Thread: A Noob & His Hone.

Got my first hone this week, and I'm totally stoked! Per the advice on this forum, I went with a higher grit stone. A Shapton 12k M5 ceramic, to be exact. Good brand, good price, and should be more than enough for me to get started out on!

Anyway, onto the reason for this thread. I'm attempting to "walk the edge back" on a chipped Tufpug that is otherwise in great shape (if you discount it wearing the clothes of my ERN lol). So the stone is just barely not as wide as my razors are long. I tried the x-stroke, but found it to be uncomfortable to attempt. Also, keeping the blade in even contact with the hone was not easy during this.

So I have taken to having the blade on the hone at an angle for my stroke. Mostly heel leading, before t I do change it up & go toe leading for a few laps. I do not perform any swooping action. I simply have one end of the blade further down the hone than the other, and do laps straight down the length of the hone.

So, any thoughts? Will this affect my blade negatively? Like an accidental smile?


Layed the razor length ways on the stone to get a good shot of the chip.

Notes:
Keeping SWMBO from giving me the stink-eye means this will be my only hone for a while.

I lapped the hone with 320 grit w&d sand paper on a marble tile. Rinsed thoroughly.

I have been soaking the hone 10min before each of the two sessions so far.

One layer of tape.

I switch the tape out and/or rinse off the hone when it starts to look like one is affecting the other.

I have been working the stone wet, with the only slurry being what is whipped up from the blade going across it.

I know nothing about Shaptons since I have Naniwa, but IMO it's going to take a LOT of strokes to get that chip out on a 12k stone.

Ah, yes. That's what I forgot in my notes...

Notes (cont.):
I'm well aware that this will not be quick. Hence why I mentioned this is the only hone I'm gonna be getting for a while.

Due to my lack of experience with honing, I'm attempting to walk the edge back, rather than bread knifing it. That way I can worry less about not being able to set a bevel.

Well, for what I think you paid for the Shapton, you could have had either a Naniwa 3/8k combination, or a Norton 4/8 k combination, either of which would have served you better for what you want to do. Bread knifing is rarely done by most, most of us just go down to the 8 or 3or4k stone to bring an edge back, and you can shave off the 8k's. With a chip like that I might go to a 1 k. But whatever works for you now that you have your one stone (I get it), go for it. I'd suggest Lynn or Glenn's videos on honing from YouTube.

Yes it can be done and should not take too long, but the razor looks to have other issues. The bevel looks very uneven. Post a photo of the razor without tape, both sides.

Just set the bevel on a piece of 800 or 1k Wet & Dry, but first you have to figure out why the bevel is so uneven. It could be your straight stroke and uneven pressure, how many laps do you have on the razor at the time you took the photo.

Also looks like you have something under your tape.

At the time of the above pic, I was just about to start my first session with it. So it has the antique shop edge on it, and 0 strokes. The uneven bevel might be an optical illusion from the light source in the room (you can see the ceiling fan reflection in the water on the hone ). I think that is an air bubble under the tape, cause I'm pretty meticulous when starting something new.

Tonight (tomorrow), I will post fresh pics of it, with better light. ...maybe I'll cobble together a light box out of the wife's spare white poster board?

It might be a good idea to post a photo without the tape on the spine so members can see the hone wear on the spine.

Bob

Originally Posted by Crawler

So, any thoughts? Will this affect my blade negatively? Like an accidental smile?

You say this as if a smile is a bad thing ? or do you mean a frown ?

I really can't understand why someone would purposely use a 12k hone to remove a chip like that. Such a waste of time & stone.
You may think 2 or 3 hours removing a chip is good honing practice but all it teaches you is to use excessive force & develop poor form.
Sorry to be so blunt but I hate seeing people take one step forward & two steps backward.

What chip? It's gone, now.

My gut said it wasn't quite ready, but close. And that was close enough for a test shave.

Pre-shave pics...










For the record, this wasn't my first choice for learning how to hone. But there aren't any mentors nearby. There are only a handful of members within a hundred miles of me, and those are all either noobs or inactive or both. So I was left with cautious self-education.

Got the bevel to even out a bit more, thanks to jfk742's suggestion of different strokes for each side. But I'll do a summary of the honing that has taken place since my last post on this thread later. Past my bedtime...

So, the razor shaved. Not well, but it shaved. I was also having slight lather difficulties. It was a tugging Tufpug. ...Like a tee[self censorship]the shower.

Gonna try to keep my A.D.D. in check while I summarize chronologically.

Had another long session working the chip out...
The wife informed me of our plans to go hang out at her friend's house.
My response: "I'd love to, if I can bring my honing stuff !"
Her retort: "No! You should be part of the conversation."
Me: "I chime in! Besides, it's not my fault y'all watch & discuss Youtub'ers and 'Real Housewives' & the likes, instead of wet shaving & Anime..."
Her friend didn't care since I wouldn't be making a mess of anything, and viola! A honing session is born!

So I started out with three layers of tape. Heel leading (mostly), edge facing towards me the entire time, moderate pressure on the "high spot" on each respective side. 20 Strokes back and forth, switch hands, repeat. Refreshing tape as needed.

This got the chip down to less than a third of the bevel. At this point, I dropped down to 2 layers of tape, and reduced my pressure slightly. Still had some "heavy lifting" to do, so that's really all that changed.

I also started to practice the more acrobatic strokes, as well as Alex Gilmore's method. There was plenty of chip left (again, factoring in 12k hone), so this was a perfect chance to start working on muscle memory & routine. Some 2/3rds of the sets done at this point were still the heel leading, back and forth kind because those were much quicker than the other strokes which I was still learning.

By the end of this one, I had to either use my loupe, or silhouette the blade between myself and a lamp across the room in order to see the chip.

Marked it with a fine point Sharpy, which sadly came off the next honing session...