being a master at honing, as a lot of the guys that have posted here are, is to have hands that have very good touch, feel and muscle control. Any individual that can take two pieces of wood or metal and mate them end to end with no light showing between the crack can, I assure you, sharpen a razor within a very short time.

Just an observation,
Richard

Originally Posted by Schtoo

Only had a plane blade available. Gotta make do with what I got for the time being...


Was pleasantly surprised actually. Very smooth, no nicks. Looking forward to an proper instrument.

Stu.

Good start Now, the next challenge is do the same with some Sheffield wedges & some extra Hollow Solingens. Get the 2 extremes wired & you'll have most bases covered

Great thread! I only own a vintage coticule and have been having trouble setting a bevel on a coupple sheffield wedges. I have been thinking about getting a "dedicated bevel setter", and this thread has helped me narrow down the field to two candidates. Thanks fellas for letting us know what your personal choices are and why, it is a big help for someone like me.

Regards
Louis.

Schtoo, don't misunderstand us. We don't say that you can't sharpen things, nor you don't know about sharp and smooth, we are saying that razors are a very different animal. I am pretty sure that you will get the hang of it much faster than the majority of new guys. We are saying that a lot of knife nuts and others came here, who already shaved with their pocket knives a lot of times, just for kicks, or to prove how good they can sharpen. And there were a lot of them who had a hard time learning to hone a razor, so if you can sharpen anything doesn't mean you can hone a razor too. That said, it can happen that you will sharpen an old sheffield warped smiling wedge the first time with HHT5 and perfect no irritation BBS shave, but it is very unlikely You will see what we were talking about if you get a less than perfectly straight razor, with more than minor rework needs.

Well, I tried the Bester 1K on about 50 razors and this stone will be going to the closet. It is a harder feeling stone, but not as hard as the Shapton on Glass. It eats water even after a good soaking. This stone really loaded up quickly too. I won't necessarily say clogged, but definitely a ton of swarf on it and I had to clean/lap it every couple of razors. It is a slow cutter and I ended up finishing the bevel on every razor with a Chosera 1K. I was doing 3-5 sets of circles followed by 10 X strokes and not getting what I usually get on one set with the Chosera, Super Stone, Norton or Shapton Glass. I may play with this one some more, but doubtful. I have several others I want to test next.

If someone wants to play with this stone, I'll be happy to loan it to you. I'm betting it will get a little workout at the MO Gathering in a few weeks.

Have fun,

Lynn

Lynn, I'm not surprised.

But it does give me some insight as to what's 'desirable' in a bevel setting stone for a razor. Not completely of course, but some more ideas.

You'll probably find that cleaning more than lapping was required, the Bester stays pretty flat no matter what you do to it. Blessing for some, curse for others. It has a good reputation for knife sharpeners and Japanese tool users, but I found it to be a little gutless in the end but capable with most any steel presented to it, the tougher the better. Compared to the Chosera, slower to a degree but has a much wider operating envelope, so for tough stainless it might be a better choice and really makes it's mark with very tough steels like HSS.

All that tells me is the abrasive is good and hard, porosity is a little too great, binder is hard and durable. In some cases, the binder/abrasive match reasonably well, other times, not quite so much.

If you've got some tough battleaxe of a blade kicking around, give it a shot. On less tough steels, meh. I don't think you're playing with anything that a Chosera or Shapton struggles with, so the Bester's not going to be of much benefit. Maybe someone will like the feeling though, since there's no accounting for taste.

Just a passing observation...

And looking forward to more information as it arrives.

Stu.

OK, two more tested. Around 50 razors on each. Maybe a few more.

Arashiyama-Had a little grainy feeling to start, but it went away with a simple lapping. It required a light soaking, but is not a thirsty stone. It has a medium hard feeling that is similar to the Chosera. Pretty decent feedback. It is a nice cutter and shows swarf collection, but no clogging. Not quite as fast a cutter as the Chosera, but very close. Results were good with this stone. Although, I still prefer the Chosera, this is not a bad stone at all.

Sigma Hard-This stone was a bitch to lap for starters. Even with soaking for 15 minutes, this stone stayed pretty thirsty though out the honing regiment. It has a hard feel to it with decent feedback. The swarf definitely loads up and it clogged at around 3 razors. It is a decent cutter, but again, not as quick as the Chosera. Results were decent.

With both these stones, I was able to set usable bevels. I liked the Arashiyama so far, the best of the 3 new ones I've been playing with. I'll continue to play with these stones and have a Sigma Soft to test next. I have been sticking with sets of 40 circles with pressure in each direction followed by 10 X strokes. The Sigma Hard and Bester needed additional sets on virtually every razor. Not so with the Arashiyama. All razors tested were in decent condition although there were a couple of ebay dogs in there so I got to compare multiple sets on the Chosera to these stones. I'm going to try to put a couple hundred razors through each of these stones going forward to see if my opinion's on them changes.

So far, I won't be giving up the Chosera as my main bevel setter, but I would have no problem using the Arashiyama as an alternative.

Have fun,

Lynn