Hello fine gentleman and all members of this incredible useful website.

I come to you seeking guidance regarding honing my first ever SR (Might as well start using the jargon) . I opted for a J.A Henckels 401 on Ebay for 25 bucks. I currently only own a King 1k/6k stone. When it arrived, there was a pretty clean bevel already on the blade. There were no nicks visible with the naked eye. However, when I looked closer with my 60x microscope, I could see approximately 8 miniscule knicks when looking from heel to toe. After practicing with standard back and forth strokes on the 6k side, the nicks weren't going anywhere.

I decided to try and remove them with the 1k side, knowing that I could potentially alter the bevel set by the previous owner. I used the "circle method" described in one Lynn Abrams honing tutorials on Youtube to try to set the bevel. Well, after all that now I have what I think is referred to as a "double bevel" on my blade. There is the old bevel, and then there is my new bevel which isn't quite as straight and clean as the old one. This double bevel seems to have drastically increase the shaving ability of the blade somehow, but the nicks still remain.

I only learned about the "bread knifing" tactic afterwards, and I came here to seek advice as to whether that is what I should do to remove the tiny nicks. Before I put a new bevel, I could barely shave with it because it tugged so much and I cut myself a few times. With the new second bevel, I was able to get a decent shave with it after doing 40 X-strokes on the 6k side and stropping on a piece of leather from an old suitcase.

To make a long story short, I've already ordered a 10,000 grit stone, but in the mean time I need to figure out whether these minuscule nicks should be removed. If you guys say it's not a big deal or impediment to shaving than I might just do nothing for now and try polishing with the 10k and shaving when it comes.

I know it's probably difficult to help without pictures. I will try to post some but it's incredibly hard to take pictures of the nicks themselves seeing as they can only be seen with a 60x loupe/ microscope.

Thanks so much for all the help,

Regards,

Philip the Newbhoner