Thread: Stainless razor giving me trouble

You NEVER need to raise a burr when honing a straight razor. If you create a burr you did it wrong.

Originally Posted by Utopian

You NEVER need to raise a burr when honing a straight razor. If you create a burr you did it wrong.

Ok that's why I'm here. I picked that up from a member of another forum's videos.

So- when setting the bevel count strokes? Do x strokes flipping on spine till the bevel shaves arm hair?

Please elaborate

I won't know what success looks like unless I work through my failures!

YMMV
A stainless steel razor is more abrasive resistant than carbon steel. Tough to hone as you are familiar with carbon steel. It takes longer and you must check progress more often.
Some people just have to make videos...whether or not they have anything worthwhile to pass on. Check post count here and videos from the old timers.
~Richard

Originally Posted by Geezer

YMMV
A stainless steel razor is more abrasive resistant than carbon steel. Tough to hone as you are familiar with carbon steel. It takes longer and you must check progress more often.
Some people just have to make videos...whether or not they have anything worthwhile to pass on. Check post count here and videos from the old timers.
~Richard

Richard, I posted my video and THEN read your comment. There is not a whole lot of "worthwhile" in there but I'm leaving it anyway!

put your location in your profile so we may further assist you, there may be someone down the street from you Tc

When it comes to pictures of the bevel set there is thread that shows quite well what you see through your loop. For the bevel set it is all about looking down on the edge. After that it is all about polishing the bevel.
http://straightrazorpalace.com/honin...ggestions.html

When you try and shave with it as it is now what is happening?

Originally Posted by tcrideshd

put your location in your profile so we may further assist you, there may be someone down the street from you Tc

I have updated my location in my profile. I live in Sarasota/Bradenton area of Florida. I would really like to have a mentor if possible. I am a big believer mentor/mentee learning.

Hopefully you can get hooked up with someone for some one on one honing. What are you doing to test weather or not you are done with the bevel setting process? My guess is that the bevel is not fully set. Have you tried the thumbnail test, thumb pad test and arm hair tests? As Utopain mentioned earlier, stroke counts are pointless. You need to have a way to test weather or not the bevel is set and ready to move on to the next stone.

Originally Posted by Sdm84

Ok that's why I'm here. I picked that up from a member of another forum's videos.

So- when setting the bevel count strokes? Do x strokes flipping on spine till the bevel shaves arm hair?

Please elaborate

I won't know what success looks like unless I work through my failures!

I would not bother counting strokes. You have to keep honing till you have the bevel fully set. It might take a hundred strokes and it might take five hundred. The sharp edge is all that matters.

You can do x strokes, or chisel strokes, or circles or any combination as long as you finish with x strokes. If you are new to this you really should use tape so that you do not mess up the spine. If you use tape you will need to change it regularly when it wears and be aware that as the tape thins the honing angle changes with the result being that the edge lifts off of the hone. Fresh tape brings the edge back into contact.

This is a horrid video I did a while ago. It was a demonstration of setting the bevel on a razor using a FINISHING hone. This came about from a thread here and it certainly is not the normal or recommended way to set a bevel but it will give you some sense of the strokes involved when I set bevels. By all means don't watch the whole thing unless you are an insomniac but you can skip around and get a sense of how long it can take to set a bevel. In it I keep saying that it's almost there and then it's not. Delusion and optimism are helpful when honing but you can't actually move on from the bevel set until you have it right.