Naniwa 12k honing surprise

I had Luis over at my house last week to flatten his new 12k stone and touch up a couple of razors.

He has a dovo from art of shaving that he got as a present. He shaved with it and wasn't happy with the factory edge. So I put a layer of tape on it with the plan to start at 1k. But the edge just seemed so nice that I didn't. Instead I did maybe 10 strokes on Luis' new 12k. That's it.

After he left I thought for sure I'd have to rehone it soon after he shave tested it. Well to my surprise he reports that it shaved really well and now he's very happy with the razor! Of course it was no surprise to Luis, he had total confidence in my skills the entire time.

I learned some things. An edge is sometimes better than expected. Do as little honing as possible AND be confident it will work. Finally that the 12k stone really is capable of changing the way a razor shaves.

Michael

Michael:

It's good to hear of your experience with the 12k. I'll share mine also; however, it isn't as good as yours. But I'm not blaming the stone, but rather, my inexperience. My Naniwa 12k came in Thursday along with a DMT 325. I flattened it and then proceded to perform a touch up of a razor that I had sent off to be professionally honed but never seemed to be as smooth as some other razors I had. Well about 3 strokes into the process, I ended up lifting the tang end which ground the point uneven. I could visually see with the naked eye that I had done this so I determined that I needed to perform more strokes to even this out. After a few more strokes, I did the same thing again. That's when I decided to use two hands instead of one. I then kept very light pressure on the spine with one hand in order to keep the razor flat on the stone. After about 20 or so strokes, I stropped and shave tested it. If there was an improvement, it was only slight. I definitely didn't make it any worse, but it doesn't shave comfortably like my other razors. My next step is to give it a few strokes on crox. If that doesn't work, I may send it off again before I invest in 5k /8k stones. I probably should have given a few strokes on crox initially but I wanted to see what it was like to shave directly off of the 12k. I'm assuming that an experienced honemeister can get a very smooth shave directly off the 12k with the right technique. Hopefully this will come with enough practice.

Yea, if a brand new razor is shave able but not just up to scruff and you can't see anything major wrong with the edge there is no sense in going all the way back to 1K. Nothing to loose and everything to gain by not removing more metal that you need to with using a finisher like the Naniwa 12k first.

Bob

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mjsorkin

I had Luis over at my house last week to flatten his new 12k stone and touch up a couple of razors.

He has a dovo from art of shaving that he got as a present. He shaved with it and wasn't happy with the factory edge. So I put a layer of tape on it with the plan to start at 1k. But the edge just seemed so nice that I didn't. Instead I did maybe 10 strokes on Luis' new 12k. That's it.

After he left I thought for sure I'd have to rehone it soon after he shave tested it. Well to my surprise he reports that it shaved really well and now he's very happy with the razor! Of course it was no surprise to Luis, he had total confidence in my skills the entire time.

I learned some things. An edge is sometimes better than expected. Do as little honing as possible AND be confident it will work. Finally that the 12k stone really is capable of changing the way a razor shaves.

Michael

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I'm learning that as well, albeit, with the use of CrOx.

I have yet to get any hones and am finding myself wondering whether it would be better for me to start with a 12k stone. All my razors are shave ready, so touch up is all that might be needed.

str8tlkr,

As I understand it, if you take it all the way down with something like a DMT 325, you're going to need to go through a progression upwards, say 1k, 5k, 8k before you hit a 12k for finishing and then a CrOxing.

From a DMT 325 seems to me to be a *really* course stone. Going from that to a fine 12k seems like far to wide a gap in the progression. Again, that's my understanding from all that I've read, I have been known to be wrong.

Kind Regards,

Siguy

+1 on Bob's remarks - less is often more (and sometimes all it needs is a good stropping.)

However, in str8tlkr's situation, I think I would go back to the at least the 4/5K stage for a few strokes, just to make sure I had a nice flat bevel. If a finisher does not improve the edge, it usually means that we didn't get the previous stage quite right and more often than not the culprit is the bevel.


rs,
Tack



rs,
Tack

I typically go to a 3k chosera when the crox doesnt do it. Then up from there. I have all the hones so its not really any time and the metal lost is very little. I dont think I will live long enough to wear any razors out.

Str8lkr

Was this your first time honing? If so then maybe you should consider sending the blade back out.

I say this because IME lifting the spine during honing requires a fixing with a lower grit. And if you think you lifted the bevel twice, then it was probably more than that.

If you want me to re-hone it for you just for postage then just pm me. I'll be happy to help you out.

Siguy, the dmt325 is for flattening not for a progression with 12k.

Michael

I try shaving a strip on my leg. Depending on how that shave goes as to how far down I will go. It's kind of like a calibrated HHT.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by str8tlkr

... I flattened it and then proceded to perform a touch up of a razor that I had sent off to be professionally honed ...

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Before touching up a razor that Was honed by somebody else always find out if he used tape.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by str8tlkr

Michael:

It's good to hear of your experience with the 12k. I'll share mine also; however, it isn't as good as yours. But I'm not blaming the stone, but rather, my inexperience. My Naniwa 12k came in Thursday along with a DMT 325. I flattened it and then proceded to perform a touch up of a razor that I had sent off to be professionally honed but never seemed to be as smooth as some other razors I had. Well about 3 strokes into the process, I ended up lifting the tang end which ground the point uneven. I could visually see with the naked eye that I had done this so I determined that I needed to perform more strokes to even this out. After a few more strokes, I did the same thing again. That's when I decided to use two hands instead of one. I then kept very light pressure on the spine with one hand in order to keep the razor flat on the stone. After about 20 or so strokes, I stropped and shave tested it. If there was an improvement, it was only slight. I definitely didn't make it any worse, but it doesn't shave comfortably like my other razors. My next step is to give it a few strokes on crox. If that doesn't work, I may send it off again before I invest in 5k /8k stones. I probably should have given a few strokes on crox initially but I wanted to see what it was like to shave directly off of the 12k. I'm assuming that an experienced honemeister can get a very smooth shave directly off the 12k with the right technique. Hopefully this will come with enough practice.

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You can't fix a borked edge on 12k. It's too fine, it doesn't remove much metal.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mjsorkin

I learned some things. An edge is sometimes better than expected. Do as little honing as possible AND be confident it will work. Finally that the 12k stone really is capable of changing the way a razor shaves.

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And that Dovo is finally getting closer to a shave ready edge out of the box.
Maybe they read our forum. :)