Thread: A honing I will go .... Step #1 - Preparation

For the past couple of months I've been enjoying a very successful transition to Str8 razor shaving. Since it looks like I'm in for the long haul I thought I might just as well start my honing education. I've watched videos and read threads about the subject until my eyes glazed over. That's when I knew it was time to jump in.

Here's my set up. Front row: DMT 325, right to left: Norton 1K, Norton 4K/8K, Naniwa 12K



First I ran the shaft of a screw driver back and forth on the DMT to make sure there was no problem areas. Time to flatten the stones. Started with the Naniwa. Drew a Tic Tac Toe pattern on the face with a pencil, wet it and started to scrub it against the DMT under running water. First surprise was how much suction is created between the stone and the DMT. It easily slides back and forth but when you try to separate them better hold on tight. Got used to sliding then off each other instead of trying to pull them apart. Kept scrubbing until all the pencil marking were removed. Beveled the edges and "Bingo" one flat stone. This leads to my first question. Here is a picture of the Naniwa post scrubbing. It started out just a flat white in appearance. Now you can see in the picture small speckles showing on the surface. The face is perfectly smooth. It's just a image change. Is this normal??



Next up the Nortons. After soaking in water for 15 to 20 minutes I followed the same process. 4K was the most time consuming but all together about 1 hour of work. Once done I noticed something changed with the DMT. It started out an even silver color but now has about 4 or 5 darker color bands running across the plate. I scrubbed it off with a soft brush but it didn't change. Hard to capture it in a picture but here it is. I did change up my scrubbing pattern regularly. Is this normal? Anybody seen this before?



Next up introducing an actual razor to the stones. Yikes!!

The diamonds are on a steel plate. It will discolour & rust especially as the diamonds thin out. The 'bands' are probably high spots on the DMT.

Everything so far is "normal". The video's are a good learning tool, but find a honing mentor if at all possible as a few hours with someone will be worth many days on youtube...heck of a lot more fun too!

Sounds like we had similiar experiences and set-ups. I just got my DMT and the same thing happend, the colour change didn't seem to effect the DMT's performance. Not sure anbout the Naniwa as I use a Coticule to finish on.

This is a well worn DMT 325, I have used it for years and it still performs perfectly everyday...





The scratches along the edges are from fixing heels The green from the Chosera 1K was worse I have started using the DMT brass brush to clean in after every grit change just recently

My naniwa SS's do that (spotting)...not sure what it's from...

re: the spotting.. my Chosera 5K does that too (though not as many spots), while the 1K and 10K do not. Go figure, it appears to be harmless so I don't worry about it.

rs,
Tack

Originally Posted by gssixgun

This is a well worn DMT 325, I have used it for years and it still performs perfectly everyday...





The scratches along the edges are from fixing heels The green from the Chosera 1K was worse I have started using the DMT brass brush to clean in after every grit change just recently

Wow what was I worried about. Nice to know it's still got some life in it.