Thread: Grrrrrr. Not ... sharp ... enough

Arm Hair Test
Thumb Nail Test
Thumb Pad Test


Use a new DE blade to get a feel for what these should feel like...

Originally Posted by Headcrowny

Oh, I see a great bevel. Nice and flat and shiny. That's what causes me perplexity.

It's not how the sides of the bevel look that matters, it's how close both those sides are to each other. This is the main consideration at the low grit level. Basically with straight razors the grits get quite high relative to other kinds of sharpening (on average, that is), and therefore what tends to happen is that if you don't get things sharp enough at the low grits the higher grits will take too long and you end up with nice shiny bevels on a dull dull edge.

Some people refer to it as the polished turd effect.

James.

Originally Posted by Headcrowny

I'll have to check what the acronyms mean but number 4 "seems" fine. Looked at it under a loupe and jewelers dealie. However, I guess looking good and being good must not necessarily be co-existant.

Magnification of the sides of the bevel cannot tell you anything about how far apart the two sides are, and therefore cannot tell you how sharp the edge is.

I only use magnification to look for things like microchipping, not for assessing sharp.

James.

Originally Posted by Headcrowny

Oh, I see a great bevel. Nice and flat and shiny. That's what causes me perplexity.

I'm not sure if this helps any but a proper bevel is not necessarily a flat, polished side. Its the bringing together of those two sides completely that forms a bevel. You can check with a microscope to see if the cutting edge is still visible. If it is, you're not there. You won't be able to actually see it unless your magnification is super high. The loupe is good to watch what is happening during the process, see if the edge is even or has chips in it, and see the scratch patterns. Once the sides come together correctly, it will cut hair or pass the other mentioned tests. If you're grinding away at lower grits for hours on end, there may be other factors involved.

Originally Posted by Jimbo

Magnification of the sides of the bevel cannot tell you anything about how far apart the two sides are, and therefore cannot tell you how sharp the edge is.

I only use magnification to look for things like microchipping, not for assessing sharp.

James.

You beat me to it.

As Jim said, the Idea of setting the bevel on 1000K is to get the sides to meet. The bevel will shine under light but under magnification you will see striations from the course, to us, 1000K hone. Going up the progression should eliminate most if not all the striations and will look mirror finished in the end.

Have you tried using a magic marker on the bevel to see what you are doing on the hone?

Honing a straight razor is not science or some fixed formula but a skill set, a sorta touchy feely proposition.

Bob

You mean put magic marker on the edge then hone and see if any pigment remains?

See where it remains , yep. I hate it because it gets black all over my hone. :<0)

Originally Posted by Headcrowny

You mean put magic marker on the edge then hone and see if any pigment remains?

Yea use it like layout dye. It will show you what you may or may not miss under magnification.

Bob