Needless to say, I'm pretty stoked. Might even have a shot or 10 to celebrate! But first I want to thank you folks here for all the advice I've picked up off this forum. :chapeau
Maybe posting what I was doing wrong will help it all come together for someone else. I got one of the 2 loupes (60X) I ordered today. I feel the acquisition of the loupe was one of 3 keys that allowed it all to come together. Being able to see what's going on with your blade at the micro level really helps out. I still had some scratches from what looked like a 12k stone here and there, the toe was nicked somehow, and one side toward the toe still had 4k scratches on it from poor contact. The last 5/16 toards the heel on either side was virtually untouched and had deep scratches that looked like they were from a 1k stone.
So I sat down with my Gold Dollar and gave it the works, 220 grit all the way up to 12k (Norton 220/1k combo stone and 4k/8k combo stone for anyone wondering). Starting as always with properly lapped stones. I had to grind a little extra off the back of the spine to get nice even contact from heel to toe. That was the second key, getting a truly good bevel. I used pretty heavy pressure for all the work on this stone and the 1k stone. To rough in the bevel I did 1 set of 60 circles each side: 20 circles with the toe leading, then 20 with the razor positioned as if mid rolling X stroke, then 20 with the toe leading. Then I marked it with a sharpie on the edge and spine, did a few rolling X's to confirm contact and finished up a set of 20 strokes. Between sets of strokes I would check with the loupe and remark both the edge and spine.
Once I got good contact on the 220 all the way down, and the edge was uniform under the loupe, I knew it was time to move up and finish setting the bevel on 1k. The video of Lynn performing this process that was recently posted helped immensely. My blade had a smile to it that required a rolling X stroke, but his directions only required slight modification to work with a rolling X as detailed earlier. 60 circles each side, 20 with heel leading, 20 mid stroke, and 20 toe leading. After that I did sets of 20 strokes. Between sets I would pick with my thumb as Lynn did in the video. This was mostly to get a feel for the subtle change in sharpness. I was already familiar with that process as it applies to knife sharpening, and as Lynn stated it will pull just like a sharp pocket knife once you're ready to move on. Once I was done picking it, I would check it with the loupe for uniformity and to ensure there was no nicks or dings, then mark it. The marks at this point were only along the edge to ensure my strokes stayed consistent.
The 4k stone was the last one I started with circles, same pattern as above. As Lynn stated in the video, I started with heavy pressure on the first set and gradually worked it down until it was just the weight of the blade doing the work. Same pattern as before between sets of rolling X's, pick at it, check with loupe, then mark it. I continued this pattern until I reached the 12k stone where the third key lay.
My 12k stone is a Guangxi river slurry stone. Up until tonight I was treating it the same as the Norton stones because I was worried that if I built up a slurry the material would just eat at the leading edge and it wouldn't work as well. So I would soak it, then do my rolling X pattern until satisfied, but somehow it always seemed as if it got duller at this point. I thought it was just my imagination or something I was doing wrong at an earlier stage, but the loupe showed me otherwise. Without a slurry built up on this stone it makes deeper scratches than the 8k. I would wager it was behaving more like a 6k or 7k hone.
Well, at this point I had nothing to lose, so I went ahead and built up a good slurry and used the stone as it was intended to be used. It wasn't long before those ~6K scratches were giving way to a nice, polished 12k edge.
The loupe came along for the stropping as well. Sets of 50 on chromium oxide until satisfied with the polish on the edge. Sets of 50 on the felt side just to see if I could spot a difference. At 60x magnification I didn't see much change, but it was educational all the same. After 100 on leather, my cheap Chinese razor passed the HHT and gave me the closest shave I've had to date. Not half bad for a $25 beater. Now that it's all come together, maybe I'll tackle the Dovo and fix what I've screwed up with it. But now it's about whiskey o'clock! :beer2:
