Thread: Skipping grits when honing

So, as I understand what you are saying, you did a 1/4/8 progression, and set the bevel, but got chipping after 4k. So you did another bevel set and went from 1k to 8K and got a nice edge?

Yes, that is absolutely possible…. because you already did all the heavy lifting when you set the bevel the first time.

A proper bevel set, 1. Flattens the bevels, in one even plane, from toe to heel and spine to edge, 2. Sets the bevel angle, spine to toe, and 3. Brings the bevels to meeting at a straight edge.

The largest amount of work is flattening the bevels, where you remove the most metal. Once the bevels are flat and angle is set, or at least close, getting them to join only takes a few laps on a quality, high grit stone.

That is why Jointing, lightly dragging the edge on the corner of the stone, to remove chipping and straighten the edge, then re-setting the edge is possible in a just few laps.

I doubt you would have the same results with a razor that had not been bevel set, although modern 8k stones are very aggressive and more than capable of setting a bevel on a razor that had previously been bevel set. It will just take some laps.

You can make large jumps in grit size, but you will pay for it in time removing deep 1k stria, and as a novice run the risk of using too much pressure or ruining the edge in a missed stroke.

The smaller the steps in progression the less time you have to spend on each grit.