Thread: My new equipment.

My Norton 220/1000 and 4000/8000 stones arrived today. Lapped them and tried to hone my blade up. Shaves hair, but not near as good as I think it should. Will shave hair on my arm. Will not cut a loose hair from my wife's head. Shaved my face decent, but pulled a little. The edge looks good I think. But something clearly isn't as good as it could be. I should mention it would shave hear fairly decent from my last honing. Maybe a little better now.


I posted this on Facebook also. There are comments on Facebook, but I can't past all of them.

Do you have CrO or Diamond pasted strop? If so try a few laps and see if that will improve the edge further.

Just my thoughts ....
I think your stone is too high to get good consistent level laps. Your elbow is too low. Do you have a loupe ? Helps to see what your doing. Your Norton 1k may be a little rough being new. This means your going to have to spend more time than usual at the 4/8. Tape may be a good idea if your spending a lot of time on the 1 razor.

Now, are you using the pyramid method ? It is a great starting point to learn. Although like I said the 1k may cause you to need more laps or a bigger pyramid count. Just keep at it if the edge improves. If not better seek some hands on help.


You'll get it, it just takes some practice. Try to stay consistent and don't make a lot of changes at once.

Same with your shave technique. pay attention to angle and pressure. I am assuming this is all fairly new and you have a lot of variables going on :<0)

JustN, were you at the KC meet-up this fall? You look familiar.

What is the razor? You said you shaved with it before. Did you hone it previously or did someone else? Do you have any other razor to use as a comparative standard? Since you shaved with it before, what was your starting point for rehoning it? In other words, how did you hone it this time.

Regardless, congrats on the new toys! They are the basic tools so many here used first. Master them before bothering with anything else. More hones don't make you a better honer, except in my case!

Have you watched Lynn's honing videos? Your hone is too high and your seated position is too low for you to have the correct elbow height that Lynn recommends.

P.S. Use extreme caution when trying to cut loose hairs from your wife's head. Just sayin.

Originally Posted by ChopperDave

Have you watched Lynn's honing videos? Your hone is too high and your seated position is too low for you to have the correct elbow height that Lynn recommends.

P.S. Use extreme caution when trying to cut loose hairs from your wife's head. Just sayin.

Get samples from her hair brush -that's what I do - you can set up your own private HHT calibration. Compare the results to those obtained from your arm hair.

On a more serious note, the other contributors are right about the elbow height; it should be higher. It allows for better control and minimal down force strokes.

Hey Justin, good seeing you again. Congrats on the new stones. The 1k work is the most important. Also until your muscle memory is ingrained it's easy to make a bad stroke. There is a strong urge to pretend a bad stroke did not happen, but the reality is that it is a pretty major set back.

If the 1k work is close but not perfect the razor may seem pretty good, fooling you into thinking that the high grit work is the problem and the razor may even improve with more 8k work, but never reach great.

I use the HHT often, but be aware that it is quite subjective. Practice a bit with a known sharp straight or a palm stropped DE blade to learn what to expect.


My guess is that most of the elbow height problem is that it is a staged picture and your not really honing. If you are honing, you should be watching what you are doing. Just kidding.

Hope to see you and your wife in KC this year.

Victor

Whao! I just saw the microscope in the back round. Good move. I bought one the day after I got home from KC.

Which stones did you use and how many laps?

Don’t worry about cutting your wife’s hair, some hair just won’t cut.

Do you have hand held magnification and have you looked straight down on the edge, what did you see?

Most probably you bevel is not set completely. You do have all the stones you need for now.

I never could get the HHT thing to work with my hair, even with a professionally honed blade. The actual shave itself is really what matters and I have no complaints in that department.