Thread: Advice needed

I am trying to hone my seconhand razor and Im having problems.

I have started on a 1000 dmt, then progressed to 4000 ceramic stone whih leaves the razor sharp enough to shave my arm although its rough. The odd thing happens when I porgress onto my Welsh slate hones they seam to make the razor duller why is this?

Have you lapped your hones flat? your dmt should work for that if not. IIRC I have heard that a dmt tends to leave a very rough edge on razors and that they can seems sharper than they are due to serrations created along the edge. How are you checking to make sure the bevel is fully set?

the seller says he has lapped them by hand but I suppose its best to double check. The 4000 is a ceramic stone and thats when it seems its sharpest. I have just checked that the light reflects back evenly and the same sort of colour all the away along the blade.

I have not used any ceramic hones so i can't really advise on that but I always check my hones for flatness before i use them with a quick pencil grid test.

As for the razor i like to use the marker test just to make sure i am getting to the very edge along the entire bevel. a jewlers loupe can be handy as well.

Edit: Also what kind of pressure are you using?

Originally Posted by rogerdygas

I am trying to hone my seconhand razor and Im having problems.

I have started on a 1000 dmt, then progressed to 4000 ceramic stone whih leaves the razor sharp enough to shave my arm although its rough. The odd thing happens when I porgress onto my Welsh slate hones they seam to make the razor duller why is this?

Because it was never sharp to begin with,,,,,,,,,,,,,

A jump from 4K to Welsh Slate, is too big a jump anyway.

Make sure you have read through this section well & studied the videos,,, it might clear a few things up & start you on the right path.

Category:Honing - Straight Razor Place Library

Honing videos - Straight Razor Place Library

Just a small piece of advice you should be able to shave arm hair off the 1k grit.. at least in my limited experience.

Shaving arm haor roughly off a 4k likely means something isnt right, either bevel is not set - how are you testing for that - not enough time on the 4k, too much pressure....

Cheers, Steve

Stay on 1k until you can shave your arm smoothly and get a finer stone for after the 4k. Welsh slates are far too slow to refine a 4k edge. If using a welsh slate for finishing the edge needs to already be completely refined to get the most out of them. Also they are far better as oil stones, water and/or slurry does not leave as as good an edge. In my experience anyway.

Thanks for all your great responses im suprised how many helpfull coments I got!

I have now managed to shave my arm with the 1k stone, I was aplying too much pressure on the razor before.

I have also bought a 6k ceramic stone to use before the welsh slate (rated at approx 8-10k), do you think this will be ok?

the right pressure makes a a huge difference. Which type of welsh slate do you have? if it really is close to that range for approximate grit then i would think that might be ok. just be aware that natural hones require you to really pay attention to how they are working and no two are exactly the same.