Thread: First Attempt at Honing

The hardest part for me was knowing what to expect at each step along the way. That for me was the hardest part because its so difficult to explain. People can tell you, in theory, what that is but its not easy to recognize in practice. Greater experience helps establish expectations. Until I had a sense of expectations, I was very much in the dark. But its always good to start with some level of success since it gets you in the right frame of mind. So congrats on the promising start.

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Are you going to be at the Denver Meet on Saturday ???

I will be there. I look forward to meeting you. Vic talked a lot about you at the spring meet. I have also watched a lot of your videos on YouTube.

Originally Posted by OCDshaver

The hardest part for me was knowing what to expect at each step along the way. That for me was the hardest part because its so difficult to explain. People can tell you, in theory, what that is but its not easy to recognize in practice. Greater experience helps establish expectations. Until I had a sense of expectations, I was very much in the dark. But its always good to start with some level of success since it gets you in the right frame of mind. So congrats on the promising start.

Thanks. I don't really know what to think about this first effort. I got really busy with life and had to postpone the shave test on a second razor. I hope to do that tomorrow. I will also have the good fortune to take all of my work to the Denver Meet on Saturday to have some real experts look at what I have done so far. That should be a big help for where I should go next.

I am impressed. I wish my first honing went that well. Instead, it was much effort and little reward.

Originally Posted by Euclid440

HHT is notoriously inaccurate. HHT and TPT will not detect a chip.

Humor me on this once ? What really happens when during an X-Stroke on leading edge both ways, i.e one brings it both from right to left and left to right. Thus making a cross pattern of scratches on the edge.

My intuition is that though this will build an edge, the resultant scratches on the edge will not be in a single direction. The abrasive quality of the edge that helps during HHT is the micro serrations at the very tip of the edge that are all in single direction. As a result of this, this razor may shave but not do HHT. Or is this counterproductive and not hold this edge for long due to more pressure on the edge.

Originally Posted by Demetrius

I think the King Cutter lopped off my beard as easily as did my Imperial. It was not as smooth though.

Not uncommon for the first shave off the hones to feel a bit uncomfortable when starting out, this is where the strop comes in.
Give it another hundred laps on leather, makes all the difference.

Originally Posted by almond

Humor me on this once ? What really happens when during an X-Stroke on leading edge both ways, i.e one brings it both from right to left and left to right. Thus making a cross pattern of scratches on the edge.

My intuition is that though this will build an edge, the resultant scratches on the edge will not be in a single direction. The abrasive quality of the edge that helps during HHT is the micro serrations at the very tip of the edge that are all in single direction. As a result of this, this razor may shave but not do HHT. Or is this counterproductive and not hold this edge for long due to more pressure on the edge.

X stroke is heel to toe, so there shouldn't be any cross hatching, varying the angle slightly between hones can help to see where you are at.
HHT is unreliable, TPT doesn't work for me either, as my thumbs are made of leather.
TNT at 1k will detect chips and has the added benefit of jointing the edge.
Don't get too wrapped up in these tests, the shave test is the only one that counts...

No, your stria, are only going in one direction, or should be.

Yes, you alternate direction, but are only going in one direction, on each side. You may end up with an angular stria pattern, but they will all be uniform and going in the same direction.

There are far too many variables in HHT to predict shave quality reliably.

Originally Posted by almond

Humor me on this once ? What really happens when during an X-Stroke on leading edge both ways, i.e one brings it both from right to left and left to right. Thus making a cross pattern of scratches on the edge.

My intuition is that though this will build an edge, the resultant scratches on the edge will not be in a single direction. The abrasive quality of the edge that helps during HHT is the micro serrations at the very tip of the edge that are all in single direction. As a result of this, this razor may shave but not do HHT. Or is this counterproductive and not hold this edge for long due to more pressure on the edge.

You are flipping the blade , there is no cross pattern of scratches.

I shave tested the Rogers XY this morning - one downward pass on the right cheek before finishing with one of my regulars. Very much like the King Cutter, it cut whiskers well, but was not nearly as smooth as my Odeon. I'll bring it, along with the Boker to the Denver Meet this Saturday. It turns out the third razor that I honed, the Wester Bros, had a crack in the scales at the pivot pin. I removed the pin and the scales could not be salvaged. I'm going to work on the blade a bit and try a rescale before working on the edge. I'll bring the blade with me on Saturday as well.