Thread: not quite passing hht

Originally Posted by JoshEarl

Narrow hones work great with razors that have a smile or slight warp to the blade.

I've heard this claim many times and never understood why width matters. Just because you've got 3" doesn't mean you've got to use it. I've honed smiling blades on 3" wide hones and on 0.5" wide hones and it never seemed to matter. My smiling blades get honed on a half-inch wide strip down the hone and the extra width never comes into play at all.

I'd say it's more of an issue for slightly warped blades than for smiles.

Nice, even smiles are easier for me than the blades where the toe and heel have a more abrupt curve. But I've always had a hard time getting the rock 'n' roll honing stroke just right. A narrow hone that I can hold in my hand and tilt as necessary makes it easier for me to keep the pressure even.

You can use just the edge of the hone, and I've had some success doing that, but again I find it's easy to mess up the pressure

Josh

I hand-hold my Shaptons as well when I'm honing a smiler, the instability does seem to make it simpler to keep the pressure even.

well alright now! i did 30 very light trips around the frictionite with lather and what do you know? popping hairs fairly well! a true thing of beauty. after a quick prep i went to work doing a complete 2 pass shave with a little touch up. i didnt even reach for the de! i am sure the razor isnt as sharp as is could be but it is passible for myself. not as close of a shave compaired to the merkur 38c/derby for now. i am sure with more work on honing and stropping and technique my result will keep improving.

cheers,
ryan

I love it when a plan comes together!

X

Ryan,

That's great! Congrats. It took me a couple of months to get to that point.

Now begins your quest for the perfect edge...

Josh

thanks guys!

the perfect edge... oh boy- i have a long way to go. i almost went out a bought a norton last night. i think i might wait now and get a yellow coticule or a strop and cromium oxide... what do you use to 'finish' edge?

cheers,
ryan

I prefer the coticule for finishing and actual honing. But I have a really coarse beard, and it beats the crap out of my edges.

I've found that edges finished on a pasted strop don't last as long for me--sometimes only three shaves or so.

If you have an average beard, a pasted strop is probably the best initial investment. You can take those barber hone edges up several notches that way.

Josh

Once you're popping hairs, a pasted paddle is the easiest and cheapest way to improve that edge. Like JoshEarl, I think that pasted paddles produce somewhat weaker edges, so don't overdo it on the paddles - do just enough laps to get the blade where you want it then stop.

If you want to stick with hones then there are high-grit barber hones out there (do a search), and the Coticule is certainly popular among the honemeisters and probably the least expensive of the exotic naturals (~$50+) from Howard). The Chinese waterstones are quite reasonably priced and also have a smaller but devoted following. Eschers are both unpleasantly expensive and quite hard to come by, but much beloved by the lucky SOBs that have them. The Shaptons are easy to find but still expensive, and AFAIK none of the honemeisters really recommend them.

it seems like the next step for me cost about the same (pasted paddle, coticule, norton). i think i will stick to the stones/hones instead of pasted strops for now due to the reasons stated by josh, parker et al. so i just need to figure out norton 4k/8k or go with a small yellow coticule w/cotigura...
i should have a few wapienica coming next week and will be eager to get them up and running.

cheers,
ryan