Thread: Are You A Real Man? Do You Think You Can Hone? Shave Off Of Your 1k Hone

What I do is take my loupe set it on the side of the blade and find the bevel. Then I slowly rotate the blade until I get on top of the edge with my loupe, if the bevel is set your edge will disappear. Then all you will see is where the bevel meets the face of the blade from the apex. Plus I have noticed doing things this way I have found spots where I thought the bevel went clear to the edge and it infact did not, basically I have found a double bevel when I did not intend to have one.
Good luck Mrchick!

it don't take much time I have about 1 hour honing this year and my shaves everyday are still smooth ! Tc

Ive looked very closely at the edge and i can see it with my 40x loupe. Its a tiny white line. Very, very thin. Maybe i shouldnt be seeing this. Ill work on that. I will also check another razor that i know is very sharp. This might be a good idea. Thanks for pointing this out @ejmolitor37.

I always use my microscope during the bevel setting. The reality is that not all parts of the edge come along at the same rate all the time, and sometimes bad things happen at the edge during the honing. Magnification allows you to make sure the the edge has reached its full potential, even at the 1k level.

Speaking of the 1k…

After doing 600 and 800 grit shaves, I moved up to the 1k. Not surprising, the shave has continued to improve. With each move up, the consistency of hair removal improved along with the smoothness. It is not close the normal quality of my shaves, but if I had to, I could continue to shave with an edge off of a 1k.

Originally Posted by Gasman

Ive looked very closely at the edge and i can see it with my 40x loupe. Its a tiny white line. Very, very thin. Maybe i shouldnt be seeing this. Ill work on that. I will also check another razor that i know is very sharp. This might be a good idea. Thanks for pointing this out @ejmolitor37.

No, you definitely should not be seeing a white line. However, it is great news that you DO see it because now you know what to look for.

Two points define a line. Two lines define a plane. Where two planes intersect, they meet to form a line. The intersection of the two bevels meet to form the line that is the edge. When the blade is observed from the end, the edge should look like an inverted "V" while a dull edge looks like an inverted "U." When light shines straight down on the U shape, some of the light can reflect back up off of the rounded apex of the U. That is what you saw in the form of the "tiny white line." A geometric line has no width, but of course a razor's edge does have some dimension of width. However, a sharp razor has much less width at the edge in comparison to a dull razor. When light shines down on a sharp V shaped edge, the light is reflected sideways off of the two bevels but virtually none is reflected back up off of the very thin apex of the V of a razor with a fully set bevel. That is why you should not see any light reflected off on an edge with properly meeting bevels.

Keep working on your 1k edge until that white line is gone.

Once the line and perhaps sparkles have all disappeared it is time for some feather light strokes to smooth the edge and remove the coarse or harsh part of the shave. Keep going you are almost there!

It's been a while since I've done the 1K shave. I'll take up the challenge gentlemen, set the bar a bit lower (pun most certainly intended), to start with.

The next shave is lined up, Chosera 600 and this Puma #222.

Utopian, what you say makes perfect sense. And the fact that a very shape edge cant reflect directly up... i had figured that you couldnt see the edge with the naked eye but figured with a loupe you would be able to see it. I was wrong. This has helped me a lot! I now know im close but not close enough on my bevel set.

This is great! It now has given me a real thing to check for when bevel setting. Not just a feel. I know i will get it next time. Well, the next time i get a chance to get home and get my hands on a hone that is. Thanks all for the support and help.

Originally Posted by Srdjan

It's been a while since I've done the 1K shave. I'll take up the challenge gentlemen, set the bar a bit lower (pun most certainly intended), to start with.

The next shave is lined up, Chosera 600 and this Puma #222.

That is a nice looking razor....I get all tingly just looking at it...

You can certainly see a rolled or damaged edge Jerry. Under bright light you will see little shinny spots and with the neked eye. But especially if you see it on a loupe your close but not there.