Thread: Stainless razor giving me trouble

I have a beautiful Carl Rader 6/8 inox that I recently acquired but it needed to be honed.

I am not an expert at honing but I have been doing very well with my razor collection all have honed up very well and shave great comfortable and close.

This one however is giving me trouble.

Here is my progression:

Bevel set on king 1k

3k/8k synthetic stone (three guys brand)

#9 coti bout from TSS not marked for vein. Water only then finish under running water. I go by feedback and suction sensation and I felt like this one was ready.

Under magnification it looks ok however the bevel is a bit wider than I expected- it runs toe to heel and consistent, just not what I expected.

There is some hone wear but not excessive and nothing I haven't dealt with before.

I was thinking of taping the spine and starting over to see if I can get that bevel at a more acute angle. Am I on the right track?

For comparison I used the same progression on a dull (I mean flat dull so you could drag it across your finger and no cut dull) heljestrad 31 that I got off eBay. The exact same progression yielded a very comfortable shaving edge that gave me a BBS shave this morning.

I am stumped.

And the pic or the razor showing the spine and bevel are where ???

That really would help us help you,,, but here is a funny fact a layer of tape Cannot hurt, it might not fix the problem but it won't make it worse

Ok sorry- here is a pic as best as I can get. Any guidance on my photography would be most appreciated so that I know how to post the necessary info






Does this give enough info?

Yes it does and nothing really stands out as a reason that you are not getting a good edge

This thread might help with some ideas


http://straightrazorpalace.com/honin...bing-over.html

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Yes it does and nothing really stands out as a reason that you are not getting a good edge

I was careful to raise a good burr on both sides during bevel set and made sure to do enough x strokes on the 1k to erase the burr. I am still learning and don't have to do that too much anymore I am getting to where I can tell by looking and feeling if the bevel is set but went aggressive on this one to be sure.

I know that the bevel is very important and if I don't get that right further refinement is a waste of time.

How about if I return to the coti and spend some more time there? Or go back to the 8k and then coti again?

I also have a pretty nice C12k that is slow but has made some nice edges in the past.

Lastly, I have the lapping film I first learned on a year ago (still in good shape) 6um, 3um, 1um

I have a balsa strop with crox and feox sides

I strop on a Tony Miller 3" English bridle.

Sorry for the oversharing but very open to suggestions and guidance.

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!

The hair on my arm is almost blonde and it reacts in a weird way to passing the blade close- some hairs cut others not and sometimes I have denuded a spot without realizing it. I know that sounds stupid.

I have used the "cherry tomato test" where the skin is split with only the razor's weight (works on grapes too) but lately my test has been to lightly run the blade over a patch of coarse skin on my index finger. If the blade bites, I assume the bevel is set.

I have only come upon this method after my original post and when I tried the stainless razor it did not pass.

I have since reset the bevel on my 1k taking more than twice as long with x strokes and it passes the finger test.

I finished the polish on lapping film (3m diamond film) 6um, 3um, 1um then strop.

Bevel looks like a mirror and I will try again to shave with it tomorrow.

My thinking is that I am just not good enough with the coti to finish the stainless on it.

My lapping film edges can be harsh so I might have to back it off if that is the case tomorrow.

I will report the results after tomorrow's shave.

My wild guess, take it for what it is...

You've got a king 1k hone, which is comparatively slow to other hones from what I read. And you're honing a stainless steel blade, which is abrasion resistant.

I'm thinking the problem you were having is that your bevel was really, really close - but just a fraction of a hair's breadth away from being set. I've created a few of these myself, and they seem to pass every cutting test except for the shave test. I even created one that passed the shave test - I still haven't figured that one out. At any rate, this would be less a problem with your ability with the coticule, and more so an issue at the foundation.

I'll go ahead and wager that if you spent a good amount of time on the 1K it's sorted out. My crystal ball is broken, so take that the same way you would the lucky numbers from a fortune cookie - with a healthy amount of skepticism.