Thread: A Noob & His Hone.

Additional thoughts.

I was surprised at how quickly (relative to the length of this honing session lol) a good crisp edge came back to it after each of the several times I tried breadknifing it. Well, good enough to slice skin on my slightly calloused fingers with no resistance or pressure when a slight slicing motion is applied. I realize there may still be a overhonning/foil edge/not absolutely perfectly set bevel.

I bought this razor and an ERN from the same dealer at an antique mall for $24 +tax TOTAL for both... for the soul purpose of teaching myself honing and restoration.

I bought a Dovo Best Quality 5/8 full hollow, and it just came back from receiving it's free re-honing from Sir Lynn Abrams of SRD. So I've got some practice shaving under my belt, and a great benchmark of an edge to grade myself against .

I appreciate the offer, Euclid. But seeing as how I bought a couple of razors for the soul intention of possibly screwing the pooch with my DIY skills, it would defeat the purpose and only set me back if I were to send it out.

Yes. I am sometimes stubborn. Having said that, this isn't exactly the same as all those honing posts ("dead blade?") where a noob tries for hours to hone a razor that only needed a refresh on a finisher and keeps because the shave is uncomfortable and the bevel isn't set. It takes time (a lot more than expected when noob + 12k is factored in lol) to remove this much metal to work out a chip.

I did try a few (dozen) laps at a higher, more knife like, honing angle in order to expedite metal removal. But I stopped after a few unpleasant harmonics were heard between the stone & steel. Having the structural integrity already weakened by the chip, I didn't want to risk cracking the blade.

What is left of the chip looked a whole lot bigger last night on my way to bed. Looking at it today, I'm feeling much better about my progress last night.

I didn't take "hone surface clogging" too seriously. Until I looked back in hindsight. I feel like some of the most progress was made after each time the stone was rinsed off, no matter what stroke was used.

I tried to compensate for the possible warp in the blade by applying pressure to the middle of the blade when honing with the "face side" down, amd pressure towards the heel and toe when honing "back side" down.

Looking forward to your thoughtful responses!