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

Originally Posted by JeffR

Does the "fine" side of a Gator Grit brand model 6063 "coarse/fine" stone count? I have no idea what the grit actually is; it seems to be about 1000 grit-ish. Finishing on that and then stropping on canvas and then leather (Illinois #361 strop) gave a pretty good shave. Not great, but not bad at all. Kind of surprising, actually. I'm guessing that decent stropping can make up for a lot of roughness off the hone.

It certainly counts if that is what you use to set a bevel.

Yes, stropping can make up for some roughness off the hone, but the big lesson here is that if the bevels are not set, then stropping ain't gonna fix that.

Little bit of a late report on the final phase, Kuromaku 12K on the repaired Geneva Cutlery and Cnat on the Gold Dollar. The Gold Dollar shave was about what you'd expect of a Cnat. Keener and more comfortable than a Norton 8K.

The kuromaku shave was a bit of a surprise. The shave was really smooth without the biting keen-ness I was expecting. Which I guess is the result of doing just a handful of very light strokes versus doing everything in your power to max out the stone. I think there's a bit of room for improvement, and the next time I bring the hones out it will probably go back down to the 5K. But it doesn't need it, that's just me chasing that last half of a percent.

As expected it was quite educational even though I've done this in the past. When I first did it I was just learning to hone, and while I could shave off the Norton 1K then it was pretty far from comfortable. This go around it was much better. It'll be interesting to try again in a few years to see where I stand.

I have a Kuromaku 1.5k bevel setter would this be allowed or is the .5k a deal breaker?


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Originally Posted by Sdm84

I have a Kuromaku 1.5k bevel setter would this be allowed or is the .5k a deal breaker?

I say Go For It! Hone, then Shave, Then strop on Cloth then Shave, then Stop on Leather then Shave! You'll learn a lot about what's happening to your edge!

(Hint) Use the lightest touch when your finishing up on your 1.5K.

Originally Posted by Sdm84

I have a Kuromaku 1.5k bevel setter would this be allowed or is the .5k a deal breaker?

WHATEVER you use for a bevel setter is what you should use here.

The point of this thread, and others that preceded it, has nothing to do with what hone you use to set the bevel. Instead, the point is that you need to learn to get a better sense of the edge at the point when you believe that the bevel is set. If it does not shave, then the bevel is not set. If it does shave, then the question is, what can you do to make it a more comfortable shave off of that same hone? Within reasonable limits, whatever you can do to get a more comfortable shave off of the bevel setting hone increases the odds of the razor being best prepared to move up through higher grit hones.

Originally Posted by Sdm84

I have a Kuromaku 1.5k bevel setter would this be allowed or is the .5k a deal breaker?


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I tried the 1K earlier in the thread. Gonna go ahead and say I wouldn't wish for anyone else to repeat that experience. The Pro/Kuromaku ceramic set might be the exception to the 1k shave experiment cause it tugged bad enough I couldn't finish a single stroke. The 2K was alright though.

Thanks, that's more for my list. I don't think I ever have shaved off of the Shapton Pro 1k or 1.5k, but I will soon.

I might take a known good shaving razor and try again with that hone. No dulling just a 1K 'touch up.' But I made 3 trips back to the 1K and I just could not get more than a half inch stroke without putting the blade down. I'm willing to admit I may have dropped the ball on that one, but I'd like to think I did my due diligence.

Edit: Used the Gold Dollar as my test bed. Results were better, but I couldn't do a full shave with it. Maybe someone with a lighter touch can coax a shaving edge off it.

I've been using a sacrificial Gold Dollar for my tests too, so challenge accepted!

OK gentlemen- I am SO GLAD that I accepted this challenge! I think I learned more this morning than I have in the (almost) year I have been honing! Today I did a 3-pass shave with cleanup off of my Wostenholm celebrated IXL 5/8 barber notch near wedge. Always an enjoyable razor, but nothing spectacular about it it is in nice shape but not perfect. Had to set that up first because what came next was amazing!

Last night I killed the edge on glass- used my 30x lighted loupe and saw sparkles along the entire edge- so I knew it was dead. Confirmed this with AHT no hair shaved. I set the bevel on a new stone for me- a low grit synthetic roughly 6-8k (cheap as heck- cost all of $7 brand new) but it was recommended to me by another member so always looking to learn and try new things. After about 15 x strokes the bevel looked pretty good under the loupe and it was doing pretty well on the TNT so shaved a little arm hair- not as good as I would like. Under the microscope I could see a toothy edge so I jointed the edge on the corner of my Kuromaku 1.5k and did circles in sets of 20 until the bevel disappeared under the loupe. At this point it was wiping arm hair off (always have to be careful not to shave too much

This morning I lathered and shaved my right cheek without stropping and to my amazement it did pretty well WTG but not very comfortable- and I would say it was more of a "beard reduction" but it DID shave. So on to the linen- stropped about 40 passes and shaved part of the left cheek- shave was more comfortable! AND a bit more beard reduction as compared to the right cheek. Now I'm getting excited so a few more on linen to dry it then about 50 passes on leather- this is where things got really interesting! The next shave was equal to or better than my first edges that I worked HOURS on when I first started! And that was a "full progression" up to 8k!

I thought I might see what palm stropping would do since I have been having good results lately (to my shock and amazement) on my other razors with this technique. After palm stropping I lathered up and decided to go for a full shave since there was still some stubble left from my efforts. THE RAZOR WAS BUTTER SMOOTH and COMFORTABLE as I did the WTG pass! I mean it was as close as makes not difference to my best edges so far! No irritation, no weepers, and after rinsing I was at CCS! WOW!! I palm stropped again and did XTG- again smooth as silk. Rinse, dry off the blade, palm strop- ATG pass (I expected pain) and it was very comfortable as well! I ended up with a DFS it just took a little longer!

For good measure I decided to do HHT. I did this after the 1.5k last night and of course it didn't pass, but I did notice it "vibrating" which was unexpected. After the palm stropping it PASSED HHT with my wife's thin hair from her hairbrush! I had to do this several times to confirm, but...click, click, click all along the blade!

Than you @utopian for encouraging us to try this. I am just blown away by the results and will never look at my finishers quite the same way- now I truly believe that after bevel set all else is polish! Will I sell my rock pile? well, no, but I won't feel so compelled to chase after the edge.

Now here are my questions- does this mean I have a good understanding of the basics of honing? Is it a combination of honing, stropping, shaving technique that leads to a good shave (all work together) or is there one element that is more important than another?

After today I am convinced that it is the shave that matters- that is the one and only criteria of a good edge.