Thread: Advise please

I'm hitting a snag and I'm not sure if what im doing is rite.
When I get to the 8k Shapton I will do 10-20 weight of the blade strokes the check the bevel and I can clearly see that the hone hasn't touched certain parts of the bevel.
It could be the toe end or the whole of the length of the bevel and the remedy is to add a little bit of pressure or torque to the blade.

Should I just keep going with no pressure say maybe 50 strokes , maybe wear the tape on the spine down a bit so the bevel makes better contact or is it ok to add some pressure.


Too many times I get edges that break up, so ive eased of the pressure from 1K onwards but then to add pressure on the 8k might be defeating the purpose?


Any advise is welcomes .. Thanks a million

I like to take a sharpie, magic marker, whatever, and run a line of color on the bevel. Then see if I'm making contact from heel to point. If not I adjust my stroke. Might be a rolling stroke, might be a variation on the theme. If you do that wipe the marker off as soon as you figure it out. It is a hassle to do if you wait until the blade is shave ready.

Also, weight of the blade is what I do in finishing and touch ups. A little pressure is not a bad thing in the earlier stages. Don't ask my how much, it is sort of intuitive.

If you can take some pics of the blade it would help the honemeisters figure out the issue.

Do several pics at different angles.

Also, do as Jimmy suggests, color the bevel and take a pic or two of the bevel after a few passes. Do both sides of the blade.

This will say where the issue more than likely exists.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I like to take a sharpie, magic marker, whatever, and run a line of color on the bevel. Then see if I'm making contact from heel to point. If not I adjust my stroke. Might be a rolling stroke, might be a variation on the theme. If you do that wipe the marker off as soon as you figure it out. It is a hassle to do if you wait until the blade is shave ready.

Also, weight of the blade is what I do in finishing and touch ups. A little pressure is not a bad thing in the earlier stages. Don't ask my how much, it is sort of intuitive.

Thank you. "A little pressure is not a bad thing early on" that's what I wanted to know.
I used to do the sharpie thing a lot until I was told that most blades are not 100% true, especially on the high grit stones .

The main problem im left with now is bevel setting , not enough and its blunt, too much and the edge seems to crumble a bit during the shave. Also different metals require treatments.
I'm honing about 3 hours per night, luckily there is no quit in me lol

Originally Posted by JOB15

Thank you. "A little pressure is not a bad thing early on" that's what I wanted to know.
I used to do the sharpie thing a lot until I was told that most blades are not 100% true, especially on the high grit stones .

The main problem im left with now is bevel setting , not enough and its blunt, too much and the edge seems to crumble a bit during the shave. Also different metals require treatments.
I'm honing about 3 hours per night, luckily there is no quit in me lol

I used to do it alot too. I don't anymore, unless I'm having a problem with a blade. I then use that to eliminate one variable from the equation. It is precisely because most blades are not 100% true that the sharpie thing is helpful.

Nail Polish on a Q-Tip will take the Sharpie marks off and the a quick wipe stropping style with a Kleenx.

Bob

Originally Posted by BobH

Nail Polish on a Q-Tip will take the Sharpie marks off and the a quick wipe stropping style with a Kleenx.

Bob

I use rubbing alcohol to disinfect my blades before every shave. The kind you get at the dollar store that comes in the little spray bottle. A quick few sprays and wouldn't ya know it will disinfect the blade and also remove the black sharpie marks on the razor. It works very well I found if you don't have nail polish remover just a little fyi.

I remove any sharpie marks after the test shave with........aftershave.

And isopropanol fumes are not quite as bad for you as those of acetone.

Here is the problem with relying on pressure on the upper grits--if you need pressure to make contact, then what happens when you reduce the pressure?
Nothing.
You are right back to not making contact again. I think you should alter your stroke more than your pressure.

Originally Posted by Utopian

And isopropanol fumes are not quite as bad for you as those of acetone.

Here is the problem with relying on pressure on the upper grits--if you need pressure to make contact, then what happens when you reduce the pressure?
Nothing.
You are right back to not making contact again. I think you should alter your stroke more than your pressure.

I think the problem is that when I from the 4k to the 8k I replace the tape so therefore only the very edge is touching the hone which isn't a bad thing but I like to see that mirror bevel , looks so nice