Thread: overhoning

As I understand it from LA's dvd if one overhones then there is no pull whatsoever. I have an old WB razor that I'm having a time with. Think I have overhoned it. Shoulf I just do say a 5,5,3,5 and 1,5 to get rid of the overhoning. Advice would be appreciated. Thank you.

You can also get no pull whatsoever if it's *really* sharp, or if it's *really* dull.n "No pull" isn't really sufficient information to diagnose an overhoned edge. Run it through a piece of paper - if it's overhoned then this will get rid of it, and if it's really dull then it won't hurt the edge at all.

Typically if you have spent some time honing a razor, and it still pulls, it is not quite sharp enough. On the other hand, when it glides over the beard with no whisker removal after some honing it usually is overhoned. If you have a W&B that has had a lot of previous hone wear and the honing has been uneven, it may still glide after some honing, but not usually if you have put some work into it. If you do a 5-5, 3-3, 1-3, 1-5 rotation on the Norton 4K/8K it should take care of it. Let us know what happens and we can try to diagnose from there.

Good luck.

Lynn

Originally Posted by adjustme69

Typically if you have spent some time honing a razor, and it still pulls, it is not quite sharp enough. On the other hand, when it glides over the beard with no whisker removal after some honing it usually is overhoned. If you have a W&B that has had a lot of previous hone wear and the honing has been uneven, it may still glide after some honing, but not usually if you have put some work into it. If you do a 5-5, 3-3, 1-3, 1-5 rotation on the Norton 4K/8K it should take care of it. Let us know what happens and we can try to diagnose from there.

Good luck.

Lynn

I have an ebay razor that I honed up using norton 1k, belgian blue w/ slurry, yellow w/ slurry, yellow w/o slurry, chromium oxide pasted strop. It pops my arm hairs very easily, and when I shave with it it feels like a super smooth DE shave, but no hairs are removed. Is this sucker overhoned?

How should I fix it w/o using the norton 4k/8k?

Thanks,
Chad

The deal with arm hair shaving is that if you can't shave the hair off your arm with no effort at all the razor will never shave your face but if it does shave the arm hair like a champ it still doesn't mean its ready to shave your face. Just that your on the right track and getting close. From what you describe that sounds like a classic case of overhoning.

Originally Posted by mparker762

You can also get no pull whatsoever if it's *really* sharp, or if it's *really* dull.n "No pull" isn't really sufficient information to diagnose an overhoned edge. Run it through a piece of paper - if it's overhoned then this will get rid of it, and if it's really dull then it won't hurt the edge at all.

Thanks, I'll try that

Originally Posted by adjustme69

Typically if you have spent some time honing a razor, and it still pulls, it is not quite sharp enough. On the other hand, when it glides over the beard with no whisker removal after some honing it usually is overhoned. If you have a W&B that has had a lot of previous hone wear and the honing has been uneven, it may still glide after some honing, but not usually if you have put some work into it. If you do a 5-5, 3-3, 1-3, 1-5 rotation on the Norton 4K/8K it should take care of it. Let us know what happens and we can try to diagnose from there.

Good luck.

Lynn

Thanks Lynn . I'll try that.
'

Chad,

The Belgian hones work a little differently than the Norton 4/8K. The concensus seems to be that it's hard or impossible to overhone with them. The cut slowly enough that they don't seem to create a wire edge the same way the Norton does, or at least it'll take a long time. In my experience with them, which only spans a few weeks now, I'd have to say that the concensus is correct.

My usual approach is to work the razor on the 1K hone until it bites into my thumbnail (the thumbnail test), then go to the blue with a slurry for a while. When the razor passes the hanging hair test, I stop using the blue and do about 10 or 15 light finishing strokes on the yellow WITHOUT slurry. Then maybe 10 strokes on the chromium oxide.

Using the yellow with a slurry seems to produce a very polished bevel and a dull edge. I only use slurry on the yellow if I need to polish out some scratches from a very coarse hone. The yellow with slurry cuts faster than the blue, but the blue seems to form a sharper edge. Then the yellow without slurry polishes that edge nicely.

Just my experience so far... I do love my Belgian hones.

Good luck,
Josh

Originally Posted by silver2k

I have an ebay razor that I honed up using norton 1k, belgian blue w/ slurry, yellow w/ slurry, yellow w/o slurry, chromium oxide pasted strop. It pops my arm hairs very easily, and when I shave with it it feels like a super smooth DE shave, but no hairs are removed. Is this sucker overhoned?

How should I fix it w/o using the norton 4k/8k?

Thanks,
Chad

A 1K stone is pretty harsh in a regular routine. I will only use a 1K if I have to get some deep chips out or if I have something like an old W&B wedge that has been badly honed with uneven shoulder and edge.

Lynn