Thread: H.A.D. = Honing Anxiety Disorder !!! Help!!!

I think a mirror would be fine. I think its important to be flat. I know guys get into the hyper flattness realm here and I think that is great but I lap on the kitchen counter when no one is looking and that works fine for me.

I use a x pattern exclusively though, so I am compelled to add that. If you hone straight I would use a glass/mirror.

Originally Posted by mparker762

Mark a grid on the stone with a pencil.......until the pencil marks are completely gone

Genius.

I already lapped my stones once and thought they were flat. How wrong I was.

Genius.

If you're spending more than five or ten minutes honing a blade, something is wrong. Honing is a progressive process and if it's really dull go to a coarser stone (smaller number grit). Learn to "feel" when the edge is ready to move to a finer grit. Breathe and relax your arm and hand muscles when honing as anxiety will prevent you from feeling the stone's effect on the steel. Also, turn off the radio or TV or MP3 player when doing this so you can hear the steel on the stone. The sound will change as the steel becomes sharper. Do these things and you will be happy with the results.

I now have

2 Belgian (Blue/Purple & Yellow) Coticle Stones,
1 Norton Flattening Stone
1 Norton 220/1K Stone
1 Norton 4K/8K Stone
1 Chinese 14K Water Stone

I got one of the Belgian Coticle stones on eBay for US $76.00

(For a while I was really worried that I had bought a $76.00 Rock!!!

It was decribed on eBay as "a 2-7/16" x 5-7/8" x 1" BELGIAN SHARPENING STONE COTICULE EXCELLENT CONDITION"

By comparison's sake, If I had bought a "NEW" Slate backed Belgian coticule stone of the same size from www.theperfectedge.com, it would have cost me Approx. $100.00, so perhaps $76.00 wasn't so bad....maybe even more since it turns out it was a combination blue & yellow stone.

The top material is a warm creamy yellow tan color, and the lower material is a purple, blue, mauve material. They are in fact two separate pieces of stone that have been glued together to form one stone. When I lapped the stone both materials are able to create an abrazive slurry.

The "yellow" material creates a creamy tan golden slurry, and the purple/blue/mauve material creates a blue/purple/mauve slurry. The purple material seems more abrasive that the "yellow".
Is the bottom purple material really just Slate, or could I have a stone that has both Belgian yellow and belgian blue/purple material....???

Here's the real joke...Today I was digging around a local junk store near where I live and I found it's twin in a box of beat up old hones and stones.... It was EXACTKLY the SAME size and configuration.

The "yellow" part was the same but the blue/purple/ part had some purple in it but was more blue... I bought it for less than 1/20th what I paid for the eBay special...

Is it the "REal McCoy"? Do any of you HoneMeisters have a similar stone?
http://i16.ebayimg.com/06/i/000/95/58/da6d_1.JPG

http://i11.ebayimg.com/05/i/000/95/58/ddcc_1.JPG


If they're the REAL double stones then it sounds like then I got a reasonable deal for my $76.00 sone, but a I got a total bargain for the junk store Belgian coticule stone at $4.00!

I guess if I averages out the cost for 2 "double" coticule stones for $40.00 each...ok...I can live with that. now All I got to do is learn how to use them...

Also, I've been told that the older coticule stones are better than the "new" ones? Right?

I followed the advice I got from the forum and lapped my Norton Stones, first with the Notron "Flattening Stone", then with the 1000 Wet and Dry sandpaper, then with each other....

Guess what?!? the Norton 4K/8K WAS out of true!!! It had all kinds of high spots and low spots! It was brand new too!

So I guess I'll be getting ready soon to clean up the mess that I made with my two razors ealier this week......

BTW I lapped my two Belgian Coticule stones, first witht he Norton Flattening Stone, then the 1000 Wet & Dry sandpaper, then finally with each other... they both came out really Sweet!

Well, I finally came to the moment of truth... time to hone my 5/8 Shumate Tungsten...

After watching Lynn's video which finally arrived, and the other videos from this forum, I decided to hone my Shumate with the Belgian coticule stone....

First I taped the spine of the razor, then I started the round clockwise and counter- clockwise motions as per Lynn's video and my conversation with him over the phone the other day on the blue/purple/mauve side of the Belgian Coticule.

Then I did the same circulars motions on the yellow side of the stone ... Then I did a very light conservative pyramid with "X" strokes...

I was very careful and made sure I held the razor with even less pressure than beofre!!!

I more or less cleaned up the skewed bevel, and the Shumate passed the thumbnail test....

I gave the Shumate 30 passes on the linen side of my strop and then 30 passes on the latigo side.

The Shumate razor passed the thumbpad test... I'll do the shave test tomorrow.

I was on a roll... I then taped up my Geo. Wostenholm IXL repeated my steps... my GW IXL passed the thumbpad test as well...

Tomorrow morning's shave will be the proof of the pudding, when both razors will have to pass the shave test... but I was pleased by the improvement in the way everything went...

Frankly I think several factors were to blame with my initial problems with honing...

1.) The stones were not true... Yep I definitely needed to Lap my hones...

2.) Taping the spines of the razors... I think that taping the spine improves things generally as well as protects the spine of the razor from honing wear...

3.) Learning to hold the razor with as little pressure as possible, yet still keep BOTH the spine and the edge of the razor on the stone.

4.) Learning to listen to the different sounds the blade makes when being honed...

I'll let you all know how the shave goes tomorrow morning...

Now... if I can only learn to shave!

All the best, and thanks for all the help and advice!

Originally Posted by tgparker

...and the Shumate passed the thumbnail test....

...The razor passed the thumbnail test...

...my GW IXL passed the thumbpad test as well...

Ack!!!!!! The thumbnail test should never be done once the razor has left the 4k hone (or the belgian blue or whatever you're using to set the bevel)! The edge is far too delicate to survive such treatment! Also, all the thumbnail test really tells you is if the bevel is in decent shape, it tells you nothing about how sharp the razor is.

There are other tests that you can use at the higher grits, like the thumb pad test and the hanging hair test, and these don't damage the edge, and are far more likely to give you useful information about the sharpness of the razor.

You need to take the razors back to the blue to clean up the edge, then back up to the yellow to refine the edge to shaving sharp. Use the hanging hair test or some equivalent to determine when it's ready to come off the yellow.

I think it is a yellow coticule glued on slate backing.
Great deal.

Thanks for the correction, I guess I wasn't so clear in my posting...sorry...

I did do the thumbnail test after setting the edge with the "rough" blue stone, and before final honing with the yellow stone and stropping....

I'm a head shaver as well... (I currently use a HeadBlade for the dome) I'm waiting to get my paws on a cheapo shave brush to do my version of the haning hairt test...

Last night, I tried a combo of a "conservative" pyramid with the Norton 4K/8K and 15 laps each Blue/Yellow with the Belgian on my (taped) Shumate Tungsten. I am beginning to get more "shavable" results with the Shumate. I agree that perhaps I could have stayed longer on the Belgian and gotten even better results.

I tried an "aggressive" pyramid (Norton 4K/8K) on my Geo. Wostenholm IXL (taped) followed by the same amount of laps on with my Belgian "natural".

There was some improvment but it's still not there yet. I figure another aggressive pyramid and more time on the belgian should bring my Geo. Wostenholm IXL around.

I also am leaning towards the idea that more time on the (pasted) linen and leather strop also helps...

A couple of guys have suggested some time on a pasted strop with either chromium oxide or diamond paste (.5 and/or .25 micron) to really polish up the edge...

Until I've got this honing right... The "tape" stays on my blades!

I'm mindful that 100 years ago all these guys had back then, was a leather strop, their Belgian "natural" to hone, and their Swaty to "touch up"...

All the best,

Tony

They had chrome oxide too - it was the coloring agent in green paint. My great grandfather had a "green-painted board" that he used to strop his razor on.

So is the chrome oxide used for razors just the basic compound that they would have had then? It doesn't undergo any special grading process? I was just wondering if any crome oxide powder would be about 0.5 grit, or if there is a huge variation in grit size, as i found some pure crome oxide colouring powder, and don't know if i should give it a try?
Nick