Thread: Mid-range tips

Originally Posted by S0LITARYS0LDIER

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, I kept jumping around when I got frustrated and got no where. A lot of time wasted that could have been put into learning one stone... ,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Yep,,, you wasted 4 hours hanging around this thread waiting on a tip,,,,

Originally Posted by Hirlau

Yep,,, you wasted 4 hours hanging around this thread waiting on a tip,,,,

Nope

This thread really isn't for me only so I wasn't waiting on a tip. I just thought back and during my honing journey the most troublesome part was indeed after the bevel set. I figured people starting out on their honing journey may also need some advice on this particular topic.

There is so much emphasis on the bevel which is 90% of the work so yes it's important and a critical skill to master. That being said there's a lot in the 10% that can go wrong if you don't know what you're doing. My intent was to shed a little trial and error from somebody's learning.

I've found my ways lately and have been hitting 80%^ of the times edge consistency. My ways may not be ideal to many others but they do work.

So all jokes aside this is really for people struggling and today my friend I am not. Had a beautiful 2 pass, bbs off nothing but a Pike Koenig and 00 Frictionite...

Originally Posted by RezDog

LOL
read Glens signature line. Then read it again!

Classic Glen.

O.K.,,,,,I won't kid this time,,, but let me share a secret I learned a few years ago,,, "You cannot predict the response , nor the response time on a thread." I have waited & thought that "somebody" must surely have read my post. Then they suddenly flood in,,,,

Don't let the view count be the judging factor. Many probably had no idea of what to say. I answered your post as soon as I logged on,,, I was out all day. Many members here leave their computer signed in as they do chores or work around the house.

Didnt know it was an all hands on deck situation Sir. Then I want to think before I speak.
My tip , While in the mid- range hones watch your tape wear. If you see that it is getting scratched up. Stop and put on a fresh piece of tape. In the beginning when I was way heavy handed I might end up changing the tape 2 or 3 times on a grit. Now I only change tape with signs of wear. So you will probably change once after bevel set, then it depends on how aggressive you get, once finesse comes into play you may not need to change tape nearly as often if at all.

And if your using different cotis its like dating different women, takes time to find out what will make EACH of them unlock the honeypot. No 2 are them same but general rules apply.

Originally Posted by Hirlau

O.K.,,,,,I won't kid this time,,, but let me share a secret I learned a few years ago,,, "You cannot predict the response , nor the response time on a thread." I have waited & thought that "somebody" must surely have read my post. Then they suddenly flood in,,,,

Don't let the view count be the judging factor. Many probably had no idea of what to say. I answered your post as soon as I logged on,,, I was out all day. Many members here leave their computer signed in as they do chores or work around the house.

I know this Hirlau, and you know it's not a big deal when people share and its up to them if they want to or not. Every little bit helps. Maybe I was coming off as a bit critical in my prior post but maybe it's because my name is in all caps so I seem angry when I post. Either way I'm not trippin' so don't take what I post seriously because in all seriousness it's most likely not serious.

P.s. Some of that applies to you too ultrasoundguy because I get that you may have thought I was serious about it.

No worries, No harm no foul. wise man said when it stops being fun, its time to take a break.
Remember that wet shaving isnt speed shaving, and no part of the process is meant to be fast.
Even the pros have a deliberate order of operation they follow, and the other wise man said 90% of what we do is test.
If you apply all this to the midrange honing it will happen. Do you know what you are looking for? Do you know what you are feeling for?
Humbly a honing session live can greatly reduce the learning curve and it will be a great confidence builder.
Yes your looking for less deep and rugged scratch pattern.
You were a Coti guy starting out. Are you still?
Because that changes alot with regards to scratch pattern.
Then we would talk about feel doing TPT

Originally Posted by ultrasoundguy2003

No worries, No harm no foul. wise man said when it stops being fun, its time to take a break.
Remember that wet shaving isnt speed shaving, and no part of the process is meant to be fast.
Even the pros have a deliberate order of operation they follow, and the other wise man said 90% of what we do is test.
If you apply all this to the midrange honing it will happen. Do you know what you are looking for? Do you know what you are feeling for?
Humbly a honing session live can greatly reduce the learning curve and it will be a great confidence builder.
Yes your looking for less deep and rugged scratch pattern.
You were a Coti guy starting out. Are you still?
Because that changes alot with regards to scratch pattern.
Then we would talk about feel doing TPT

No sir, i traded my last coticule and bbw to another member here. My honing now consists of barber hones. I bevel set a king 1k right to barber hones and then finish on them too.

Now would be a great time to talk tpt. When starting out I thought that meant plucking the edge which I now know isn't the real tpt. Today I actually decided when to test shave off a tpt a smooth sticky feeling along the whole edge and to my surprise the test shave went so well I shaved my whole face. Smooth and comfortable

One of the reasons I abandoned my water stones, and my coticules/bbw is because I couldn't nail the mid range sharpening. When I got a combination barber hone a few months back from a fellow on etsy, my mid range skills improved tremendously. I don't know why or how, but they have been the only consistent way for me to get a shave ready edge... I even tried oil stones to no avail..

The look on the edge is different from barber hones then to many other hones.

My tip for you is " Do exactly the same as you did on the bevel setter but with less lap counts"

What stones have you used in the middle range so fat?

Another little tidbit that seems to matter in the midrange is to really focus on pressure.
As Stefan says, do the same as when bevel-setting, but my addition is to ease up a bit on the pressure.
It's not about removing large amounts of steel anymore, just removing striations from the previous grit.