Thread: My honing 101 home schooling course

The hardness of steel does not really have to do with whether or not the steel is stainless.
Hardness is determined by the way the steel was heat treated and tempered.
Stainless steels contain elements that improve corrosion resistance - such as chromium and vanadium.
For example - Henckles Friodurs, which are some of the best stainless razors, are softer than a lot of carbon steel blades - to me.

It's a combination of carbon content and heat treatment. Typically stainless steels sacrifice carbon content for chromium to add rust resistance, so typically speaking they will not be as hard as a high carbon steel. Treating them to match that hardness may make the steel brittle. There's always a trade off.

Not that it makes a stainless blade bad per se, just different.

So this may sound crazy but I tape the edge and run the razor over 150 grit sandpaper for about two sheets of sand paper to take that 20 degree angle down and I replace the tape often. I then make sure to take the edges off the gold dollars heel and toe. And then sometimes bread knife a little just to even out the edge of its needed. And then start honing on the thousand grit. I spend a decent amount of time there and then move up the progression. I don't use a pyramid or even really count I just make sure I work each side evenly on the 1000 and up.

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Originally Posted by Jay123

So this may sound crazy but I tape the edge and run the razor over 150 grit sandpaper for about two sheets of sand paper to take that 20 degree angle down and I replace the tape often. I then make sure to take the edges off the gold dollars heel and toe. And then sometimes bread knife a little just to even out the edge of its needed. And then start honing on the thousand grit. I spend a decent amount of time there and then move up the progression. I don't use a pyramid or even really count I just make sure I work each side evenly on the 1000 and up.

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Immediate focus on the edge seems fairly pointless when you may need to hone off some of the body of the blade itself in order to get contact between the spine, the edge, and the hone when you lay your blade flat on the stone... Until you get this spine and edge simultaneous contact, you can not set your bevel.

I had to grind quite a bit off of the back side (without the GD logo on it.)
Some had to be ground down from the toe all the way to the heel: less at the toe with an ever increasing amount all the way to the heel.

Before that was done, my honing stones were not even in contact with the edge on the back side of my blade.

Originally Posted by howdydave

Immediate focus on the edge seems fairly pointless when you may need to hone off some of the body of the blade itself in order to get contact between the spine, the edge, and the hone when you lay your blade flat on the stone... Until you get this spine and edge simultaneous contact, you can not set your bevel.

I had to grind quite a bit off of the back side (without the GD logo on it.)
Some had to be ground down from the toe all the way to the heel: less at the toe with an ever increasing amount all the way to the heel.

Before that was done, my honing stones were not even in contact with the edge on the back side of my blade.

I agree

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Originally Posted by Utopian

Sorry, I just noticed what ELSE you wrote--namely, "on every stone!"

Do NOT do that. The extra strokes MAY be needed on the 1k and will do no harm at the bevel setting phase. When you get better at assessing the progress of your bevel setting, you can just stop when the bevels fully meet. Until then, there is no harm doing some extra strokes to make sure the task is done. However, you don't need those extra strokes on the other hones. They would not do harm on the 4k but could on the 8k.

Could you explain that -- the last line about how unnecessary strokes on the 8k might be harmful but not on the 4k?

Seems counterintuitive.

thanks

It is…

You have to do what the razor needs.

Do not just do X amount of laps and call it good, look at it with magnification.

After fully setting the bevel, remove the previous stria with each stone and straighten the edge.

If the edge is chippy, just joint it on the corner of the stone and re-set it.

Originally Posted by 400E

Could you explain that -- the last line about how unnecessary strokes on the 8k might be harmful but not on the 4k?

Seems counterintuitive.

thanks

My best guess is the Norton 8k is fine and quite fast. If you got your razor straight on the 4k, you can have the 8k work done in less than 10 strokes. Which means it's probably quite easy to go beyond the level of comfortable and into the realm to too keen.

In short - check more often after the 4K. 5-10 and put it under a loupe. Stop when the stone is maxed out.

Originally Posted by 400E

Could you explain that -- the last line about how unnecessary strokes on the 8k might be harmful but not on the 4k?

Seems counterintuitive.

thanks

Originally Posted by Euclid440

It is…

You have to do what the razor needs.

Do not just do X amount of laps and call it good, look at it with magnification.

After fully setting the bevel, remove the previous stria with each stone and straighten the edge.

If the edge is chippy, just joint it on the corner of the stone and re-set it.

It isn't.

I do read what I write and I put a little thought into it. Giving what the razor needs is exactly what I was describing, and it would be extremely rare for a razor to need an excess of 50 strokes on an 8k.

When you are attempting to set the bevels, I suggested that if you are in doubt about its endpoint, that it might be a good idea to do an extra 50 strokes on the 1k. It should do no harm and may ensure that the bevel meet to form an edge. Bevel setting also can be done on a 4k. After the 1k, the 4k is refining the edge. If the bevels almost, but not quite, met after the time on the 1k, the extra work on the 4k might get it the rest of the way. The extra 50 strokes on the 4k, which you mentioned you would add in response to my original suggestion for the 1k, in most cases would do no harm to a razor with decent steel.

That is not the case at the 8k level. It is rare for a properly honed razor to need more than 20 strokes on an 8k hone. Doing more than than can lead to a chipping. Doing more than 50 laps increases those odds.

I too advocated for doing "what the razor needs," and a razor rarely needs more than 50 laps on an 8k.

“It isn't”.

“I do read what I write and I put a little thought into it”.

“Doing more than than can lead to a chipping”. “



All in the same post… Yes, No, Yes, No…



Just look at it, if it needs more, do more, if not move up.


A razor rarely needs, more than… what it needs…