Thread: My first touch-up

You may remember this shorty I got earlier from Gabrielcr78. It was OK, but felt a little bit rough on the skin, possibly because my technique still has ways to go.
I flattened my CNAT previously and burnished it with a wrench, but didn't actually use it.

Anyways... I figured "let's finally use my CNAT"



CNATs are known as slow-cutting, so I gave it 50 laps on the stone, and then 50 laps on my board strop.
The edge is much smoother when shaving, but it only is HHT1. I'm getting irritation, but that's pretty much a normal shave for me.

Is this an indication that the stone isn't fine enough? That I need more lapping and/or burnishing?

Or the edge needs more work.

Look at the edge, straight down on the edge with some magnification. If you see any shiny spots, that is where the bevels are not meeting or micro chips.

Take a look at (My second try at honing), post. There are good micrographs of bevels and edges, of what I am talking about ). Post 51, page 11, first photo, shows a fully set bevel.

Depending on what you see will determine what you need. Cnats are more of a polisher and not cutters. You may have to drop down to a 12 or 8K.

You can prep each side of a Cnat for different uses, one side rough 600 finish the other burnished to polish.

Was it honed with tape by the previous owner? You may not be honing out to the edge. My cnat is a medium fast cutter but also the equivalent of a mid range stone. I’ve heard of guys with similar hones that will finish a razor.

Do you get undercut on the water as you’re honing? If not that’s a sure sign than your not honing out to the edge. Now whether it’s a bevel problem or an angle problem is easy enough to figure out. If you have a loupe look at the bevels, is the scratch pattern consistent all the way to the edge? Also check the edge under the loupe as well if you see any glinting then your bevel isn’t set. No loupe? No problem. Use a sharpie any color works, ink the bevel and do a couple laps, wherever the ink is gone is what’s hitting the hone, you should be able to discern whether or not you’re honing out to the edge. To check whether the edge is set use a desk lamp or something similar put the razor under it and look directly at the edge, move the edge around and look for any glinting. Again any glinting signifies a chip or unset edge.

Here’s the problem, if all you have is a finishing hone trying to fix anything wrong with the edge beyond a refresh may be difficult given lack of cutting ability. Now if all you need is a touch up you just need figure out whether or not you have the correct angle.

Check for water undercut and ink the bevel, that will tell you whether or not you need a piece of tape. Any glinting from the edge and you need to drop down to a lower grit hone to reset the bevel.

Originally Posted by Euclid440

Or the edge needs more work.
Look at the edge, straight down on the edge with some magnification. If you see any shiny spots, that is where the bevels are not meeting or micro chips.

Take a look at (My second try at honing), post. There are good micrographs of bevels and edges, of what I am talking about ). Post 51, page 11, first photo, shows a fully set bevel.

I'll have a look. Thanks!

Originally Posted by jfk742

Was it honed with tape by the previous owner?
...
Check for water undercut and ink the bevel, that will tell you whether or not you need a piece of tape. Any glinting from the edge and you need to drop down to a lower grit hone to reset the bevel.

I'll have to ask about the tape. What is undercut?
Thanks for the suggestion of the ink. I didn't think of it, as I expected that the stone is so slow cutting that there wasn't a point.

If the razor was honed with tape the angle will be steeper than if you hone without tape. So, you may not be honing the full bevel to the edge if the water does not undercut.

But if you ink the bevel and do one lap, you will see if you are honing to the edge. If not, don’t worry, tape it or just do 20 laps and you will reset a new bevel without tape.

Ink will confirm if you are honing to the edge. If you lightly drag a sharpie along the edge from heel to toe, you will feel even the slightest micro-chip. The sharpie will stick slightly on the chip.

An additional benefit is you will ink both sides of the edge.

Undercut is where the water rides up the bevel because you are flat on the hone and honing to the edge. You will see the water ride half way up the razor width. It can be an indicator that bevel is flat and fully honed.