Thread: Newbie honing journal

Originally Posted by bombay

Have you read about marking along the cutting edge with a pen? you can see if anywhere isn't touching the hone because the pen will still be in place when trying to set the bevel

Yes, thanks, I'll do that.

Great tip about the lather on the 8K stone. I'll have to try that. Unfortunately I'm blessed/cursed with a pretty wiry beard, so I definately feel it when an edge is not sharp enough. I'll be following this with interest!

No Name

Well, this razor made me wish I had a coarse diamond hone

I have a coarse Chinese stone that I got with a couple of cleavers years ago, but it's so porous that any water poured on it just runs right through and out the bottom and I can't keep the surface wet - even after a good soak. I didn't want to risk that, so I went with the Naniwa 1k - I did a lot of circles and half-laps with the spine off the stone so I could get the metal down as quickly as possible. But it seems like hard stuff, and it took 2 hours to get to this stage...



The chip is gone, and the pitting (which you couldn't see last time cos I photographed the better side) is shallow and doesn't reach the edge. But there's still a slight frown on it. This is after I set a bevel and it passes the Sharpie marker test - but I clearly have a little more work to do to get it straight.

Still, I'm encouraged, and I think it's looking good so far.

OK, back to more work on the No Name razor, with an elevated angle again, and I definitely got rid of the frown - I checked against the edge of a steel rule at different spots along its length, and there was no daylight showing.

So I went back to lapping flat on the 1k stone, and by the time the bevel was starting to get thumb-pad nice, I checked on the steel rule - and there's a slight frown back again!

My guess is that the stone isn't properly flat, and that appears to be the case - the edge will pass the Sharpie test on one side of the stone but not on the other. I've been lapping with a small Naniwa flattening stone, and I can only conclude that it is not adequate for razor work.

So. I'll order a diamond lapping stone and delay any further honing until that gets here - the DMT 325 is very expensive in the UK, so I'm considering an EZE-LAP stone.

The frown could be coming in from the spine,,, In the pic it does not look very even, I would check the spine for warp and thickness before blaming the stones..

Lay the razor on a known flat surface and shine a light from behind the spine see what there is to see... See if the razor sits flat or there is a rocking motion there.. These are quick and dirty tests

Another trick that we use to keep a less then perfect razor from getting a frown is to hone toward a smile ,,, there are a couple of ways to accomplish it, but I would check the razor first, the stones second, and finally switch to honing Gymnastics last

Originally Posted by gssixgun

The frown could be coming in from the spine,,, In the pic it does not look very even, I would check the spine for warp and thickness before blaming the stones..

Lay the razor on a known flat surface and shine a light from behind the spine see what there is to see... See if the razor sits flat or there is a rocking motion there.. These are quick and dirty tests

Another trick that we use to keep a less then perfect razor from getting a frown is to hone toward a smile ,,, there are a couple of ways to accomplish it, but I would check the razor first, the stones second, and finally switch to honing Gymnastics last

Thanks - I'll try those.

It turns out it was indeed the stone.

I spent time today trying to flatten one side of my Naniwa 1000 using the small Naniwa flattening stone, and I got it there, but only after a lot of hard work and repeated checking with a straight edge.

And then another good session with the No Name razor, first at a slightly raised angle on the unflattened side of the 1k stone (which was actually reasonably close to flat) to specifically work on the two ends of the frown, then when it was looking close to being straight, over to the flattened side again to set a bevel.

And this time the edge is looking much better. I still have a couple of small patches with a little bit of double bevel to finish - a thin line of sharpie ink right at the very edge - but there's no sign of frowning now, and the blade has a nice shape.

Next session I'll finish the bevel and hopefully get onto the 3k/8k stages.

And... I've ordered a DMT 325 for flattening. There are other diamond stones cheaper here in the UK, but at least I know the DMT works.

I got a couple of nice speedy deliveries today...

Firstly, my DMT 325 arrived this morning, which was pretty quick since I only put the order in early yesterday morning - big credit to BuyBrandTools.com on that, who also had the best UK price I could find. I haven't done anything with it yet, but it certainly feels like a serious weighty tool.

Next came one of these, from TheInvisibleEdge.co.uk - a "Le Grelot" form TI 11/16. I'd allowed a few days of stubble to grow in anticipation, and I had a shave with a razor I hadn't honed myself!

And it was excellent - a very keen and smooth edge and a very nice shave. The weight and balance in the hand also suit me well, and it's a very elegant shape.

Steve at TheInvisibleEdge told me it has been finished on a Naniwa 12k, so could I tell the difference between it and my lathered 8k edge? Well, yes - the TI edge is clearly keener and smoother. But what pleased me was that the difference was really not as great as I was expecting!

It does confirm my plan to get a 12k, but I'm definitely going to hold off on it until I've had a few more shaves on the best 8k edges I can manage.

Alan

Honing time for the No Name again...

I gave the DMT a bit of a break-in using the shaft of a large screwdriver - I actually found one protruding bit of diamond grit that was a lot bigger than the rest, but I managed to knock it off.

Then flattening the waterstones under running water - and wow, almost time at all! I love this DMT thing!

Another session with the razor on the 1k Naniwa, and I got the bevel quite quickly - sharpie test passing quickly on each side, and arm hair shaved off at skin level.

I then went through 3k and 8k Naniwa, and got what seems like a decent edge. It's tree-topping hairs, though not quite as cleanly and smoothly as the Crown & Sceptre was at 8k - but maybe "No Name" wasn't one of Sheffield's finest producers!

I noticed a couple of other things. Firstly, the steel is pretty hard on this razor - it took more laps to get anywhere than the others I've honed so far. Also, on one side the shoulder is intruding a little into the honing plane, but it wasn't enough to prevent honing - it just kept catching the edge of the stone and there is some honing wear into the shoulder.

Anyway, it's ready for a session with lather, which I'll get on to next.