I, like a lot of new str8 razor shavers, am trying to learn to hone my own razors. I, in my quest to learn, have read every thread in the honing section - some two or three times. My goal is to take a not shave razor and make it shave like a Lynn Abrams or Bill Ellis honed razor. - quite a lofty goal, ea! Presently I am working with a "Little Devil" barber hone, a 3x8 Coticule, and a .5 CRO2 pasted paddle. I will say I am not working with poor razors, most of these are good razors that are just not shave ready, yet. Yes, I have been struggling like a lot of newbes to hone correctly. Most of my project razors have come close, but in the end I reach for the DE or the Feather and complete the shave. I then took the advice of Howard and bought a cheap microscope from Radio Shack, 60X to 100X. * First of all, it's important to have a well honed razor so you can see what a good, keen, edge looks like under the microscope. I first looked at my not ready to shave razors, and noticed that the bevel was very shinny - and reflecting lots of light. The edge was a bit craggy and emitted a bright light all along the edge. I then brought out two razors that I knew were sharp, a wedge sharpened by Lynn and a W&B sharpened by Bill Ellis. Wow! What a revelation! First of all, the bevel was almost black, very dark. The edge was quite straight, almost like a ruler, and there was little to no light emitting from the edge. That was it(discovery)! I then took an Ebay razor I had been working on with little success and went to the Coticule. The bevel looked okay, so no need to use the barber hone. I did 50 laps, looked through the scope and noticed the bevel was darker and had less debre on it. I did 100 more laps (yes, I did) - Wow, something was happening. The bevel was darkening, the light on the edge was becoming deminished, and flatter. I even did several laps on the paddle, noticing even more improvement. I finially put the razor up and went to bed, anticipating the morning shave. To make a log story short, The next morning this little Ebay special gave me a wonderful, wonderful shave! Close (very close) to the Abrams/Ellis razors.:)
In the future, I may not have a need to use the microscope, maybe. - but for now, I have a point of reference to tell me where I am and what I need to shoot for, and if what you're doing is not working, to try something else. I want to develope a "feel" for the blade and use my senses, and my experience to tell me what it needs. - that could be a long time in the future. Who knows.
One more thing,... I am only going to use very slow stones until I feel confident in using fast stones. If I have learned anything from these threads, this, I believe, is important.
* This note is for those of you newbes who are struggling with your honing. This has worked for me!
Regards,
Steve Boyd
