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.

As I understand it, Occam's Razor stipulates that the potential solution with the least variables and assumptions is the preferable first mode of investigation (not necessarily the best), as this makes it easier to determine the effect these variables have on the end result and makes (scientific) repeatability easier, i.e. going with the most easily testable method/solution first.

This book is about probability theory, but I like the cover: