Japanese Water Stone Pyramid Scheme

I wasn't having much luck a while ago with Norton combo stones:

http://straightrazorpalace.com/showthread.php?t=9582

... so I passed my razor along to Lynn and bought a set of Japanese water stones:

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...072,43071&ap=1
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...072,43071&ap=1

After a while, it needed to be rehoned and I've just worked out a pyramid scheme that seemed to work pretty well.

10 passes @ 4000 grit & 10 passes @ 8000 grit
08 passes @ 4000 grit & 10 passes @ 8000 grit
06 passes @ 4000 grit & 10 passes @ 8000 grit
04 passes @ 4000 grit & 10 passes @ 8000 grit
02 passes @ 4000 grit & 10 passes @ 8000 grit
10 passes @ 8000 grit

Afterwards I touched it up with another type of pyramid. I'll put that in another post.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/showt...765#post122765

Any thoughts?

Mark

It sounds like your hones need to be lapped flat and rinsed off under running water to remove any embedded grit. It should not take that much to restore a previously shaving sharp edge.

Be sure to clean and "refresh" the surface of the hones before each honing session. It has made a world of difference for me.

That sequence seems like WAY too much honing to refresh a razor that was shave ready.

I had no idea ... thats why I posted the thread. Thanks.

To refresh a razor that was shave ready I would not go down to the 4K grit until I had done a few test shaves with just using the 8K. The 8K should be able to refresh the razor several times imo. 4K is more for re-establishing the bevel.