Thread: First honing milestone achieved

I have just had the fortune to reach a milestone in my shaving journey. Last night I shaved with razors that I sharpened myself. I know that this is not an uncommon event with people who frequent SRP, but I have to say I was inordinately pleased with myself. It kind of feels like I have closed the loop in my shaving routine.

Now while I am happy with myself, I have to say it was not the best shave ever. Not the worst by a long shot, but definitely room for improvement. I chose 2 razors from my stash of ebay cheapies and decided to give em a shot. (As a side note, I have just received a DMT to ensure my stones where truly flat and had the opportunity to get some time with Glen at the 4^th annual PNW meet-up in Spokane.)

The razors I chose were a 11/16 John Primble (?) with a broken scale at the pivot and a 11/16 Arrow Special with a cracked scale at the wedge pin. Both razors received a quick and dirty cleanup with 0000 steel wool and WD-40. Honing was accomplished with DMT flattened Norton 1K/4K/8K. One layer of tape was applied to the spine of each razor. I used a sharpie and the thumb nail test to verify the bevel was set. I had a bit of trouble with the Primble due to a quick upturn (old chip?) at the tip. Going up through the 4K and 8K I used the movement of the water on the stone and the sound/feel feedback to get an idea of progress. I have horrible luck getting the arm hair test to give me any results, and don’t feel that confident in my TPT yet. I decided I am not going to shoot for trying a finishing stone until I feel like I have a handle on my Nortons and have developed my “testing rituals” (HHT, TPT,TNT) so I can gauge my progress. Here are the razors in questions. The pics kinda suck, but I can try to get get better ones if anyone really ants. May have to do some research on a cheapo light box set-up.




I worked both razors up through the 8K stone and did 75 strokes on felt with 15 carat diamond spray (0.5 micron) and 100 strokes on the leather strop. I then had a nice hot shower and my normal shave prep with Taylors cream and face lathering. I used the Primble on the left side of my face and the Arrow on the right. I completed a full 3 pass shave and actually got BBS on my cheeks after the third pass with both razors. As I stated before, not the best shave ever but not horrible. Still needed work on my jaw line and chin. Had 2 weepers on each side, but nothing else. I completed my post shave routine and was feeling pretty good about myself. About a ½ hour later I could really tell that my skin wasn’t happy with me. Felt pretty raw so I applied some lotion to soothe it. Figuring a combination of too much pressure and a rougher edge off of an 8K did me in.

All in all, I feel that this is a good start. I am going to hit the hones with these razors again tonight and see if I can get a smoother edge off of the 8K. I have also heard of using lather on a stone to smooth the edge out as well, may try that in the future. My loupe should be arriving in the next day or so as well. Looking forward to seeing what I can accomplish.

The first of many...congratulations!

There Is Nothing Like Shaving With A Self Sharpened Razor! Congrats.....
There Is A GREAT lightbox Setup In The Wiki.....

Hey hey congrats! We're in on the same journey! I'm waiting on my King 1k to arrive, but have the norton 4k/8k and a CNAT 12k finisher. I've touched up a few so far with mixed results off the 4k/8k and CNAT. Hoping the bevel setter will make the difference (as I think all my razors probably need to have the bevel reset)

Good news! Just make sure that the bevel is set. Its the most important thing you can do in honing. If youre in doubt, keep going on the 1k. You may even try a quick pass after stropping on the cheek after and see that all the hair on the pass is being removed. Don't do the whole shave though. It will feel rough but sharp.

Ru4scuba, I have been following your honing threads here and in other forums (avatar is fairly unique ). I have a CNAT, but am going to stay with the 8K for the moment. Want to make sure I am getting the most out of my current set-up before I move up. I know I don't have to, but it helps eliminate some of the variables.

Bill, Pretty sure there is a good bevel. That is the one test (sharpie and Thumb nail test) that I am not having a problem with. Just got my 30x loupe, so will be playing with looking at the scratch patterns soon as well.

Not saying there is. Just a friendly reminder as I used to get from some great folks here on the forum.

Originally Posted by MattCB

Ru4scuba, I have been following your honing threads here and in other forums (avatar is fairly unique ). I have a CNAT, but am going to stay with the 8K for the moment. Want to make sure I am getting the most out of my current set-up before I move up. I know I don't have to, but it helps eliminate some of the variables.

Too true! The real question is how do you know you're getting the most out of your 8k? It seems everyone has an opinion...and as my old football coach used to say, opinions are like XXXXX, we all got me and they all stink! Lol

Originally Posted by MattCB

Bill, Pretty sure there is a good bevel. That is the one test (sharpie and Thumb nail test) that I am not having a problem with. Just got my 30x loupe, so will be playing with looking at the scratch patterns soon as well.

Tell me how you interpret them...my 30x loupe came in this week and I'm not certain I know what to look for