Thread: A little honing clinic

Yesterday I got the razor that bpatton was selling in the Buy/Sell forum. He was selling it cheap because he couldn't quite get it shaving, so I thought I'd write a post about how I got it shave-ready in about 30 minutes.

When the razor arrived, it was really clean for a vintage blade. Nice and shiny, almost no staining or pitting. A little rust on the tang near the hinge. I broke out the Dremel and a wire brush wheel. This cleans between the scales really nicely. I press the sides of the brush lightly against the insides of the scales to get the rust on the sides of the tang. Then I rub some MAAS on the blade and scales and buff the razor to a nice luster. This took about 15 minutes.

I knew bpatton had already done some honing on the razor, so I did a few tests to evaluate its sharpness. The first bit of diagnostics I did was to examine the bevel and sight down the blade to look for warps. The bevel was nice and even--good job, bpatton. There were no signs of bowing or warping in the blade. Looking down the blade this way won't always tell you if the blade is bowed, but it helps pick up the worst warps. I did notice that the blade had a slight smile, which I suspected was the reason it was a little tricky to hone.

Next I attempted to shave my arm hair. I have fine, blond hair on my arm, so I actually put the razor on my skin for this. Never been able to get even a very sharp blade to snag the tips of the hairs like some guys... Anyway, the razor wouldn't quite shave arm hair.

Then I tried a hanging hair test. The middle of the blade snagged hairs but didn't cut them cleanly. The toe and heel didn't catch the hairs at all.

Finally I examined the bevel under my 60x Radio Shack microscope. The edge was perfectly straight, and the scratch pattern looked uniform. The scratches looked like those left by the 4K Norton. Nice job again, bpatton.

(Later it occurred to me that I should have done a thumbnail test at this point. It would have told me what I found after the next step.)

I reached for my blue Belgian hone, which is a 6x1.5" stone I bought from Howard at www.theperfectedge.com. Using my cotigura rubbing stone, I built a heavy slurry on the blue. Then I taped the spine of the razor with electrical tape and did 50 laps on the hone with light but uniform pressure.

The stroke I use for smiling blades is a little unusual. I'd call it a "scything X-pattern." I start with the heel of the razor leading, and as I stroke forward through the X pattern I push the tip of the razor forward, so I end the stroke with about 1/2" of the toe on the hone, and the toe is lparallel to the heel. Think of the way you see chefs use a butcher's steel. I'm only using about 1/2" of the hone, the part right near the edge, for this. I'm attaching a graphic that illustrates this.

This gives a very small contact area, which means that I'm not overhoning any one part of the blade.

After the 50 strokes on the blue hone, I tested the blade again with a hanging hair. The middle seemed sharper, but the toe and heel hadn't changed. From this I deduced that the bevel didn't quite extend all the way to the edge. This can be caused by too much pressure on the lower grits, or just not spending enough time on the lower grits to make the sides of the bevel meet.

I jumped down a step to my 1200-grit DMT diamond hone. Some guys consider these too harsh to use on razors, but I find that they cut quickly and cleanly, allowing me to focus on using light, uniform pressure to form an even bevel. I almost always get very uniform bevels using this hone. Sandpaper or the 1K Norton are other alternatives, but I found that they encouaraged me to use too much pressure, resulting in an uneven edge and bevel.

I did 30 light laps on the 8x3" diamond hone, and then did a thumbnail test. I got a nice, even draw across my nail, and the edge bit in a little and gripped without feeling gritty. Perfect.

Back to the blue hone for 50 laps with a slurry. This left a beautiful, polished bevel. At this point the edge cut hanging hairs uniformly along its entire length.

So I moved to my 6x2" yellow coticule, also from Howard (by way of mparker762--thanks!). I did 50 light laps on the coticule without slurry, which experience has shown me leaves a very nice shaving edge. (Using slurry on the yellow tends to result in a duller edge than is left by the blue hone, I've found. ) I lightened up the pressure as much as possible for the last 10 strokes to give a finer finish.

The hanging hair test won't work for me after the yellow coticule, so now all that's left is the shave test. This approach has been pretty much 100 percent effective for me since I switched to it from my Norton about six weeks ago, so I'm expecting it'll pass the shave test with flying colors. Start to finish, the honing took about 15 minutes. Part of this was the "wasted" 50 strokes on the blue.

I like this approach for several reasons. It's very consistent--rarely do I have to go back to the hones to further refine the edge. It works well for quirky blades, like smiling or slightly warped razors. It gives me a lot of control, because the Belgian hones cut slowly. And it's fast, because the diamond hone cuts a beautiful bevel. The speed of the diamond hone allows me to use light pressure throughout the process, which gives me a very uniform edge on these tricky razors.

I wish I could take credit for this, but it's exactly how Howard sharpens his razors. I just thought I'd offer it up as another way to get from eBay dull to shave-sharp.

As a disclaimer: I'm still refining this approach, so I may be using too many strokes at different stages. Experiment with different numbers of strokes and varying amounts of pressure, and examine your razor at each step with the various tests at your disposal. That way you won't be wasting steel.

Now I'm off to shave-test the razor....

Josh

Holy Cah Cah Honeman !!!!!!!!!

Stroking and testing and testing and stroking..........

Lynn

Great read there Josh

One approach I have seen, from the kitchen knife angle, is to use a black marker on the bevel to show you if your getting to the edge in the first place. It's an eye opener, sometimes you think your there and feel good with it. Than you look at the edge and see a fine black line... DOH!!!

Just my two .02

Nice to see what I was doing wrong with that one. I did some polishing on the blade, but very little. When I began to hone it I worked for a couple hours on several occasions and had little sucess (and alot of razor burn during testing). I was so disgusted I began to blame the razor, aparently it was just me . That was my first from scratch honing attempt, and since then I have been able to get a couple shave ready (making a couple small changes in my technique).

Good Job Josh! Even though I was hoping it was bad steel...

The shave test went well. No problems with this steel.

Josh

i need major help honing...all i have is a norton 4/8k and still can not get my dovo stainless shave ready--do i need to get all these stones to get my razor shave ready??

seriously need help

You certainly shouldn't need anything more than your Norton to get your Dovo shaving. The Belgians are just another route to get to the same place.

You might try starting a thread and describing what you've tried and where you're stuck, and I'm sure you'll get some advice in a hurry.

Josh

Josh, great post! Could you summarize the concepts of this "method"? Are you refering to the stroke or the progression, or the stones?

Thanks a lot Josh. As a brand new straight shaver and as I am still
yet-to-hone-her this is extremely helpful! I especially liked having the diagram. I can usually visualize things but I like not having to guess. When it's time to touch up the edge of the Morley, I'll have this thread out and available.

Here are a couple of quick clarifications to my original post and a summary of some of the main points I was trying to make:

I only use low-grit hones like the DMT and the Norton 1K for razors with bad bevels. Once they're in shaving shape, they'll never see anything below 4K unless I happen to chip an edge. The real honemeisters advise against using anything this coarse, so try it at your peril.

Also, I just wanted to reiterate that none of this stuff is new or original to me. I've just been rereading the archives and finding some interesting things that I thought I'd dig up for discussion again. The only thing "new" here is me.

And the quick synopsis:
- Using the a good progression of hones with steady pressure is an alternative to using extra pressure earlier in the process. I like using consistent pressure because it's easier for me to get consistent results along the entire edge. YMMV.
- The different tests can help you figure out where you are in the honing process, saving you time and effort.
- "Slower" hones aren't worse, just different. The Belgian blue in particular gets knocked for being slow, but sometimes I think that can be an asset. For my face, slower hones seem to result in a smoother shave.
- If you have an unusual blade shape to work with, try varying your stroke so the edge makes solid contact on both sides all along its length.
- There's no "magic" number of strokes for any razor. You just have to figure out what works for you.

Just my thoughts--take 'em for what they're worth.

Josh