Todays honing experience

Today i honed. And i feel like i have achieved the edge i have been looking for.

For too long now i have feared the hone a little, and always erred on the side of caution for fear of overhoning or going to a place with the edge that is going backwards rather than forwards. Now this isn't a bad thing, for a badly honed razor isn't fun to work with at all, but today was time to take razor to hone and do the business properly.

I decided that, i had nothing to loose by taping the spine. I used a very fine tape, but i think it reset the bevel in a really good way. I'd always had issues with this razor, with uneven honing, and i'm sure i was using too much pressure in the past to polish a problem area. The freshly lapped norton 4k8k, came out and i ran very light passes in laps of 10. I was actually able to see the results progress every 10 laps, and everything felt very controlled. I thumb pad tested every set of 10 and felt sure there was no overhoning going on, and when held to the light, the edge looked very nice.

I flipped over and did laps of 10 on the 8k. Here it's worth noting that the edge felt amazing on the thumb pad, but not hht sharp. Ahhh the old hht test. I decided that i would set myself a more difficult test, by using my own hair, which is very heavy and thich, but rather like my stubble i think. 30 laps on the norton, and still the hair just wouldn't split. I proceeded with caution, thumb padding every 5. I kept thinking that i couldn't get any better, but decided just to go with it as it all just felt good!! By about 50 laps, a change was occuring. When i tried the hht, the hair still just slid over the blade, but i paid great attenion to the sound it made whilst doing this. It was no longer a smooth zing, the hair was beginning to drag over the edge. Another 10 laps, and again, more drag, and a pop!! Now this wasn't all the way along so i continued. I upped the number of laps to 15, just to see what would happen. Thumb pad still biting beautifully, and popping hair along most of the blade. Another 15 laps, and hair is popping all the way along, and very consistently to, ie no failed attemps. Another 5 laps and i'm approaching smooth parting of hair. At this point i went down to single laps, until i achieved the lovely smooth slicing of hair right the way along. I felt a great sence of achievment here, and to be honest, i almost felt like i could put the razor away, and be very happy for the rest of the day!! But I went to the unpasted leather strop. I did 30 very smooth laps, trying to stay totally in control and very focused. The HHT after this was unbelievable. I'd never achieved this before, and i was once again hit with a great happy feeling! All there was left to do was take a shower and go for that lovely sunday morning luxury shave, the one we so desperately crave during the week!

:eek: ohh my goodness!! My beard just fell right off, and the sensation on my face was almost like a tickling feeling. After the first pass, my face felt so fresh, no burning, or tingling or anything. So i lathered up for the second pass. To be honest, i only really needed to clean up my chin, but i hit the whole lot across the grain. The third lathering was really just to see how my face would feel after 3 passes, as a comparison to previous shaves. It was an absolute pleasure to shave with, and i was almost giving up on this new dovo as i was convinced it couldn't take an edge like that!!

This post isn't a bragging attempt, i just felt compelled to write it for all of you who are learning honing yourselves and might have been in a situation like i was in, where i was accepting slightly inferior shaves, when really the ultimate was possible. I'd love to go on to a balsa strop with 0.5 micron paste, to see if things improve even more.

Thanks for reading, sorry it was a bit long, but i wanted to try and note the progression of the edge building. I didn't do pyramids, just x pattern laps, as i don't fully understand the pyramids, and where to start with them. Hope this was helpful, or interesting for someone out there!!

pea

very interesting and encouraging, pea. So, let me get this straight...all you used was your Norton? Right now all I have is a Norton so I am curious. In time I want to get a bench hone from Tony, but for now I only have the Norton.

You were doing laps of approximately 10, checking in between?

Just want to make sure...I want to play around with my honing style...I've only been using the pyramids noted in Randy's file in the Library section. If you got such good results, I may have to try it next time I need a sharpening.

Yup thats right, just my norton and a strop. No pastes or any other equipment. (besides the tape)

When i wasn't too confident when honing back along, i used to rest the thumb of the razorless hand on the spine, to be sure i had contact. This led to unnessessary pressure on the spine and of course, spine wear that needn't have occured. (not to mention possible flex of the blade) Thats why i opted to tape the spine, and also i hoped that the slighlty altered angle at which the edge hits the stone, would reset the bevel a little and give me a second bite at the cherry, which i feel it did!

The revelantion came when the hair gripped the edge but didn't slice it, then i knew i was getting close. I'm sure the edge can be further refined again with a 12000 stone or the pasted balsa strop. Looking forward to trying. Do you use a pasted strop razorburne?

I recently had a similar experience on my paddle. I got that Red Injun in and it wasn't shave ready and I had expected. It was decently sharp though. Anyway I took to the paddle, as I didn't feel that the Norton was necessary in this instance. I spent a lot of time on it, well not a ton of time, but probably a good 20-30 minutes on the paddle. I started at the 3 micron and work up to the .5 chromium. I did 15 laps on the 3 the 1 the .5 diamond and then just went at it on the .5 chromium. It was so sharp that I went back and did the same with my other razors just to get them to an equivalent sharpness. Two of them need a honing anyway so I started on the Norton with those.
I eventually want to get a Yellow Coticule, but I feel that I may end up like Ilija with the Chromium Oxide Paste.

Matt

Well pea, you don't tell us how many laps you did on the 4k as oposed to the 8k, but it sounds like quite a work out anyhow. You deserve a great shave after that.

I just want to caution you and anyone else reading from trying this much honing to refresh a newly dulling edge. If you do that with only the 8k side I'm certain you'l end up with an over honed edge.

I'm glad it worked out for you though. You clearly need to do some substantial metal removal to get that edge humming. Congrats!

X

This brings up a question. I had always thought that over honing was equivalent to a wire edge, but now I am thinking they may be two different things? I shaved with a over honed razor once. It was exactly how it is described, shaving with a cactus. Which was interesting in it self as I live in Arizona. But is it possible to have a razor to sharp but with no wire edge? If this is the case then what about those feathers. They are super sharp, but people can get comfortable shaves with them. I may have just answered my own question, but to be sure I will wait for someone to step in.

Matt

Thats debatable. But it is possible to have overhoning and no wire edge. You get little sparks on the edge at first and the edge is painful to shave with.

I too am curious about your 4k vs 8k progression. Sounds like you did all this on 4K, I assume thats not the case since it shaved nicely. ??????

Pea,

This was great--thanks for sharing with us. We hear the tales of woe so often that it's nice to read about someone's success.

That's a good insight you got there about the razor gripping the hair. The HHT really is a progression, not a pass-fail thing.

It can take a surprising amount of honing to get a dull razor humming, but once it's there it is pretty easy to keep it there.

Keep at it!

Josh

pea --- no pasted strop...at the moment I only have the Norton and my Tony honey brown hanging strop.

Hi again

yeah i totally agree X. The thing with this razor is that it is the only one i have, so it is my practice razor. I'M NOT SUGGESTING THAT EVERYONE HONE THE HELL OUT OF THEIR RAZORS THIS WAY!!!!!

I really only did about 20 laps on the 4k, just to take the mirror edge off that was already there. The rest was done on the 8K. I felt sure i wasn't producing a wire adge, as I did thumbnail test numerous time, but failed to mention this. Sorry, my bad!!

I'm also not saying this is the way to sharpen, it's just an account of how i brought a not so great shaver up to scratch.

The only reason for doing 90% of the work on the 8k is because i can't quite understand the theory behind pyramids. But now i think it's something to do with the 4k removing the 'bur' created from the 8k. Is this correct. I've searched but can't find out how pyramids work, or when to use them, how many you can do etc. I guess i should buy lynns vid!!


Take care, and thanks for the comments. This was mainly an experiment for me as it's only really my 4th proper honing experience. Must add that i used very very little pressure on the stone, barely floating on the surface.

pea