Thread: First razor to pass HHT!

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.

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!

Sounds like you went to a lot of trouble to get it to pass HHT. You couldv'e got that at 1k..... Oh, I see you shaved with it as well .

Hey!! Good for you Marshal!! Thanks for sharing It sure feels good when it all comes together doesn't it? A great shave is one thing but when you take a blade all the way through like you did and can get it to pass the HHT and the final "shave test" there is a huge sense of accomplishment. Congratulations! I love hearing success stories like this.

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Sounds like you went to a lot of trouble to get it to pass HHT. You couldv'e got that at 1k..... Oh, I see you shaved with it as well .

I guess a lot depend on the hair. There is a large range in hair thickness. Some as coarse as a bristle and other as fine as frogs hair.

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Sounds like you went to a lot of trouble to get it to pass HHT. You couldv'e got that at 1k..... Oh, I see you shaved with it as well .

Baby steps lol. I don't know at what point it would've passed the test. I didn't even try until it was stropped, and even then mostly for laughs.

Steel - I agree, it is a great sense of accomplishment lol. I do have it a bit backwards though, I'm sure this razor is honed properly, but I'm still a bit ham fisted when it comes to the actual shave. Then again I could just be burnt from shaving with it this morning prior to honing it. Adding another shave on top of that isn't the wisest thing I've ever done, but I couldn't wait to check out my handiwork. Worth it.

Congratulations!

Honing can be frustrating in the beginning, but when things start working, it is a nice feeling

congratulations Marshal.

Originally Posted by Bruno

Congratulations!

Honing can be frustrating in the beginning, but when things start working, it is a nice feeling

It is fun to read these threads and remember the journey. Now, it seems like no big deal, but man it felt great when it first came together. Then when it became a consistent thing... Good stuff. Congratulations

Originally Posted by richmondesi

It is fun to read these threads and remember the journey. Now, it seems like no big deal, but man it felt great when it first came together. Then when it became a consistent thing... Good stuff. Congratulations

Heh, I'm sure eventually I'll shrug off sharpening a straight like I shrug off sharpening a pocket knife. Then again there are so many methods to play with. Water stones, oil stones, slurry stones, naturals, synthetics...One of these days I'm going to have to hang a sign and offer honing services just to fund the habit. Gonna have to wear out this poor Gold Dollar razor on the stones I have first though. Don't want to put the cart before the horse.

I was poking around the hones section of the forum and stumbled into the post about Arkansas stones. Well that got the gears turning and I remembered the old ceramic like naturals my grandfather used to run his knives over. I inherited them, so I dug them out and started lapping them to flatten them up and underneath the years of dirt, honing oil, cooking oil, used motor oil and knife swarf I discovered one black and I suspect a translucent Arkansas stone. They're small. Black one is about 1" X 5" X 3/8", translucent is 1 3/8" X 4" X 3/8."

Several hours of lapping, polishing, breaking in (and one dished Norton lapping stone) later I had 2 small Arkansas oil stones flattened and ready for a test. So I took the Gold Dollar out (In case I guessed wrong on the nature of those 2 stones) and started at the 4k mark. I polished the 4K and 8K Nortons (could not lap because my lapping stone is now a bowl) and the 12K slurry too. I noticed a big difference between polishing them with 1k and 2k wet or dry paper over just lapping them with stones. But the real magic came after running the blade over those old Arkies.

I had written those stones off as keep sakes or mementos. One was badly dished in the center from years of knife sharpening. The other had been dropped and split almost clean in half lengthwise along the thinnest dimension, leaving one side completely unusable while the other was scratched and gouged pretty deep. Both are probably several decades older than I am. But with a few hour's care and a little 30 weight motor oil, they put a polished edge on that blade same as they would were they fresh off the hardware store shelf. Well, if there were such a thing as a hardware store that sold Arkansas stones anymore. Ours only carry the super cheap synthetic stones anymore. Good enough for a pocket knife maybe, if you aren't too picky. But I digress.

The shave? Magnificent! I've never been able to go ATG on my neck. Too much razor burn, too many ingrown hairs. It was a nightmare. But I got brave enough to try it this go around on the second pass. Zero razor burn. BBS for the most part. We'll see about ingrown hairs in the coming days. I think once I've worn out my Nortons I'm switching to an all oil stone setup. I've tried water and slurry stones. It was educational, and they certainly get the job done well. But my first sharpening stones were natural oil hones. It's where my roots are, so to speak.

Tomorrow I'll be un-dishing that lapping stone with some 320 grit wet or dry on a piece of glass. Then my Dovo will get the full treatment, from bevel setting on the 1K up through the Arkansas stones. And thinking about that, it's a crying shame I won't need to shave with it until Monday. Once again, thank you SRP for delivering the knowledge that has made my venture into shaving with a straight razor a complete success.