The surprisingly smooth 4K shave!

After talking with gssixgun about many honing questions I had, he suggested I do the 1k shave challenge. Which I did and discovered the 1k shave was not as scary as I had previously thought. He then suggested I continue down that road and test shave each of my Shapton Glass stones 1k, 4K, 8k to learn what each stone actually does to the edge!

I am honing a Hart steel 7/8" razor with 2 pieces of tape.

I have a Viking type beard and a sensitive neck...

1k bevel set then run the edge over thumbnail and back to the stone for 5 refreshing laps, strop on leather and shave!

The 1k edge shaved relatively well, not close but pain free and smooth.

4K 20 X strokes, run edge over the thumbnail pass, 5 refreshing laps, strop and shave!

The 4k stone brought the edge to a whole new level. The shave was practically bbs, effortless, close and comfortable I still can't believe it...with the grain and across the grain and zero sting from the aftershave too!

Can't wait to shave with the 8k!!!

To be honest, before this I was using an astronomical amount of passes on each stone! I had removed so much metal that the edge was about as thin as aluminum foil, but strong enough to shave, of course WITHOUT the ease and comfort of a properly honed razor, oh well...I didn't know any better :aargh: By the time I finished stropping the edge on linen, then taking a last look under the 30X scope, the edge was so ragged and weak. All this to say I have no idea what I am doing. I needed this challenge to help me create a stronger and more comfortable edge by the "less is more" approach. So far I am blown away at the results I am receiving from this challenge. Hope this might help someone :rock:

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I just finished taking the same challenge and was just as surprised as you! Makes re re-assess everything I thought I knew about honing.


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There was a few months where all I that used for a hone was my hard arkansas (moved and couldn't find my hone box). Shaved good enough so I don't doubt that a 4K synthetic would provide a good shave.

Another thought is that the Hart steel is pretty hard and a 4K edge may not be quite as smooth of a shave on softer steel like a Sheffield.

I have honed some vintage razors that needed a lot of metal removed to get a smooth edge. I have gone all the way back to a 220 grit hone to accomplish this. I was able to get the blade to shave arm hair at skin level with this 220 grit edge. However, I would never put it on my face at that level.

As a young teen, our beards are often described as peach fuzz. As we age, our beards become coarser such that they become more akin to steel wool. Thus, the older you get, the more keen the edge you need to sever your beard without tugging. As a senior citizen, I am not satisfied with the keenness of an edge until it is honed to 12K grit and then stropped on 0.5 and 0.25 micron CBN followed by linen and leather.

Sharp comes from 1k, smooth comes from 12k.

Cheers, Steve

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Steve56

Sharp comes from 1k, smooth comes from 12k.

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And everything in between gets you closer to smooth.