It started with a nick..

Hello, i'm having a bit of struggle with a razor and i hope some of you guys may be able to give me some help. I was unlucky (or clumsy) and got a nick in my DOVO "Special" Tortoise 6/8 carbon steel razor and tried to hone it out on my 4k norton. However i soon realized that this would take quite a while, so i gave it a few rounds on 1200 grit wet/dry sandpaper and the nick was history. the problem is, so was my edge. When inspecting it under a microscope at 60x the edge looked like the edge of a hack saw. This was not unexpected, so off on the norton again (4k) to try to even out that edge, and this brings me to my problem. After 350 rounds on the norton there really isn't much progress, i tried with moderate pressure (1-2 lbs) and even 40-50 rounds with more pressure just to see what happened with the edge. but as far as i can see (60x), minimal improvement. So what i could need is some advice on what to do, because now i'm so confused that i really don't know what my next step should be:shrug:

The funny thing is that despite the edge looking terrible under the microscope, it has in fact started to cut some arm hair, so something is happening, but i don't get that straight defined edge that i got on my other razors.. I have lapped the norton two times during the 350 round sequence by the way.
Any advice you have on this matter would be very much appreciated, thanks.

Terje

Run it over a matchstick to make sure you've gotten rid of the wire edge left by the sandpaper, and do this again every hundred laps or so until the edge is smooth.

You can and should use pressure during this phase of honing, at least a couple of pounds worth to help speed things along.

Getting rid of nicks is annoying now matter how you do it.

The good news is that if you never had the razor professionally honed, then you never really had a good edge to begin with :D I would recommend using small circles in increments of 20 to remove small chipping. When the blade is facing towards you on the hone do counterclockwise circles, and when the blade is facing away from you do clockwise circles. Check your progress after 20 circles on each side. When you have a good even bevel do 5 normal x-pattern strokes on the 4K side then 6 on the 8K side, strop the razor, then test shave.

Terje,

Sounds like you have some pretty big teeth on the edge. I'm going to break with the crowd on this one and suggest you do something counterintuitive: Try going back to the 1200-grit sandpaper. I'm not sure it's done with its work.

In the past I've used 1000-grit sandpaper to hone out nicks, and the edge should look pretty straight under a microscope at 60x after you're done with the sandpaper. You will probably see some small teeth, but they shouldn't be scary looking.

Cut a piece of paper the same size as your Norton, soak it for a few minutes, then stick it to the 8K side of the hone. Using one hand, do about 50 round-trips with light pressure. (It's a good idea to tape the spine with electrical tape before you do this to prevent wear.)

This should leave a pretty even edge with nice, straight scratch marks on the bevel. Then go to the 4K to polish out the 1200-grit scratches. It might take 100 laps or more with light pressure, fewer if you use pressure.

The main problem I have with sandpaper is that I always get a rounded bevel. This means that when I go to the 4K, only the side of the bevel makes contact, not the edge. You have to wear away the side of the bevel to get to the edge. Other guys don't have this problem; not sure what my major malfunction is.

It's possible that you've done a good job with the sandpaper but just managed to round the bevel, which would account for the apparent lack of progress on the 4K.

Do a search for "sandpaper" in the honing forum--there are several good threads on how to best use it.

Good luck,
Josh

Thanks for your help guys. I tried what you said mparker and after another 300 laps the edge looks pretty smooth. i will try some pyramids from now on and see whats happening.

Josh, i don't know what i did wrong on the sandpaper to make my edge look like it did, but i guess i was to heavy handed when teaching that razor a lesson. It was interesting reading your post and it really make sense, i have to try that out when my fear for sandpaper have dropped a level or two. Thanks.


Terje

Terje,

Good deal--I'm glad it worked out for you. Now that you know what a 4K edge should look like, you'll be better equipped to judge the condition of the edge if you need to use sandpaper again in the future. :) Don't fear it; it can be your friend.

Josh