Thread: Using 1K, 4K, 8K, then....

Originally Posted by gary haywood

Coticule edge kind of munches through the stubble where as 20 k edge just shaves a lot cleaner it’s hard to explain.

I totally understand ! Will have to try out a 20k finish

Originally Posted by TristanLudlow

I totally understand ! Will have to try out a 20k finish

How is this 20K hone comparing to the 30K Shapton?

I have not quite conquered the 30K and in the process of reviewing my
basics I have improved my coticule honing so much that I am wondering if
I need my 18K and 30K Shapton hones except for braggin rights.

Heck it might not be my hone it might be my new "shell" strop ;-)

It's a long road from honing newbie to honemaeister- and after more than a decade I'm still short of honemeister - by a lot. After reading all these, and then reviewing a few videos I'd saved, I started experimenting. Using magnification on a loupe, and using many different tests I've come around to this progression as my norm for a newly restored blade:

Bevel set on a Norton 1K
Clean up swiftly (less than 20 strokes) on Norton 4 and 8K.
Escher from slurry to clear water using progressively more water and less pressure until clear water and blade weight only.
Hard felt then strop about 60 laps each.

Seems to give a more consistent edge and smoothness. Also experimented with blades just starting to need a refresh and it seems using the Escher, felt, and strop alone does the trick.

Now I need to remember exactly why I bought CrOx, Diamond spray, and a few new cuticles from the quarry in Belgium.

Moral of the story - Ive been over-honing for a long time! The absolute least amount of grit and laps needed seems to work best. Pardon me while I refresh all in my rotation and then tackle a pile of restored blades I've been avoiding. Thanks gents! My face thanks you as well.

Originally Posted by AirColorado

Moral of the story - Ive been over-honing for a long time! The absolute least amount of grit and laps needed seems to work best. Pardon me while I refresh all in my rotation and then tackle a pile of restored blades I've been avoiding. Thanks gents! My face thanks you as well.

Don't let the pendulum swing too far towards not enough laps. I'm no honemeister either but one tip I got from one is that if the Norton 8k swarfs up quickly you need to spend more time on the 4k.

Originally Posted by Lazarus

Don't let the pendulum swing too far towards not enough laps. I'm no honemeister either but one tip I got from one is that if the Norton 8k swarfs up quickly you need to spend more time on the 4k.

I was thinking the same thing possibly using the Escher to catch up on mid stage work. I tend to do the same with fast cutting Jnat finishers but hey, it works.
Thing I do find is when doing a full synthetic progression up to Gok 20k, adequate mid range time leaves me doing as few as 6 strokes on the 20k, depending of course on the razor.
So honing is like an echo. It starts off loud & peters off faintly at the end. Naturals tho, do seem to take more time to finish on.