Thread: Trying to get a smooth edge.

ssg1,
I have lots of old straights (way too many) and have honed up a lot of them.
Honing and test shaving a considerable number of razors has improved my ability to get an edge quite sharp and I can now do that in far less time than when I started honing.
I got close shaves but could only get an occasional really smooth shave.
Shaving technique improvements helped a lot but the monumental changes happened when I took a single old razor that cut meat as easily as it cut whiskers, and decided to experiment with it to improve smoothness.
I found that I had been trying too hard to acheive a perfect stropping technique.
I was holding the hanging strop too tightly and was easily able to polish the bevel but stropping like that did very little to remove the harshness I was experiencing during the shave.
I learned that I needed to lighten up a bit on the taughtness of the strop enough to allow about a 3/8" and up to 1/2" maximum drop in the belly of the strop while using very little pressure on the blade.
After realizing this I used this same technique on the Crox treated hanging leather strop followed by the untreated leather strop and..... WOW!!
Now I acheive the smoothness I want by allowing the drop in the strop belly to effectively, but ever so slightly, round off the "meat eater roughness".
I use the loose strop only until smooth happens. Too much loosely held stropping will kill an edge to the point where honing will be required.
I return to holding the strop somewhat tighter to do my daily 50 lap maintenance.
Had I not stuck to using a single problematic meat eater to learn from, and stayed with it until I reached sucess, I am sure that I would still be struggling with SMOOOOTH.
Also, worth noting, is that after the change in smoothness of the edges of my straights was acheived, I found that I could modify my technique and can now hold the edge at an angle to its stroke and not slice meat so easily as before.
Had I followed the advice of many on this forum about starting out with a professionally honed, and truly smooth, razor I could have substantially shortened the learning curve involved with using the straight.
I bought a few "shave ready" razors on Ebay that advertized the use of very expensive equipment only to realize that just because they used very expensive high quality equipment, does not gaurantee a sharp and smooth edge.
Experience counts!
Good luck with your search for SMOOOTH.

All of the other comments surely apply but one other thing to keep an eye on is the number of strokes you are doing with your CrOx. I've seen other guys post that they do 30 laps on a pasted strop. Wow, I would never run my edge that many times over a pasted strop. And I've also seen others be confused about using it on a strop in that they were using it with every stopping and not just for finishing or refreshing. Overuse of a pasted strop can lead to a harsh shave. Same thing with your 12k. It cuts fast. Under the normal run of things, I will only go 15 laps on my 12K. After that you start to run into the possibility of some microchipping that again leads to a harsh shave and a poor edge. Be mindful of the those two finishers as they can get out of hand quickly on you.

Thanks for the information. It's very likely that I gave too many strokes on the Crox and 12k Naniwa.
How can I fix that?

Originally Posted by ssg1

Thanks for the information. It's very likely that I gave too many strokes on the Crox and 12k Naniwa.
How can I fix that?

Whenever I have an edge that I'm not happy with, I usually drop down to a 4k stone to strip a little metal away and re-establish a clean edge. Usually 10 laps is enough but you have gauge that as you go. Then I proceed through the upper grits to fine tune it again. Going to a 4k is wiping the chalkboard clean. You might be able to re-establish it on the 8k but I've found that I usually prefer to simply cut to the chase and make my life easier. But what it sounds like is that you may not have any tests in place to judge your work. When that happens, its like driving with a blindfold on. You never really know where you're at. For now, I'd ask a pro to fix it for you and recommend a few rough eBay specials to practice honing on. You need to get a feel for when enough is enough and know what to look for so you know when your work is done. The theory of "a little is good so a lot must be better" does not apply well to honing. Its a matter of pushing the edge to almost its limits but stopping before you roll off the cliff. Spend some time reading up on refreshing. Lynn posted a great vid about it. Specifically, he mentions the use of CrOx and the 12k. If you watch that you will see how few strokes he makes across them to refresh. That will get you going and maintaining but in order to really know where you're at, you need practice with honing if that is the direction you want to go. Otherwise, lean on a pro to get your edge right and just try to maintain it by doing as little as necessary to get it shaving again. PM me is you really need to talk it through some more.

I've already contacted a member and I'll be sending my razor for inspection
and honing if needed.

I use the TNT when honing and I believe I get good indications from it.

Thanks.

Good. I'm sure he will get it straightened out for you. Ask him how best to maintain it. As for the TNT, that's a decent test for establishing a bevel but not only is it destructive to perform it but its limited in its ability to tell you much more. After a bevel is set, you'll need to understand what you want to accomplish with finer grits and know that each step has done its work. It takes a lot of learning to understand it and we are all still learning every time we try. I personally recommend a hand held microscope. I prefer a cheap $4 one that is 200x. I suggest you get one and when your razor comes back, look closely at the edge and bevel. You'll probably see a very clean, straight cutting edge. Depending on how it is finished, the bevel may have some scratches but they won't be deep. Visual inspection is one clue. Physical tests and intuition are others. Good luck and I hope the shaves improve.

Originally Posted by OCDshaver

Good. I'm sure he will get it straightened out for you. Ask him how best to maintain it. As for the TNT, that's a decent test for establishing a bevel but not only is it destructive to perform it but its limited in its ability to tell you much more. After a bevel is set, you'll need to understand what you want to accomplish with finer grits and know that each step has done its work. It takes a lot of learning to understand it and we are all still learning every time we try. I personally recommend a hand held microscope. I prefer a cheap $4 one that is 200x. I suggest you get one and when your razor comes back, look closely at the edge and bevel. You'll probably see a very clean, straight cutting edge. Depending on how it is finished, the bevel may have some scratches but they won't be deep. Visual inspection is one clue. Physical tests and intuition are others. Good luck and I hope the shaves improve.

+1 on inspecting the edge with magnification - I learned to hone with a microscope and it taught me a lot fast. I realize not everyone has access to a good microscope but there are cheap alternatives - I use a $4 30X loupe for inspecting bevels and my microscope mainly for final inspection after finishing - if there's even one microchip I will step down to remove it - guess I'm anal.

-john