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

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

I have no idea. Even if it was a larger compound back then, it still would have made an effective abrasive for keeping the razor sharp. It was embedded in paint, not bare abrasive particles like we use today, so this would have reduced the effective grit size. And as we've seen in another thread, even something as lowly as newsprint wrapped around a hone (and probably a board) makes an effective sharpening tool.