Thread: Question about Over-Honing

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 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.

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.