Honing...aka Hypertension
Well I've got a W&B looks to be a 6/8 I got off Ebay for $10 and a Engels "Wedge" that came in an Ebay lot (figure it to be 4/8).
Broke out the Nani 1k and Norton 4/8K after spending a little time sanding on them to get rid of some rust spots (both razors showed some minor spotting, but the steel was in really good shape).
The W&B had a warped spine and the blade was differently missing more steel on the heel. Drove me nuts trying to get the bevel set with the warp. Finally I put way more torque and pressure than I ever thought would be prudent (I'm calling it a 1/4 hollow) and BAM got the bevel set. Ran up my progression with the 4/8k, CRoX strop (thx Marty), and then reg stropping. Got a pretty darn good shave off it today.
Then Engles is more what I figure a "near" wedge to be. But gotta take that for what's its' worth...never held a wedge. Same problem with it just not as bad as the W&B. A very slight warp that took more finesse. Seemed quite easy to "over" torque the smaller blade. I eventually got it (almost had to put the thing down and walk away). Really concentrated on putting a little more downward pressure on the heel to maintain contact while putting just enough torque to maintain solid contact over the entire blade (hope that makes sense).
Glen's 3 part vid on a wedge was helpful and I'm glad I found it before I attempted to hone the Engels. I was actually relieved to find that hone wear wasn't too bad and I didn't have "multiple" bevels. But curse Glen for making it look SO EASY in the vids.:bow
I'll try the Engels tomorrow or next weekend if I can't bring myself to wake up early enough to SR shave.
Big thanks to Marty for my intro to honing back when I started using a SR. He's given me a good foundation to work with and allow me to add too via the internet and practice.
I'm also starting to get a better grasp on torque and pressure. THANK YOU Glen...think it was a thread that turned into another "tape vs no tape" thread that Glen popped in on. Basically he wrote something to the effect "tape vs no tape has been beat to death". Never met Glen, but I'm pretty sure he was just a little frustrated that the subject had yet again been turned into a thread :banged: I've only been at this for about a year and been on the forum the same length of time and I cringe every time I see a "to tape or not to tape" thread. Anyway, he wrote a very short sentence to the effect that it's a moot point with new honers who don't even grasp the concept of torque (paraphrasing there). That one little blurp about torque started me down a road of analyzing vid's and my own hone stroke in relation to torque. IT WAS A BIG MOMENT:idea:.
I'm not completely happy with my honing yet, but I can get a pretty comfortable shave just off the 4k/8k, and I'm learning more and more each session (especially fed back). I've got one spot about 1/3 way down from the toe that I end up with a little bigger bevel than the rest of the edge...can't figure out what I'm doing. It happens with every blade. I've got one razor that I've tried to hone 5 times and I've put it down and walked away 5 times. Eventually, I WILL PERSEVERE!
Anyway cheers,
Jer