Thread: A newbie's adventures with Shapton glass stones

I suppose this is a follow-on from my thread in the hones section here, where I ended up with a set of Shapton glass stones (2K, 4K, 8K, 16K). Using those and some 0.5 um diamond paste on felt, the end result is this, as seen through a cheap USB microscope:



That was done using Lynn's method for the Shapton GSs, which is a great instructional video:



I followed the number of strokes to the letter, although I had to replace the 1K stone and 0.5 um diamond paste with a 2K and 0.25 um paste, not having either of the former. Resulting shave off the 0.25 um paste gave a little bit of irritation, but was overall pretty good. Tomorrow I'll strop it properly and see how much smoother that feels. In the meantime, is there anything in the above picture that stands out as needing work, or should I just keep improving through repetition?

I have some questions about feedback though, I've noted three distinct feelings when honing. First is when I'm starting to hone and pushing the razor across the stone feels a bit rough. I assume that's exactly what it sounds like, the rough feeling is from metal being abraded off. After a while it transitions to a smoother feel, kinda glassy. I guess this means it's done and what people mean when they say that the glass stones practically shout at you when you're done on one grit. Is it?

Last feeling is a strange one, the best description I can give is that it's a kind of shaking, but smooth, like what happens if you try to drag something through water too fast and things start getting turbulent. I think it's either a technique flaw or some kind of really strong, localised stiction but I really don't know. So what is it?

The edge looks straight, but there is still some low grit stria that could be removed to further straighten the edge. It looks like a diamond pasted edge. Diamonds are good for keenness, not comfort.

Low grit diamond paste is notorious for making a harsh edge. Skip the Diamonds, post 16k and strop on leather or paste Chromium Oxide on a piece of cardboard to experiment. A 16k edge should be plenty keen.

Removing all of the stria from the previous stone before moving up the progression will give you the best edge, then it is just a matter of finding the best combination of stropping for comfort.

If you want to remove the deep stria, mark the 6 deep stria (in the photo) on the razor belly off the bevel, (so you can quickly see when they are removed) then re-hone on the 8k until they have been removed and finish on the 16k.

Or paste a piece of cardboard with metal polish, and strop (about 50 laps), until all visible stria has been removed from the bevel, then lightly joint the edge straight and re-set the bevel on the 16k. Stropping on metal polish will leave a harsh edge that must be removed.

You are very close to a keen comfortable edge, just need a little bit of refinement.

What you are feeling is normal, at the finish stone you may be feeling stiction, where the bevel is getting flat and sticking to the stone with the water and swarf, use a bit more water.

I use a plastic squirt bottle as opposed to a spray bottle and use more water to keep the stone wet and a puddle on the stone, try to move the puddle to the end of the stone but not off the stone. A plastic tray catches any excess runoff.