starting out with naniwa 12k

Hello everyone,

I recently bought a naniwa 12k for "touching up" my straight razor. I also bought a microscope for 60x-100x magnification. By normal eye observation the blade looked pretty straight, but using the microscope I saw very small chips. I also have a 0.1 micron iron oxide and 0.3 chromium oxide pasted strops. I was wondering. The razor Im trying to hone is a wedge razor. I was wondering if someone could tell me how many honing strokes I should use on the naniwa, and whether I should use a pasted strop afterwards to smooth out the edge or not. I also saw on the Lynn DVD that for wedge razors, holding the blade at an angle and going straight down vs an x pattern works better for wedge razors. Should I use that kind of honing pattern? Also, what should I be looking for on the microscope to let me know that I am done?

FYI--I've found this to be pretty useful. I'll move aside and let the others with wedge experience answer.

Theres a section on wedge honing in there:

http://straightrazorpalace.com/srpwi...rams_On_Honing

Congratulations, this is one of the best stones for final honing. The microscope is also a great tool for monitoring your progress. The tiny chips are the result of many shaves against a tough beard, but may also be caused by too much pressure while honing or stropping, especially if they are so large you can see them at 10-20x magnification.

I assume that you have lapped the new stone to level the surface?

The Naniwa 12k is not very good for setting the bevel. Although this is not impossible, setting it would take hundreds of strokes. If the bevel is good, then go for about 40 strokes straight up and straight back, then angle the blade 20-30 degrees for toe leading and heal leading strokes. Breaking up the stroke pattern like this will counter any variations in the stone surface, and eliminates the need for the X-stroke. Put it under the microscope. Repeat until you see no more chips or irregularities, even at 100x magnification. Smooth the edge with CrO, strop on leather, and enjoy your shave.

Good luck.

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Originally Posted by Gammaray

The Naniwa 12k is not very good for setting the bevel. Although this is not impossible, setting it would take hundreds of strokes.

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Interesting you mentioned that. I also have a Naniwa 12k and I bought a Nagura slurry stone with it to make the 12k more versatile(lower grit) to more aggressively "cut" when honing. While it isn't worth the time to me now to set the bevel on a 12k, as I now have a King 1K, gssigun's and Lynne's "One Stone Hone" approach videos are an inspiration.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=p2E9sovmb0Y

http://straightrazorpalace.com/advan...lynn-glen.html

Sorry, ecks. I unintentionally hijacked your post a little. My exuberance....:HJ

hello everyone, i just wanted to follow up. i tried to follow the approach described by Gammaray. Gammaray, did you mean that you count going straight up and straight back as one stroke or two strokes. when i did it, i counted going straight up and straight back as one stroke, and did ten strokes with the razor perpendicular to the stone. then i did about about ten strokes with the toe leading. i was going to do more, but after testing it on my nail, it looked pretty sharp. looking at it through a microscope, it seemed like all the small cracks were gone. today i did a WTG pass and it was definitely sharp.

i didnt need to set the bevel because the razor I got was from a honemeister so it was initially shave ready. Im hoping I did the right thing and didnt use too little strokes, but for now the razor seems okay. thanks for the help!

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but after testing it on my nail

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Not on finishing stone my friend,
that is a test for setting the bevel and after you do that you need to do a few more laps on the low grit stone to repair the damage you did with your nail.

Try tree topping and such to start to gage your edge,
even the TPT if you need.
Most of all strop and shave as that is the money maker.

Doing too little is better than too much in this instance, if you've not done enough you can just do a few more strokes before your next shave, too much and you can't stick the metal back on. :)

Gammaray, did you mean that you count going straight up and straight back as one stroke or two strokes. when i did it, i counted going straight up and straight back as one stroke, and did ten strokes with the razor perpendicular to the stone. then i did about about ten strokes with the toe leading. i was going to do more, but after testing it on my nail, it looked pretty sharp. looking at it through a microscope, it seemed like all the small cracks were gone. today i did a WTG pass and it was definitely sharp.

Yes, one stroke is up and back. Ten strokes may be all you needed. However, pressure plays a role here. I use just the weight of the blade on the 12k. Additional strokes does no harm if the pressure is very light. I always finish with a couple of stropping strokes on the 12k. The shaving test is the ultimate evaluation for sharpness. However, you may like to start experimenting with the HHT at this level. Check out the material on this web site to get started.