Thread: Last minute advice

Well, even though I have doing this for nigh on 8 months now, I have a razor that will probably need to go on the hone. I have a TM bench hone, which works great for the touch ups I need to do, but I think one of my raozrs has finally reached the point where that will not work anymore. I have the flattening stone and the Norton 4/8k, plus the aforementioned bench hone with 1.0 and 0.5 diamond pastes. I am ready to go - so to speak - with Lynn's DVD and the pyramid being printed out and ready for reference. I have tried about 4 months ago to hone a razor and unfortunately, I made it worse, which kept me from trying again for a long time (too long probably). SO... Any last bits of advice before I try this again? Other than whether or not I should put the black electrical tape on the spine? That is one I never understood, is it just an issue of a bevel or the lack thereof? Thanks for any other pointers anyone can provide, I hope I will do better this time. Sorry about the long whining post.

I would not use tape.

I would start with the 8K side only and do smooth, slow strokes (about 10) and carefully roll the razor (don't let it drop on the hone) and slide the razor gently without downward pressure down the hone and almost off the bottom in a carefully orchestrated x pattern.

Under the stone place a sheet of paper with which you have run a cross hatch pattern of lines on. Use this sheet of paper with the lines as a guide for where each stroke will start and end, therefore each stroke will automatically be perfect in length and angle repetatively as long as you move the razor in alignment with the lines and turn the razor when the edge gets to the same line on each side of the stone. This will instantly program your mind to see the correct pattern and stroke angle for each pass. Once this gets imbedded in your mind throw the paper out so no one can see how silly this is.

Don't share this idea with anyone, its a secret.

I would direct you to the pyramid and tell you not to be afraid of using a little pressure, but to taper that off toward the end. Make sure you hone the razor's whole edge sequentially from heel to tip evenly as well.

X

Originally Posted by AFDavis11

I would not use tape.

I would start with the 8K side only and do smooth, slow strokes (about 10) and carefully roll the razor (don't let it drop on the hone) and slide the razor gently without downward pressure down the hone and almost off the bottom in a carefully orchestrated x pattern.

Under the stone place a sheet of paper with which you have run a cross hatch pattern of lines on. Use this sheet of paper with the lines as a guide for where each stroke will start and end, therefore each stroke will automatically be perfect in length and angle repetatively as long as you move the razor in alignment with the lines and turn the razor when the edge gets to the same line on each side of the stone. This will instantly program your mind to see the correct pattern and stroke angle for each pass. Once this gets imbedded in your mind throw the paper out so no one can see how silly this is.

Don't share this idea with anyone, its a secret.

Can you send a pic of what you mean, with regard to the paper? Would graph paper work?

Alan,

This is a really cool idea. You can also draw right on your Norton with a pencil. It'll come off with use and the inevitable lapping sessions... Someone suggested that when I was getting started.

Josh

Originally Posted by WireBeard

Can you send a pic of what you mean, with regard to the paper? Would graph paper work?

I tried to create a wordfile and any wordfile I make is 20 KB and ofcourse the site only acceptes files that are 19.5 KB or less.

Imagine in simple terms two vertical lines about 5 inches apart on a sheet of paper that is turned landscape (sideways). Place the paper under the Norton stone. That gives you a perfect "turn over" point for you to roll the edge over on its spine when the edge aligns over the top of that line, consistently for each stroke. I often add an x on the paper as well to give me a consistent guide for where the point (tip) of the razor will run as well. This x ofcourse would run higher than the center line of the stone.

Initially I also ran angled lines to guide me on the angle I would run the razor down the x pattern on. You can easily estimate that though from the turn over guide lines.

The average beginner might like about 4 lines, two turn arounds and a big x to track the motion of the razor down the hone.

These are very simple; perhaps as simple as 4 lines on an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper based on an x pattern. Whats important is that the lines give you a stroke discipline you won't typically have with just an eyeball approach. Worse, most people just sloppily run the razor all over the hone like it doesn't even matter.

Very quickly you'll not need these guides at all. Its almost as if just making these decisions will solve many honing problems and lack of discipline. But, I suggest the exercise anyway.

PM me an E-mail address and I can send you a simple example scaled to fit a 3 x 8 Norton stone. You'll likely not need it though. Just check the help files for an x pattern and then think of a line guide that you could use to ensure your razor copied that EXACT pattern repeatedly.

Well, I used the 8K side only, and then the bench hone (both sides). The two razors I did both got much nicer (one of them was the brown handle Fox Co razor you sent me AFD), although not at the level where I think they need to be. I am not arrogant enough to assume they will be like some of the honemeisters around here, but I can shave with them. I don't want to put them back on the stone this weekend, but I think a few laps on the bench hone might be a good idea. There was one other razor that I did as well, and when its turn comes up in the rotation, I will find out how well I did on that one, so we shall see soon enough. But, for the most part the advice worked well and gave just enough confidence to do this again. BTW, I used some pencil tick marks on the edges of the stone instead of a whole line, that seemed to work for me. I might try the whole line thing next time, to see if that works better.

Thanks everyone.

Very good! Pencil ticks are a great idea. I bought that Fox razor from Lynn several years ago, its sweet.

Remember that the shave test is the best determinant of honing quality and that each razor, depending on steel hardness, may need a different approach, especially in the number of 8K strokes needed.