Thread: Ding near toe... go right to the 1K?

Originally Posted by pcm

Anyhow, a bit frustrated right now, so taking a break. Here's the latest at 4K:

That's exactly the perfect mindset. I tried pushing through frustration on my first bevel set and the time was completely wasted, along with quite a bit of steel that old razor will never get back. Coming back a day later with a clear mind is the biggest time saver there is.

Originally Posted by pcm

Dropped to 4K, I think the stria is more even now, but it seems like I'm having trouble getting good contact on the toe, and there is something going on with the heel on one side with horizontal marks. I'm doing a rolling x stroke. Not sure how those marks are occurring, given the angle (heel forward, on part of the way down). I think I was getting some chipping too, on the heel area.

Anyhow, a bit frustrated right now, so taking a break. Here's the latest at 4K:

OK ~ so going in reverse the last pic(heel) looks like it has a burr...or... is that an artifact from the microscope, not quite in focus ???
I ask because the first heel pic with the sideways scratches does not show the same symptoms. If it's just the pic move on to 8k. If it is a burr also move on keeping very light strokes till the burr goes away. Flush the stone regularly to remove swarf .

There was this thing recommended a lot in the past called the pyramid honing method which went back & forth between 2 stones at a time. Kinda deliberately doing what you needed to here. Might make some good reading

btw don't worry about those scratches. You have simply moved the razor sideways on the stone at some point

So I finally realized what caused the sideways scratches... I was doing a heel forward rolling X stroke. As I moved down the stone, it made diagonal stria, but halfway down, was I started to move the heel off the stone for the X part of the stroke, the movement on the heel is almost parallel to the edge. Duh...

I"ll check the edge again, under the microscope to see if there is a burr or not at the heel. I'm a little concerned with the toe contact as well, seems like I'm not quite getting all of the bevel contacting, but maybe it's just the light reflection on the bevel.

I had a long day yesterday working (started at 6am, and was working in between honing, up to 8:30pm), so I probably should have skipped honing. I'll give it a look Saturday, when I have more time and can focus better...

Thanks for the advice everyone!

You might want to look at your old post in, Second Try at Honing, page 12, post 56, where you had a similar issue. The photos are very similar.

Try stropping on linen and leather to straighten the edge.

Originally Posted by Euclid440

You might want to look at your old post in, Second Try at Honing, page 12, post 56, where you had a similar issue. The photos are very similar.

Try stropping on linen and leather to straighten the edge.

What the heck, do you have a photographic memory? Cross referenced everything in the forum inside your head or something?

Ha, no.

Just remember working with PCM on that thread and another.

What I recall was most of his problem, stemmed from not using enough pressure to first set the bevel and build an even stria pattern that honed to the edge.

This morning I went back to that thread and look the photos and they looked very similar with deep 1k stria and ragged edge.

Having worked with several new guys, lately I noticed a pattern of not using enough pressure, and they all say the same thing. “Everybody says not to use pressure on razors”

If you use too much pressure you will get a flat bevel, but your edge might chip. A quick jointing of the edge and re-set of the bevel will quickly fix that.

Did 2 layers of tape, on the 4K, with the blade perpendicular to the stone, moving in an X-stroke, with a finger of pressure on the heel and toe...

Did you use fresh tape right before the end of the honing?

Originally Posted by Utopian

Did you use fresh tape right before the end of the honing?

No, not on this one. Did about 60 strokes, with checking every 20.

New tape today, did 20 strokes, then inked and did 2 more stokes. Was not getting it to touch on the right side for the last 1/4 towards heel (first picture) and on the left side right at the heel (last pict), and on both sides of the toe. Found that I really needed much more pressure, especially on the heel. Did another 10 X strokes with the blade perpendicular to stone. You can see some ink on the right side toe (3rd pict), but is is up a bit on the curve. Not sure I could hit that will out really raising the blade up...