Thread: 1k/3k pyramid honing

Yes, you can…. Well actually you can’t, but you can see when it is not set. You will see light reflecting back when the bevels are not meeting if you look down on the edge. A completely set bevel just looks black and fuzzy, you need more than 600X to see the edge.

If you can look straight down on the edge and not see any reflections, then the bevel is set. Often you may see a dot or two, micro-chips, a few more laps and your there.

Stay on the 1k doing circles or half laps until you no long get light reflection from the edge, 45X is plenty, you can even see them with the naked eye if your eyes or glasses are good, magnification make it easier.

It is not unusual for a 1k to not cut hair, the edge while set may be very ragged, be aware not all hair will cut or at least will cut differently on different edges, which makes the hair test unreliable.

Here is an un-set bevel in the top pic and an almost set bevel in the second pic. See the white line in the upper right side between the red (tape).

In the second pic the small dots of white are micro chip and this bevel is close enough to move up or 10 more lite finish laps will seal the deal.

As I've stated many times, and as you already know, a fully set bevel is the conversion of a U shaped convergence of the bevel planes into a perfect V along the entire length of the blade.

When you lay a blade down and observe one bevel, your goal is, as you said, to observe the stria reach to the apex of the bevel. Unfortunately with a regular microscope the view is mostly limited to two dimensions. When you observe the letter V from the side, you cannot tell if the two sides actually reach each other or if they are separated by a flat plateau. You can only see this if the plane of focus of the scope is able to be raised enough to allow the raising of the blade to see the around the end of the bevel. You want to look at the edge itself in order to assess it.

Without a microscope the best way to do this is to hold the blade with the edge up and look for reflections from a bright light. A perfect edge will not reflect any light. Any small flat plateaus will reflect light.

Pyramid is more of a refreshing tool for the novice, if you know you need a full bevel set, e.g. chips or damage then, bite the bullet and go to the 1K and stay on it till you are absolutely sure it is set.

If the bevels are flat, and the edge is just not meeting like the razor in the photos, an 8 or 4k with circles will quickly bring the bevels together, as you found with the 5k.

What you have to be sure of is, that the bevel is COMPLETELY set, hair test will no tell you that, because you are only testing 1 micron of the edge at a time.

When you move up prematurely almost always, the bevel will not be completely set, unless you do a lot of laps or circles and look at it. There is no question about it. Looking at it will tell you.. if it is, or not.

The photos are 20X photos, if you rock the spine a few mm’s and don’t see light, your there.

Try stropping on linen, nylon or canvas 10 lite laps, between stones to smooth the edge quicker, so the next stone just hones good steel.

Medium pressure to bevel set, lite pressure to polish and weight of blade pressure to finish, lite pressure to strop.

Stropping is where most novice guys ruin an edge, too much pressure will quickly ruin an edge.

Thank you for all your help. Theoretically setting a bevel is very simple and in practice, with a no issue razor, also simple. The skill set starts when uneven spine wear etc comes into play. I think I have been too conserned with cutting arm hair on the 1k and over complicating things with new ideas. As I said I enjoy learning and was just trying out some ideas.

Mark

The hardest part of honing is learning to hone the razor the way it is. Most razors are not flat and straight. Bevel setting verification is easy once someone shows you how. The first thumbnail test is like the heavens opened up for me anyway.