Thread: Question about Over-Honing

The latter. The bevel is the angulated section of the shaving edge of the razor. The fin is a cutting section along the edge created by the cross striations of the opposing x pattern strokes. The fin is aligned by a strop. It rides along the edge.

Originally Posted by jaegerhund

Is there any chance of it breaking off into your face?

Sure. This is usually what happens to me (see my post above). It's microscopic though, so there's not really any harm done.

Originally Posted by heavydutysg135

Does creating the bevel refer to making the thin metal fin that cuts the whiskers after being aligned with the strop, or is the bevel something else? If so, is the bevel created with the 4K and polished and refined with the 8K?

Creating the bevel is simply cutting the flats until they meet at the edge. The actual edge is made up of these roughly triangular teeth left after the abrasive particles have gouged out microscopic grooves down the bevel. This series of cutting teeth is called the "fin" though it's really a series of finlike structures all down the edge. Once the 4k hone has cut the basic bevel, then the higher grits are used to polish the bevel and form these teeth.

The reason this is tricky is that the abrasive particles distort the steel at the edge because of the violence of the action (they're ripping a channel down the bevel, after all). Going to finer abrasives, slower abrasives, and using very light pressure helps keep this distortion down to a minimum so you can get a very clean, sharp, well-formed fin.

Originally Posted by mparker762

Sure. This is usually what happens to me (see my post above). It's microscopic though, so there's not really any harm done.

Yeah -- I missed the part where you said it broke off into your skin.


Justin

Originally Posted by heavydutysg135

If this thinking is correct then it would seem that when using courser stones it is important not to do too many strokes because it would cause excessive and unnecessary wear on the blade; and when using the finishing stones and pastes it is important not to do too many strokes because it would cause an over-honed and/or wire edge. Is this the concept behind the pyramid method?

This is exactly right in my experience. Smart thinking.

I spent a little time intentionally creating an overhoned edge and in my experience;

1. It doesn't always have a noticeable wire.
2. It will pass HHT, but with a very obvious 'ting', not the silent deadly and effortless clip that is perfect.
3. It leaves a terrible rash even with minimal pressure.
4. It will cut whiskers, but not well. You'll likely want to start using force which will only make the rash worse.

X

Originally Posted by AFDavis11

The latter. The bevel is the angulated section of the shaving edge of the razor. The fin is a cutting section along the edge created by the cross striations of the opposing x pattern strokes. The fin is aligned by a strop. It rides along the edge.

It would seem that regular honing on a stone would create cross striations that go from the toe to the heal of the bade (from spine to edge) while the honing on a pasted strop or bench hone would create cross striations that go the opposite direction due to the back-honing method. Does this have a negative effect on the quality of the fin created by the channel in the bevel?

Not if you hone straight across instead of with the blade angled or in an X pattern.

But otherwise, yeah. I'd expect that if you paddle with the blade angled then you'll grind away the hone's serrations in a few passes, then proceed to making new (smaller) ones angled the other way.

Same thing is true with stropping BTW. There plenty of debate over how abrasive an unpasted leather strop is, but there's definitely some smoothing action that occurs during plain stropping.

I hone straight across unless there's a problem with the razor.

Theres always a problem with the razor!

Originally Posted by heavydutysg135

It would seem that regular honing on a stone would create cross striations that go from the toe to the heal of the bade (from spine to edge) while the honing on a pasted strop or bench hone would create cross striations that go the opposite direction due to the back-honing method. Does this have a negative effect on the quality of the fin created by the channel in the bevel?

I think in theory that it might, but in practice, nobody complains of it. I think that the cross hatching that happens with using both methods of honing in sequence is fine.

X

Does anyone recommend stropping on the pastes the opposite way (dragging the blade from the toe to the heel)? In theory this would keep the striations the same way as with the stones.