Thread: Time to move up the ladder?? (Stuck at the 3k)

I managed to set the bevel on this "challenging" razor I posted about a few days ago. Now, I've been honing away on this razor at the 3K level and can't pass the HHT. Do I need to keep at it on the 3k level or move up to the 8K.

It looks pretty good under the loupe and starting to develop a decent shine...

I'd appreciate any advice, fellas.

Thanks.

I had all kinds of trouble with the setting of the bevel. I also was using the higher grit stones. I watched mr. lynn abrams on utube and found out I should have been using the 1K then go to either the 3 or 5K then the 8 then the 12. when I did this and followed his instructions from utube I got a good edge. not as good as mr abrams but I can shave with it. watch the video and see what you think. good luck.

Just to be clear-I managed to get the bevel set at the 1K level. Couple of layers of tape, then a gentle reset of the bevel with 1 layer of tape also on the 1K.

But, I'm at the 3K at the moment and the rest of my stones heading up and Naniwa 3/8K, and 12K.

@rhensley, thanks for the input.

I personally cannot get a hht to pass from anything less than an 8k stone. Just stay on the 3k until all 1k scratches are gone.

While I don't use the HHT I would guess that meleii is right that you have to go higher to get that. If the edge still easily and cleanly cuts, say, arm hair you might be ready to go to 8K.

Bob

IMO, the bevel isn't truly set unless it will catch arm hair in midair & pop some of them and shave at skin level will little or no effort. (Some natural bevel setters are the exception to this rule.) I agree with Meleii that the scratch pattern will tell you when to move up. It should take very little work on the 3K to remove the 1K scratches. I seldom do an HHT but if so, only off the finisher. It is quite common to have a edge that will pop coarse hair off the 1K but then to lose the HHT as you begin to smooth the edge.



rs,
Tack

Move up the grit progression, shave, and see what happens; the shave test is the only one that matters in the end.

I used to be able to get the HHT to work, used to be able to rely on the thumb pad test, but for whatever reason my hair wont work for the HHT anymore, and my thumb pad isn't sensitive enough to feel edge on the blade but I still get razors that shave perfectly.

If it doesn't shave at all, or not well at all, the bevel wasn't set and the 1k is the stone to go back to. If it's a little rough then you could probably go back to a higher grit to finish polishing. Hope you can get a good shaver out of this razor! Good luck,

Andrew

Is the bevel still set?

Look at the edge straight down on the edge with magnification and strong light. If you see any shiny spots… the bevel are not meeting.

It is not uncommon for an edge to cut hair at 1k but not at higher grit edges as the serrations are finer and will no longer grab “your” hair. And that is the problem with the HHT.

If the bevel is still set, stay on the 3K until all the 1K stria is removed then move up and remove the 3K stria with your next stone. You are polishing the bevel to make the edge straighter. HHT is irrelevant.

Here