Thread: Another honing question

When i finshing honing a blade, go to the strop for many passes, then test shave and find my edge is not quite what i was looking for i will go back to the stone. At this point i notice that the edge is not undercutting water any more. Im thinking that this is because of the action of the strop. Is this right?

So at this point, i have to do a lot of laps on a stone before it undercuts the water again. So ive found i need to step back a couple stones and work my way back up to my finisher. But, i hear others saying just a few more laps to refine the edge and test shave again. But if its not undercutting the water, what good is doing just a few laps as this is showing the edge is not tou hing the stone?

What is your opinion on this and how do you overcome this issue? Kill the edge lightly? Im just trying to figure out all the little details nowadays. Thanks to all the guys here that have been honing for years and years, it has helped me to skip a lot of the mistakes made and learned by others and for me to learn faster. Or, at least, to learn with less errors of the tinyest kind. Who would have known that there were so many little details when it comes to honing.

You need to clean the blade WELL the strop has oils the soaps and creams have fats, this can effect the under cutting

So make sure of that before you start doing crazy stuff

Good point! Thanks Glen, I hadn't thought of that.

Originally Posted by gssixgun

You need to clean the blade WELL the strop has oils the soaps and creams have fats, this can effect the under cutting

So make sure of that before you start doing crazy stuff

Jerry, I use a little isopropyl alcohol on a microfiber cloth, and wipe just the blade edge.
It does make a difference.

Paul

I will give this a try the next time.
So I'm guessing that other folks don't find this same situation after coming off a strop and back to the stone?

You could try changing your stropping action.
Really taught strop and super light laps slowly as to avoid and problems on the turn.
Just a thought..

Somewhere I read that if you hone your razor, strop it and then go back once again to your finishing hone, you can get an even better edge. However, I do not remember where I read it.

Also, a tiny amount of slurry changes the surface tension of the water making it undercut easier. Think about how you're comparing undercutting. After stropping you are expecting undercutting immediately. When honing you don't expect it until you've been on the stone a little while. I'm saying that after you have been on the stone a little while a tiny amount of auto slurry is lowering the surface tension.

I'm not sure if I'm getting what Glen said but is this it...
The water somewhat "runs" from the edge, due to the oils on the blade? Thus causing the ability to see the undercut which prevents determining the quality of the edge in such a way?
Would a dot of dish soap fix this?
Though I would assum careful wiping of blade with alcohol..

From what I assumed I understood, the bevel created by a strop (not as flat a bevel as a stone creates), that this a a minimal amount of steel removed and so technically the edge will not touch the stone at first, BUT this lack of connection will not last long even on a finisher given the very small amount of steel removed by strop.

So removing all the oils first, then the undercut should show the moment that edge is right.

Am I correct? I'm still learning.
Great thread Jerry! These questions always help to enrich my growing understanding, even small questions, as this one never entered my mind.

Originally Posted by MikeT

I'm not sure if I'm getting what Glen said but is this it...

What Glen is saying is eliminate the simple stuff first,,, before assuming it is more complicated

When you are tweaking the edge at the end, you want to make small corrections, so you are just adjusting the very fin of the edge, once you drop a level then you have erased what you had and are starting over..
Keeping in mind that could have been the right decision,, but you won't know that if you don't try the small stuff first


Does that help ???