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

Originally Posted by MJC

And for the 1K challenge - can we tape? Can we Zowada ?

I think whatever is normal for your bevel setting is fine. I assume you are suggesting a finish with a second layer of tape for a micro bevel. Since that is not normally done during a bevel set or progression, I would say no, except I see no point in setting any rules.

Just do whatever interests you and let us know how it goes.

Originally Posted by Utopian

I continue to do something like that. I have a set of razors that have been maintained only with a couple of barber hones since 5 years before I found SRP. After I joined SRP and started buying a few more hones

I kept that set of razors as a control group to compare between my original and new hone options, and that original set still shaves quite well.

Of course, that means I've wasted a lot of money!

I liked that idea so much I borrowed it. When I finally re-honed that 8K blade it was killed on the side of a Swaty and brought back to shaving form on the same. Bevel set to shaving form on nothing else but the Swaty 3 line. That's what I've been using as my control since. I also carry it as a backup when I'm taking an unproven edge to the shave den.

I'd say I wouldn't mind doing the 4/8 challenge but we should probably let this stew for a little while first.

I like keeping some of my razors fully "old school." A hundred years ago, few shavers had access to more than one hone.

I have 5 at the moment that have been honed on old barber hones, stropped on nothing but linen and leather. Performance varies some, but I've come to the conclusion folks a hundred years ago knew how to make pretty good hones, and there's not much my modern synthetics can do that my barber hones can't.

Well, I'll stop derailing the thread for a bit. Hopefully my Kuromaku stones come in soon so I can try a different 1K and see how that goes.

As planned, I touched up the gold dollar's 600 grit edge with an 800 grit Chosera and shaved with yesterday. There was a big improvement in the shave quality on the 800. Whisker removal still was not perfect, so a second pass was needed again, but it was noticeably more comfortable.

So I decided to go ahead and do this while testing two other razors that I honed on my new surgical black (which I will post about in that thread).

Anyway, I maxed out a Torrey shoulderless in bocote scales that I just finished rescaling yesterday. I took my time to REALLY sneak up on a maxed-out bevel on my Chosera 1k, and followed up with 40 linen and 60 English bridle (no pastes or cheating of any kind!):

To be honest, I am stunned by the absolute buttery-velvet shave from this 1k edge! It was smoother than the two I was also testing from a surgical black by quite a bit (and they were both HHT-sharp, though I am still learning on and breaking in this new hone). I kept trying it in multiple angles and WTG, XTG, ATG, etc., and it just kept mowing off lather and whiskers with almost no sensation at all. I have shaved with uber-sharp, pro-honed edges, and more than a few of my own "finished" edges that were just as smooth and sharp, and this shave beat many of them. And no, I am not trolling-I couldn't/can't believe it either, and don't even have any real theories as to why a 1k bevel setter could give such a close, smooth shave. But I'm going to do this on the next few bevels I set on 1k just to see if it was a fluke.

Thanks for throwing out this challenge again, Ron! I learned (again) how much I love my Chosera 1k, and that it really is "all about the bevel." I'm going to test this blade again after each step from Norton 4k/8k/Nani 12, and the new arkie-hopefully the shave doesn't get worse LOL. If it does, a bunch of higher-grit finishing stones might end up on the BST (kidding, maybe). Aaron

Originally Posted by Utopian

It's time for a dare.

I dare you to set the bevel on a 1k hone and then just strop it and shave with it.
Please report back here with your results. You just might be surprised!

OK I cheated I used my 2K Green Brick the other day.

The shave was just so so but I touched up on a coticle hand held hone and it was better than nice.

I grabbed the GB because it polishes as well has cuts steel.

Originally Posted by ScoutHikerDad

To be honest, I am stunned by the absolute buttery-velvet shave from this 1k edge! It was smoother than the two I was also testing from a surgical black by quite a bit (and they were both HHT-sharp, though I am still learning on and breaking in this new hone). I kept trying it in multiple angles and WTG, XTG, ATG, etc., and it just kept mowing off lather and whiskers with almost no sensation at all. I have shaved with uber-sharp, pro-honed edges, and more than a few of my own "finished" edges that were just as smooth and sharp, and this shave beat many of them.

I think you just got better at honing! Nice job!

I don't believe that all razors will respond in the same manner, but doing that same approach of trying to max out what the 1k can do certainly will be better for setting the stage for the rest of the grits.

Originally Posted by niftyshaving

OK I cheated I used my 2K Green Brick the other day.

The shave was just so so but I touched up on a coticle hand held hone and it was better than nice.

I grabbed the GB because it polishes as well has cuts steel.

Thanks. I've never shaved off of that so I'll have to try that one some time soon.

Actually, I've got at least a couple dozen hones that could be considered bevel setters and I might as well shave test all of them. I'm pretty sure that will help me better understand them.

Ok, here we go. I cleaned up a Burrell Top Flight razor I picked up a while back. I've killed the edge and am going to hone it on my Naniwa S1000. This should be interesting.