Thread: Question about Over-Honing

I also have been unsure of the overhoned part of honing for a while.
Is the feeling of the shave very different from a sharp blade. Often i feel like i making far too many passes on a hone without it getting sharp, but it never gets to the point where it just passes over the hairs and doesn't cut them.
All of my razors i have are sharp enough to shave my face with, its just a matter of how comfortable it does it. Will an overhoned blade still shave?
My most comfortable shaves usually come from two specific razors but i still feel that they can be sharper and improved, but i am afraid to hone them any more, because i don't want to overhone and then have to get them to the fairly comfortable stage again.
I guess when i can afford it then i should buy a shave ready razor so I know what mark i am aiming for, then i will not be worried about overhoning, as i will know when i have reached the properly 'shave ready' stage.
Nick

Ahhhh well fortunately I have lots of experience shaving with overhoned edges...LOL

This whole business about them simply not cutting is odd. I have found they do shave ok. It depends on how badly they are overhoned.

To me they feel like shaving with a shard of glass as opposed to a razor.

They pass the HHT test like gangbusters though, you have to watch out for that if HHT tests are the only ones you use.

I think this is the best info I've read on this subject yet ----

Justin

IMO a big warning sign of overhoning is when the hair actually "pops" or "pings" away from the blade in the various hair tests.

There are degrees of overhoning, in the earlier stages the blade is sharper but still too weak to survive many shaves, but it may do ok for a shave or two. At greater levels of overhoning the edge gets weaker and weaker until it can't survive even one stroke. Sometimes the edge folds over like the tip of a snow ski and the edge just rides over your whiskers wiping lather off but not cutting a thing. Sometimes (usually for me) the edge folds the other way and you get something like a paper cut before the edge breaks off into your skin. And sometimes the edge will break off and tear on the hone, and you'll get this ragged-looking edge under the scope. Except that sometimes this ragged-looking edge is just microchipping because of grit in your hone, or rotten steel (ebay razors), or just really brittle steel (wacker, sta-sharp, couple of others).

I have had overhoned edges break off and embed themselves in my hone. I'll be honing along and the razor will kind of do this hop on the hone, and suddenly it's dull and there's something stuck in my hone that I've got to pick out with a magnifying glass and tweezers.

Originally Posted by mparker762

I have had overhoned edges break off and embed themselves in my hone. I'll be honing along and the razor will kind of do this hop on the hone, and suddenly it's dull and there's something stuck in my hone that I've got to pick out with a magnifying glass and tweezers.

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

Justin

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?

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 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 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 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