Thread: Overhoning

I've been reading the posts in this thread with great interest, and I thank all of the contributors. Since I first complained about my honing frustrations, there's been a bit of progress, thanks to the tips people have shared.

I'm still working on my horn-handled Wilkinson 6/8 round-point. I believe it is a razor that I sent to Lyn A. (Our Founder!) about three years ago, when there was still just the Yahoo SRP group. I also got another pre-sharpened blade from someone whose name I can't now recall. Anyway, both those razors shaved beautifully, of course, and I was going great guns with just stropping between shaves, when I made a bad mistake.

I somehow got the notion to grind up some blackboard chalk in a mortar, and dust my vintage Sears linen strop with it. Next thing I knew, BOTH my master-sharpened razors were useless for shaving. I didn't have a microscope at the time for checking the edge, but I now think that perhaps the chalk was simply too coarse, and therefore the edges were micro-chipped by my stropping on the linen. Well I had no idea how to come back from that, and my attempts
to learn honing at the time were fruitless. Coincidentally, I got much busier with my ministry, and I decided to shelve the whole business until a more propitious time.

About a month ago, that propitious time seemed to have arrived, after an hiatus of almost three years. I started shaving again with the fine Feather Artist Club DX that Ray Dupont had so kindly presented me with, and rediscovered how satisfying a shave can be. The issue of learning to hone then presented itself anew, and so here I am.

After experimenting with the Norton 4K/8K, and also with two Japanese water stones at 4K and 8K, the edge (finally!) passes the HHT, though unevenly. But perhaps more significantly, when examined through the 'scope at about 60X, there are still a couple of uneven places on the edge, and I'm pretty sure those are going to have to go, before the razor really gets up-to-snuff. So what I'm planning on trying next, as soon as time permits , is some more back-and-forth between the two grits, either with the Japanese stones or the Norton, doing about 3-4 strokes on the 4K and maybe 6 or so on the 8K, checking frequently to see if the uneven places have been tamed. I realize that a visibly straight and even edge may NOT mean that the razor is shave-ready, but my current theory is that such an edge is NECESSARY, though not sufficient.

If any of y'all have more accumulated wisdom to share, I'd be happy to hear it.

blessings,
denis

It sounds like you have a reasonable plan. You might try staying on the 4K until the edge is smoothed out then use a conservative pyramid.