Should Blade be Smooth or Stickey @ Shave Time??
I am in the process of learning to hone.
My proceedure, so far:
Standing over the sink making laps on my Red Devil Barber'shone while the water runs. When I feel the blade getting stickey, I move to the Yellow Coticule, about 20 to 30 passes. At this point, the edge becomes smooth. I then do 20 to 30 more passes on the Coticule,w/o slurry. Next 20 - 30 (I seem to be stuck on this number) passes on a .5 CR02 pasted paddle, then 60 passes on the strop.
I've been shaving with 2 - 4 blades a day trying to find what will work. Yesterday I did the above proceedure on 3 blades (two of them were my Grandfather's). I wasn't confident due to what I thought was a smooth edge that wouldn't perform. WRONG! All three blades shaved beautifully. In fact, I completed the shave with one of Grampa's, the entire neck area, and was able to actually go ATG on the neck - a 1st for me. I considered the experiment a success! I got a beautiful shave!
1. Is is normal when you move to the polishing proceedure for the blade edge to get smooth?
2. Should I get a Blue Belgium (4K) and replace the Barber'shone?
3. Should I get a 12K or 15K Shapton or Japanese stone as part of the polishing routien?
4. Do any of you have suggestions, or advice, in regard to how I am proceeding now?
Thanks,
Steve Boyd
somebody experienced step up.....
i am really interested to follow this up..... very similar curiosity of my own...
thanks