Thread: My 1K/4K challenge

Originally Posted by sharptonn

My GAWD!
Has anyone directed you to the JANorton thread?

Nope, found it on my own. Read through the whole thing and spent a bunch of time with my 8K. Also been through all of the what are you working on thread. Any other long threads? I'll suck this stuff up.

Originally Posted by outback

Shaved this way for years, Jelly. Only had one hone fine enough, I put a lot of leather to it to smooth it out.

I'll say this...if it makes your eyes water, its not set.

I'm pretty confident my eyes won't water. I'm thinking I'll be pleasantly surprised. I've shaved with some...uhh...course blades (trying to get the most out of those crazy pricey cartridges).

It's like you've said, If I didn't know there was better I'd probably be quite content. But I discovered the grass is greener...

I've got an old barber hone that will probably be a project in the future.

Oh man this hole is deep...:

Yes! Deep hole.

I've gotten some surprising edges off a baber hone, Swatty, in particular.

Nothing wrong with learning your stones. Wished others would do these tests. Knowing your hones, and how to max them out, puts you way ahead of the pack.

I shaved for a long time off a 8K King.

Originally Posted by Gasman

Yes! Deep hole.

And at the bottom is an abysmal plain.

What they said-just put down the microscopes and shave with the damn thing already-we're on 3rd base in the back seat of the car at this point!

I tend to do things my own way, as I'm a big believer in (informed) intuition as a guide. Once I put down all the magnification and started honing mostly by feel, my edges and shaves got noticeably better-YMMV, but that is the 1 true test of an edge.

IMO, new guys with too much magnification and a pile of natural hones may experience failure and giving-up the ghost.
Those things are for advanced guys who enjoy the chore. Learn-able, but not necessarily teachable.

Simple and repeatable, move-on. Just me.
YMMV

I usually do the straight shave on Sundays, but I just couldn't wait. With a mix of worry and excitement I lathered up and had a backup razor on standby, figured I'd at least get one or two passes before I switched.

First pass...huh...that wasn't bad at all...I've definitely had worse . Went ahead and finished the whole shave. Not the closest or most comfortable, but tolerable. It did feel like the edge was starting to go towards the end, started getting a little tuggy. Some AS burn, but I've had worse.

I think I'll very lightly joint the edge and see if I can make it better or confirm that's just what my 1K edge is like.

Originally Posted by JellyJar

I usually do the straight shave on Sundays, but I just couldn't wait. With a mix of worry and excitement I lathered up and had a backup razor on standby, figured I'd at least get one or two passes before I switched.

First pass...huh...that wasn't bad at all...I've definitely had worse . Went ahead and finished the whole shave. Not the closest or most comfortable, but tolerable. It did feel like the edge was starting to go towards the end, started getting a little tuggy. Some AS burn, but I've had worse.

I think I'll very lightly joint the edge and see if I can make it better or confirm that's just what my 1K edge is like.

Now you're in busines, JJ! I don't have any experience with a King (though I hear it works about as well as other 1k bevel-setter), but I can "push the edge" on my Chosera 1k to an unbelievable degree by doing just what others on here have advocated: joint the edge very lightly and bring it back with some ultra-light laps. You'll know it's there as it under-cuts water all the way across on both sides, tree-tops arm-hair (or whatever other tests you experiment with). I like to do about 25-50 final feather-light strokes and then strop it a few dozen strokes on leather. I subscribe to Mike/Outback's dictum that "The edge doesn't end on the hones, it stops on the strop." Try it again, and I think you'll be pleased.

If you do this with the same edge on the rest of your synth progression: 4k, 8k (and if you use a 12k synth), I can't over-emphasize what this will do for your honing confidence. Strop after "maxing-out" each stone-it's all about progressively-lightening torque on the edge, and give it a shave-each one will get better, and you will now know what is going on at each stage of the honing process. After that bevel is fully set, it's really all just polishing; that's the magic few percentage points sixxgun talks about.

Once you have all that down pat, join the rest of us addicts in chasing that final 1 or 2% on various naturals-that's where the real fun starts IMO. And you can become a fellow stropaholic with a whole progression of strops and the carpal tunnel syndrome to go with it lol.

Have fun, and keep reporting back-I think a lot of new guys could learn quite a bit from your journey and lessons learned.

Now back out to the shop for me-I'm finishing up a set of twin Torreys-more later. SHD