Thread: simple honing under the stereo scope

thanks fellas :} the meet was a great time, and we got to play some with stones and scope :}

I don't think this style of sharpening or honing is anything new or anything, just a refinement of regular old sharpening. since I am a knifemaker, and my needs of getting stuff sharp are slightly different than my customers, this is what has been working the best for me. while I need to get things sharp. and everyone else needs to get things sharp also, I need to get things sharp as efficiently as I can. I may very well sharpen or hone 50-100 blades a month or more, razors, pocket knives, work knives, scissors, choppers, axes, chainsaws, whatever it is im working on, it all needs to be sharp. I know some folks sharpen because they enjoy it, and while I do enjoy sharpening, I don't enjoy it to the point where im willing to spend hours on one blade.

what I want is a recipie to sharpen whatever in an efficient manner. do this, see or feel this, do that, see or feel that, do this, do this, and bam, done. no going back and forth, no guessing, no bs, just get the thing sharp and get on with work and life. the burr gives me that. you open a cookbook, and find a recipie for lasagna, get the ingredients, go step by step through the list of operations, and you get lasagna. you may have to practice making lasagna a couple times till you get what you like, but he basic steps are all laid out right there in front of you.


the way I like to do things might not appeal to others, and im good with that, but just like with the recipie example, you might not like lasagna, so you don't use that recipie, but you know you can find it if you ever need to make some, and you have a pretty good idea that it will work. but this whole nonsense of a tiny burr of steel, which will form whatever you do to some level anyway, scaring fully grown men is just that, nonsense. its a tool, no different than watching how the blade undercuts the water on the stone.


im going to keep shaving with the 6k razor and see how it does, but its 2-3 weeks in and going well. ill shoot another video on it this afternoon. and while at the meet, we were talking stones, and today I picked up a $24.97 set of smiths oilstones at Walmart that im going to test out on another razor and see what happens :}

No! Not Walmart stones?

hehe, yep, Walmart stones..... :}


do you think ill get a good shave off them? its the tri-hone set up, so I might have to rip the finest stone off the base and burnish the backside to get fine enough, but it should be fun anyways :}

Sounds like fun to me.
Al

It never hurts to try, but I'm afraid the stones won't be a very accurate grit consistency. But, what the hell. I will say that if they work wonders/miracles, I ain't going to go out and buy some! Ha.

gasman,

so I shot the video of the Walmart stone challenge yesterday, will take a day or more to upload as its a bit over an hour long. shaved this morning with that razor, and while I did get a shave out of it, it was a bit rough. I still have a face and all, and the hair is gone, but as to be expected it wasn't near as smooth and clean as the 1/6 razor. but I think there is a lot more in those stones, so ill wait till I get done with the batch of knives im working on and play with it some more :}

This is a really interesting thread! I hope someone actually tries this (other than Joe) and gives a shave report (how does it do around the chin and mouth compared to a 12k and up edge?). I think many straight razor shavers are looking for the ultimate in a shaving experience, especially those buying custom razors; not just knock it out and go (like shaving off an initial bevel set, yeah you can do it but...).
Thanks for trying an alternate approach to honing a straight Joe, how we evolve.

I did a bit of honing last night. I did ncorporate the spine leading laps at the end of the time on each stone. What i did find was the stria going in another direction and helping to smooth out what was left of the stria. I found it helped. I will admit that i had been told this by others. And maybe i could have got the same from just straight laps but spine leading made it easier.

One step at a time.

Originally Posted by caltoncutlery

the biggest idea here is to get folks honing with just one or two stones, as most of my cusstomers have been buying my razors based on their experiences with my knives, and may or may not be razor folks. so I want to keep it simple and relatively inexpensive for them.

In the interest of expanding on this idea from the OP.

At the meet we discussed the low cost and availability of the King 1k/6k. Today I experimented with Double Arrow modified to a 17 degree bevel angle. I'm pretty sure that the razor was shave ready before starting, but figured that raising a burr on each side with the King 6k would cancel any effect of this head start.

I purposely did not use a loupe or microscope at any time in the experiment.

I raised a burr on the one side with back and forth half laps on the 6k, then repeated on the other side. I then did about 20 alternating edge trailing stropping strokes on the 6k. I followed this with a fair amount of palm stropping. Then I did 10 laps on a CrOx loaded cotton belt that I laid flat on the edge of a table. I cleaned the blade and followed with a poly secondary then my boarhide leather strop. The HHT was excellent. The shave was very close, bordering on harsh but I would have no problem using this edge daily. I have no doubt that I could strop this into a very well behaved edge. I am surprised at how well this system worked.

For those that have really worked at a refined 1K edge and then shaved with it, this shaving from a 6K and getting a decent shave should be no surprise. There have been a few times that I have helped people learn by mail. I foten start by sending them a refined and well strapped, leather and linen only, 1K edge. It an ok shave. If you add a pasted strop with something bery calming like cerium it could be a very serviceable edge after the 6K. The Norton 8K edge is soft, smooth and sharp. I see this being very viable. Next time we are together you can show me the bar method of ensure a apex.