Thread: Honing after sandpaper

So I've managed to hone one of the old razors I have to almost a shaving quality. I've had a rather successfull shave and was pretty happy with myself.

After that, I've decided to fix some micro chips it had so I used 1000 grit sandpaper to fix them. However, now I can't seem to reestablish the edge. It just doesn't get sharp enough. I've tried aggresive pyramid a few times. And, it actually seems it was sharper off the sandpaper than off the hone judging by thumb pad test.

I don't really think it's overhoning but I don't know how to make sure. I don't know what to look for under the microscope other than makeing sure the edge is straight with no pits and chips. I've tried shaving with it and it seems like it's pulling the hair rather than gliding.

So what do I do now? Just keep honing until it takes the edge? Should I take it back to sandpaper and try to established the edge that way? Thanks.

Could you describe what your doing and your equipment a little more?

I taped the spine and did a few circles on a wet 1000 grit sandpaper. After which the razor felt rather sharp on the thumb pad test but had ragged edge looking at the microscope.

I have norton 4k/8k stone, which I've socked and water and done agressive pyramid on it (15/5, 10/5, etc) x-pattern strokes. At that point the edge felt pretty dull. I've tried to repeat it but got the same exact result.

If I'm missing some other info, please, ask. I just can't think of any other releavant bits.

IME sandpaper leaves the edge a bit beat up, which is why I never use it except for big nicks. One thing is it tends to round the edge a bit, so you have to hone past that on the 4k so it takes longer than you think. I'd magic marker the edge and give it a few laps, then check under the scope again, but I'd bet you just haven't honed past the rounded bit, since you're still seeing the ragged sandpapered edge under the scope.

I used to have exactly this problem, and I'm pretty sure rounding was the culprit. I started using a hard white Arkansas after the 1K sandpaper, even though it's more or less the same grit (~1200), to make sure the bevel had no rounding before going up to 4K +.

Rounded edge makes a lot of sense. I was thinking about something like that myself. A couple of questions though: if I were to use a marker, what should I look for to specifically identify rounded edge. Next question: can you quantify how long it should take to get past rounded edge? Approximately how many laps.

Also, I have a 1000 grit knife sharpening stone. Should I tape the spine again and try to reestablish the edge with that or just keep honing?

If the edge is a bit rounded, the magic marker will only be rubbed off at the top of the bevel.

As for how long to get rid of the rounding, the only answer is as long as it takes.

If your knife hone is lapped very flat then you can use it, several members here have 1k grit hones for just that purpose. But you need to make sure it's flat by lapping it, same as for any other razor hone. Sandpaper is still very handy because it's so bloody fast compared to even a coarse hone, but the rounding thing is pretty common, the only way around it is to clamp the sandpaper flat or use PSE paper like the handamerican scary sharp system uses.

I think I've figured out what I've done and managed to fix it. This may shock some of you seasoned pros so if you have a weak heart, stop reading now.

I think when I was using sandpaper, I raised the spine and managed to put a different angle on the edge. Instead of say 5 degrees, it became 15 or so. So any subsequent honing never actually touched the very edge. You can see it on the pic. The lower part is black marker painted. Middle part is what was being honed. And the upper part is the edge that didn't actually come into a contact with the stone.

The way I fixed it was using 1000 grit stone. I've done A LOT of rounds on it and mostly fixed the angle. Even then there was one place where a little bit of a bad edge was leftover. After that I've done pyramid on norton and then pasted strop. The result - semi-shavable razor. There are some bad parts still and it seems overhoned on one side for some reason. But yet, I was able to shave with it. I'll keep working on it next week and hopefully going to get a good edge everywhere. I'm glad this was my "training" razor and not something nice.

That's a classic case of a double bevel. It does take a lot of honing to reestablish the bevel again. The rigidity of a coarse stone makes it easier to get a flat bevel, I've found, but sandpaper is a lot faster.

If it's not quite there yet, you might want to work it some more on the 1K stone. Once you get things right on the 1K level, one pyramid should be all you need to get it shaving nicely. The hard part for me is getting it right on the lower grits.

Good luck,
Josh

Well now that I've learned how to look at the attachments I can honestly say that is a horrific looking edge.