Thread: too sharp

when honing on a stone ( at least on synthetics ) there seems to be a risk of the edge being too sharp at a certain moment
I always go to 8k and than 12k or natural finisher

when I want to go back to a lower stone , is it then sufficient to go on a natural with slurry
or can I go over the thumbnail with the razor without having to set the bevel again
I suppose to kill the edge over the stone is too much

I ask this because sometimes after honing the shave is perfect , but only one time
so then I want to go back to around 8k or so and try again
finishing on 12k or Coticule or Kiita or whatever

My opinion, you can't get too sharp, you can get to harsh, but the smooth is what your looking for and that my friend is experience. If your bevel is set, and you work up to your finisher removing previous stria, and using light laps, your edge should be straight without little teeth that make for a harsh shave. And if your stropping is good you should be able to strop to make it smoother. you just have to keep working on it and it will come together.

Some guy take unto a year to really get consistent results, maybe cause they don't take time to learn a hone and jump around to all kinds of them. Look up a thread called the 8k shave. If you can't get a comfortable edge to shave off of then your not ready to go further, as a matter of a fact you should be able to shave from the 1k up. See if you can find someone close by to help you. Tc

but that is what I do
first make it good on 8k
but after that I go for example to Coticule or Welsh Slate , get a perfect and nice shave one or two times and than it gets much worse

I don't know what is happening to your finished edge, but you can go back to the 8k without doing anything.

Is this happening on more than one razor? All of your razors?

I had it several times with different razors
but I am not an experienced honer ( yet )
I can get a real good shave from the Naniwa 8k
so the bevel must be o.k.

As TC said "you can't get too sharp, you can get to harsh".
When you say that the edge feels great for a shave or two then no longer feels as smooth anymore makes me thing that your stropping might be an issue. If this is happening on most of your razors. An edge will degrade after some shaves but unless your doing something improper, I'd say it shouldnt go bad that fast. And as was said, you can step back down if it works for you without resetting the bevel. Going back to an 8k after 12K is just putting more scratches in the bevel and in therory just making it less smooth.

But, if it works for you then thats what matters. It has taken me almost a year to finally get smooth edges on my razors and the stropping lately has gotten to the point that I'm finding it making a difference. Before I didn't understand why I was doing it as I didn't notice it doing anything. Work on your stropping abilities and just do what makes you happy. BTW, If you do kill the edge on your thumbnail it doesn't take but 8 to 10 laps on a stone to fix what you did.

Hope this helps. From one new honer.

Originally Posted by HiFuMi

but that is what I do
first make it good on 8k
but after that I go for example to Coticule or Welsh Slate , get a perfect and nice shave one or two times and than it gets much worse

If you are getting excellent shaves once or twice and then the edge degrades, you probably need better stropping technique. You may be rolling your edge with too much pressure. There are excellent tutorials in the library section of the site. Keep the spine on the strop and have a light touch while stropping.

Thx. So then I will go back to Coticule and 8k before finishing again.

Do yo have a loupe?

I suggest you get one, they are very inexpensive and can let you see the edge and what is happening. Micro chips were mentioned, they will give you the rough feel you are describing.
If they are there, you will have to hone down the edge past where the steel has degraded.

Also could be your stropping as mentioned as well. It is a very fine line to get a proper smooth edge to shave with.

Good luck

I understand these terms well.
But is this visible under 20x magnification or 60x ?
As my edge looks quite straight. I compare it with well honed razors and see no difference.