The bevel and what I now know (or think I do) about it.
I would consider myself a honing noob, I am very new. There are some things I have learned while picking up the art. I never really could wrap my head around 90% of honing is in the bevel set. How could 90% of something be done on a low grit stone? How could it be done on something nobody really is excited to talk about. When is the last time you saw someone so stoked and proud about their bevel setter? ... Other then the chosera I don't really see it. So for the longest time I brushed it off. Thinking it was not a very important step.
Recently it all hit me at once after a less then comfortable shave. If I do not have a great bevel to start with it doesn't matter what sharpener and polisher I use. The shave would still be less then acceptable, never superb. The way I put it in my mind was it is like building a house. If you do not have a solid foundation to build on, you could mask the non-solid foundation all you want but it is still going to be there and it is still not going to be solid no matter what you do or build on top of it. The bevel being the foundation in the home building metaphor needs to be solid. That is now understood.
The second thing I picked up about a bevel is it can take a long time to set. I used to think that a couple strokes on the 1k and that was it. The light shined all in the same direction. I'm done.. Gone are those days. I think as a new guy it takes some figuring out before you get started on the right path. It didn't matter how many videos I watched I never thought the bevel set was important enough to really spend time on. However after spending close to an hour today on a tricky razor (GD I modded) I learned that THE BEVEL SET IT KEY!
I think it is important for a new honer to practice bevel setting as well as the touch ups. By getting a get a razor they don't particularly like or cherish and learn how to set bevel's. Dull, set bevel, repeat until a bevel can be set easily. I'm not going to say get a blade you don't like or care about so you can wreck it because that is not the goal. No matter what blade it is it shouldn't be the goal to destroy or wreck it regardless of cost. $5 to $500. Instead of the so I can wreck it mindset its more or less so by the time you learned how to set bevel's and eventually hone you haven't put a lot of hone wear on a blade you do like and cherish.
Sorry for the rant I just think I needed to further point out the importance of the bevel set and also I wanted to share what I've learned with all of you.
To say its true would be understatement
SS, Thank You for posting.
For at least a year, I thought I had the idea down, only to find there was more to it. Glen said so, I thought I got it. I was full of fertilizer.
At 480 blades (mostly still a beginner), I'm trying to stay really basic - almost foolish sounding about it. It seems I learn more from the bevel set than almost any other part of honing. I'm getting more aggressive about it. If there's a high spot, I'll let a finger from the non-stroking hand rest on the high spot while stroking. This (and most of what I know) will sound familiar to those that pay attention to the old bulls. Its not something to get prematurely proud about. It seems to be putting me face to face with how few blades are symmetric. The ones that no amount of fussing with will produce a great shave are the wavy ones. Pastes & sprays simply mask the blades defects. The rest are certainly my own defects.
FWIW, nothing has helped my edges as much as staying tunnel-visioned on the bevel. Having to repeatedly re-slurry a chosera 1k that gets a bit glazed over is worth it, but makes me wonder if I should have done more on the dmt325.
'Hope others can learn this alot faster than I did.