Just can't get honing right at the moment :(

So I would say I'm fairly new to honing but I've honed quite a bit of razors now::: even though son of them have been easier than others I have always completed ev even the more difficult ones.... I have even have had a lot of complements on my honing from a lot of people, even some that have experience in wet shaving... the last couple days I just can't get it right! I did take a small break from honing as my personal life has gone a bit hay wire and I don't know if either of those things have been the cause:..

I have tried on 4 different razors and I just can't seem to get an edge im happy with... They all go the same way, I set bevel and the edge is all chipped up so I bread knife it to clean the edge straight... Go back at it with he 1k and before I know it the edge is chipped up again... I've even tried just going on with the minimal amount of chipping as I can get... Moved on to the 1.5k 2k 5k 8k 15k and the end result will have an edge that isn't as perfect as I used to get it.... I then tried to shave with it and it wasn't very comfortable at all!

so I guess there are mutilple points to this thread... Have u guys ever tried to get on the hones and just not be able to get the edge u want? Because this just might be stress related... Or If someone had a tip to fix the issue of the chipping at the 1k... Or lastly if you have taken a break away from the hones for about 3 weeks come back and it be a mess hahaha

Thanks guys!
Fonz

Have never breadknifed an edge. It seems very extreme.

Do definitely find I get out of practice though. Every time a get the hang of my narrowest 4 cm coticule I get a lovely edge. Come back for a touch up a few weeks later and mess up my edge by not keeping it centred on the hone. Then have to go back to bevel and all the up getting the hang of that last hone with great care again.

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Originally Posted by Dafonz6987

Just can't get honing right at the moment :(
So I would say I'm fairly new to honing
I have even have had a lot of complements on my honing from a lot of people,
the last couple days I just can't get it right!
I did take a small break from honing as my personal life has gone a bit hay wire
I just can't seem to get an edge im happy with...
Because this just might be stress related...

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So take a break.

You've looked at your hone, right? Lapped the 1K properly?

James.

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Originally Posted by Utopian

So take a break.

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Wish it were that easy... Not saying I don't have a drive to honing lol

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Originally Posted by Jimbo

You've looked at your hone, right? Lapped the 1K properly?

James.

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Yeah I lapped it with the atoma 600 and checked it with a square... Held it up to the light to see if any light coming though

What stone do you use, was it lapped flat before you started and how much pressure do you use? You keep the razor flat on the hone all the time?

I don't know what method you are using but maybe trying the Pyramid Method may be an option?


Mike

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Originally Posted by Kees

What stone do you use, was it lapped flat before you started and how much pressure do you use? You keep the razor flat on the hone all the time?

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My hones are the Shapton pros series... The hone was lapped and I've always questioned pressure so maybe it's too much pressure causing the chipping... And I'm pretty consistent with my razor being flat, if I do mess up and Hit the edge I'll usually address it immediately and check my scope to see the damage...

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Originally Posted by mglindo

I don't know what method you are using but maybe trying the Pyramid Method may be an option?


Mike

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I've actually never heard of the pyramid method? Maybe some searching on the site will better understand what that is...

Chipping in the later stages of the 1K can be caused by different things. Two come to mind right away. The first is using too much pressure. Often we get in a hurry to get to the finishers and rush the edge. Slow and steady wins the race. Also because the bevel is the most important part of an edge, we should do it well. The other thing that comes to mine is subsurface damage. That is pretty typical of restored or beaten up razors. Think about the serial number on a gun. You can file it off but the lab techs can etch it back with the use of acid. How that works is the metal has sub surface damage that makes the metal softer where the numbers were stamped. It can be the same in edge restoration. Diamond hones have been accused of causing such damage in more than one thread. the only solution is to hone past the damage. Try to rester the bevel two or three times and see what that does, but watch the pressure and don;t rush.

Just based on what you are saying I'd say stop honing until you emotional state is back to normal. Then let us know what's happening with the honing.

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Originally Posted by RezDog

Chipping in the later stages of the 1K can be caused by different things. Two come to mind right away. The first is using too much pressure. Often we get in a hurry to get to the finishers and rush the edge. Slow and steady wins the race. Also because the bevel is the most important part of an edge, we should do it well. The other thing that comes to mine is subsurface damage. That is pretty typical of restored or beaten up razors. Think about the serial number on a gun. You can file it off but the lab techs can etch it back with the use of acid. How that works is the metal has sub surface damage that makes the metal softer where the numbers were stamped. It can be the same in edge restoration. Diamond hones have been accused of causing such damage in more than one thread. the only solution is to hone past the damage. Try to rester the bevel two or three times and see what that does, but watch the pressure and don;t rush.

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You know i was kinda thinking the same thing... Not to that level of knowledge but that maybe the edge is damaged and I need to just keep going though it until it stops chipping...

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Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Just based on what you are saying I'd say stop honing until you emotional state is back to normal. Then let us know what's happening with the honing.

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I by what ur saying is that you have also experienced issues with ur honing when life gets a little crazy? I only mentioned that life is a little upside down because I think it might be that... That in just allowing my self to get too frustrated too fast... Just a couple people in the fam are in the hospital nothing serious with them it's just normal life stuff

Is your honing area quiet where you can concentrate? When I hone, most all else disappears, radio on, that goes away too, it might still be playing but I don't hear it when concentration is locked to honing, that's where I have to be to do the best work.

When my emotional life is a mess I can't hone to save myself. A combination of being agitated, unsettled and with a distorted sense of time, I can't even get passed the 1k. It's a cruel irony, being that honing is a nice way to spend some quiet time when other areas of life aren't going too well.

I'm thinking pressure could be the issue. If you ever question how much pressure you are using, use less. Rezdog mentioned metal issues, but you say this has happened with four razors, which makes that less likely. Is this only an issue with your 1k? Have you chamfered or rounded the edges on your hones? If you lap it flat and leave that corner sharp it's not that difficult to put small chips in a blade while doing X strokes.

My thinking is that , if you are bread knifing the edge , then it will take a lot longer to set a bevel with , so you'd need some patients to get that perfect apex . Also less pressure as mentioned before should stop the chipping.
Try check the edge after each hone so you can see where you are losing it.

+1 again to center yourself first. Honing is a ghung-fu. A skill learnt over time, and is as much meditative, mental and harmonious as it is physical. Bread knifing is a very aggressive procedure and seems apropos to the current stress you're in, and indicative to the cause of your honing woes. Shaving is done with a very delicate edge, taking out stress on that edge isn't going to allow it to grow and develop. If you can't give it a rest, try some classical music and a glass of absinthe, or wine. Stay away from wagner, something very subdued, and pretend the orchestra is your hone and your conducting it with your razor, with as little weight as possible applied as you progress while being able to keep the razor attached to the hone. There should be no hand, and no honer. Just a razor passing over a stone without a pursuit for a goal- you will suddenly stop, and when you do- realize you're there. Oh, and this is a natural you should be spending 90% of the time on, so you don't over hone. You have an apache gila right? how do you like it?

If you don't have a natural, pm me your address. I will ship you one of my jnats and some nagura to borrow through this stressful time, say 2 months? You will be responsible to not break them and save the packaging- pack them as I did, and pay the return shipping. A natural is mediattive and relaxing, and you don't have to police the edge to watch for overhoning. It's done on a meditative level. no horse no rider. No honer, no hone- just a sharp razor. my best- g

as for the absinthe- you have two distilleries that make real absinthe in Co. Leopold bros and Golden Moon. Golden moon distillery. I prefer golden moon, the distiller Stephen Gould is a friend of mine- fantastic knowledge of historical absinthe distillation techniques and historical library of absinthe texts. His absinthe is "redux". Total beverage should have leopolds and possibly redux. You tube has hour long uninterrupted mixes of classical music.

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Originally Posted by jnats

as for the absinthe- you have two distilleries that make real absinthe in Co. Leopold bros and Golden Moon. Golden moon distillery. I prefer golden moon, the distiller Stephen Gould is a friend of mine- fantastic knowledge of historical absinthe distillation techniques and historical library of absinthe texts. His absinthe is "redux". Total beverage should have leopolds and possibly redux. You tube has hour long uninterrupted mixes of classical music.

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Absinthe makes my friend go Mad. Last time we was in Barcelona and he thought he was a sniper . Taking aim at random people. No weapon of course . I ditched him and went to the airport lol
He always apologises for Barcelona but I told him ,no probs just never drink Absinthe again :gaah:

I'm not sure what he was drinking or other factors- but that is not what real absinthe does or should do. Sounds more psychosomatic

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Originally Posted by jnats

+1 again to center yourself first. Honing is a ghung-fu. A skill learnt over time, and is as much meditative, mental and harmonious as it is physical. Bread knifing is a very aggressive procedure and seems apropos to the current stress you're in, and indicative to the cause of your honing woes. Shaving is done with a very delicate edge, taking out stress on that edge isn't going to allow it to grow and develop. If you can't give it a rest, try some classical music and a glass of absinthe, or wine. Stay away from wagner, something very subdued, and pretend the orchestra is your hone and your conducting it with your razor, with as little weight as possible applied as you progress while being able to keep the razor attached to the hone. There should be no hand, and no honer. Just a razor passing over a stone without a pursuit for a goal- you will suddenly stop, and when you do- realize you're there. Oh, and this is a natural you should be spending 90% of the time on, so you don't over hone. You have an apache gila right? how do you like it?

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Ying and yang
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Although I'm no expert, I do have some advice: Try less pressure and set the bevel in your 1.5k or 2k stone. Better yet, take jnats up on his extremely generous offer.

On the other hand honing will relax you and de stress you. Its an escape because you are concentrating , thus not thinking about other things.
It sounds to me like the standard pains of learning to hone.
Never give up.

Also adding Jnats to the mix might confuse matters even more . Sorry to sound argumentative :w

As I've said a few times before, it would be pretty boring here if we all agreed all the time.

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Originally Posted by Utopian

As I've said a few times before, it would be pretty boring here if we all agreed all the time.

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no it wouldn't.

Yes, it would.

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Originally Posted by Frankenstein

When my emotional life is a mess I can't hone to save myself. A combination of being agitated, unsettled and with a distorted sense of time, I can't even get passed the 1k. It's a cruel irony, being that honing is a nice way to spend some quiet time when other areas of life aren't going too well.

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It is a cruel irony, I think it's a good stress reliever... But in terms of the quite place??? I don't even know what that is with the 3 kids lol my garage is my place of solitude

Thanks everyone! I really have some great advice here and have something to take to the hones I always thought of them to be a good stress reliever but in this case it was tough not to get irritated too fast... Pressure was probably the issue as I got more and more agitated at the results