Thread: What are the Indicators for you it's time to move up in the progression?

Curious to hear how you make the decision when it's time to move to the next stone....pretty certain I understand a lot of folks' indicators for bevel setters (TNT, TPT, even bevel across the blade)

But what are your indicators for coming off your middle stones like 4k? 8k?

I think I understand that finishers are as much an art form as anything, so deciding papers to be much based on user preference.

But what is not so clear, is when folks decide (and why) to come off the middle stones...

Thats is a tough one to answer. Basically when I first start on a stone the feedback of the razor has a certain feel to it. I will call that feeling dirty. As the edge gets to it's maximum smoothness for that stone the feedback is cleaner and smoother and start to feel kind of sticky or gummy on the stone. I may check it with a loop to make sure that the scratch patterns are even and the bevel should already be even and it should have already had an even shave. i check all those things at the 1k and never leave there until it's complete. So I guess the readers digest answer is feedback. Everyone will probably have there own tell tale.

Magnification And Scratch Pattern Along With How They "Feel" On The Stone Is How I Do It.

Not Sure If It Is "Right" But It Seems To Work For Me.....

I am going to give you the "Three Great Secrets of Honing"

We tell this to White Belt Kempo Students when they attain their 1st Yellow Belt too "The Three Great Secrets of Martial Arts"

Practice..

More Practice..

Practice it one more time...


http://straightrazorpalace.com/honin...-1k-shave.html


Now in reality read that thread above, and try it, then once you get that move to you next stone and do it once again and the next and the next... Once you learn to adjust your honing so that every step yields an noticeable improvement then it all becomes really easy...

This like everything else in this hobby takes time and repetition it is boring and most people stop at "Good Enough" but all you have to do is invest the time and it all makes sense

Good question

When the US Supreme Court justices were attempting to come up with a definition of pornography in a case involving free speech, and trying to differeniate it from art or other forms of speech, they said, "you know it when you see it."

The same idea is true with honing. When do you move on to the next stone? You know it when you feel it. Not sure how else to answer.

Usually, when the missus comes over and taps me on the shoulder and says "when you gonna stop playing with that **censored**razor? I know it's time to move on.

3 is the number & the number shall be 3.

My 3 tests.

At bevel set the razor has to cut my armhair. Slight tug acceptable.
At mid level it has to cut my armhair with little to no tugging.
At polishing stage it needs to cut with no tugging.

Easy if you only use three stones .

Originally Posted by RezDog

Thats is a tough one to answer. Basically when I first start on a stone the feedback of the razor has a certain feel to it. I will call that feeling dirty. As the edge gets to it's maximum smoothness for that stone the feedback is cleaner and smoother and start to feel kind of sticky or gummy on the stone. I may check it with a loop to make sure that the scratch patterns are even and the bevel should already be even and it should have already had an even shave. i check all those things at the 1k and never leave there until it's complete. So I guess the readers digest answer is feedback. Everyone will probably have there own tell tale.

So the sticky, gummy feel occurs @ the 1k level? I'll have to take note of that next time I set a bevel....the few times I've done it, was a guessing game.

The changes in the feedback are my telltale. The sticky sort of gummy yet clean feel is just how I'm describing what the later feedback feels like to me. It happens through the progression. That is when I check my edge on leg hair or a loop or both. Similar to what omniaru55 said. I don't go just on feel, perhaps some can, I'm not that confident or experienced. As far as complete start to finish edges go I've only done around 100. A relative beginner.

Originally Posted by onimaru55

3 is the number & the number shall be 3.

My 3 tests.

At bevel set the razor has to cut my armhair. Slight tug acceptable.
At mid level it has to cut my armhair with little to no tugging.
At polishing stage it needs to cut with no tugging.

Easy if you only use three stones .

Great test! Thanks