Thread: 1k 4k 8k

Originally Posted by PaulFLUS

The biggest leap for me was getting the bevel set. It is probably the easiest to mess up and most overlooked. A piece of advice that helped me in the beginning was hone just on one side until there is a burr you can feel with your fingernail the whole way down the bevel. Then flip it over till you get the same. Then alternate to even it out. Usually I'll do at least 20 both sides. Doing it this way helped me to learn how to get the bevel even down the whole length and how to concentrate on the areas that are slower to set. I also learned that the slower to set part is not always or even usually the same on both sides. You'll find, or at least I did, that I spent less time on the mid range stones after getting the hang of bevel set.

That is IMHO the best way for a beginner to set a bevel. I still use the burr method when I am honing more than one razor in a sitting. It's fast and sure. Many howls of outrage over this but honing is more about results than popularity or conformity. In due time I think a beginner SHOULD learn to just hone his way into a bevel without deliberately raising a burr, because it challenges his powers of observation, not because it saves a few molecules of steel in a one-time-only operation. Meanwhile, the burr method just WORKS.

Originally Posted by STF

Thank you for trying to help.

I killed the edge and started again. No problems and I had a good shave with it.

It's like they said. You honed enough with enough pressure to eventually raise a burr. You can clean up an edge without killing it, through several different techniques. Probably the easiest is to make a little slurry and use very light and very short x strokes to hone it off. Talking maybe 2" of travel along the stone, but the normal amount of sideways travel across the stone. Light pressure is the key. Heavy pressure makes a burr. Very light pressure can prevent or even remove it. Also a bit of slurry really helps. It will retard peak sharpness but it really clobbers a burr or fin or wire edge.

You can also add a few Pull Strokes every so often. A pull stroke is where your razor is laying on the hone normally, but instead of traveling edge leading toward the far end of the hone, you pull it by the tang directly toward the side of the hone. In other words, the direction of travel is parallel to the edge. It's like you are wiping the razor on a towel. Travel distance should only be about a half inch maybe 3/4", and pressure very light. It will seem like you are not accomplishing anything but you are. You are clearing the edge. Do a stroke on one side, flip and do the other side of the razor and there's a lap. It is amazing what 5 laps will do for you. This does often slightly round the apex, so you follow a final set of these with another set of maybe a dozen of the very lightest regular x strokes you can manage, to peak it back up a bit. You end up with a very clean edge and under a USB microscope the difference is dramatic.

So, back to your bevel. When the bevel has come in well, it is good to finish it with ever decreasing pressure before moving up into the progression. You can also add a few drops of dishwashing liquid to the honing water, to add a bit of buffering and reduce the contact intensity. This makes for shallower scratches.

I know that this infuriates some guys to see this posted yet again, but honing in hand is a great enabler when it comes to reducing pressure to a dead minimum. Particularly for a beginner. In the initial stages of setting the bevel, very light pressure is not needed. If a lot of steel has to come off, then substantial pressure will gitter done. You just want to tone down the pressure as the bevel comes in fully. Then that edge is nice and thin, it is extremely flexible, and pressure will flex it up, putting more honing action just behind the edge, weakening it even more, allowing more upward flex, and so on.

It sounds like you are getting a handle on this. The last bevel you set, probably would be a good candidate for the progression. If you achieved a good bevel along the entire edge, it doesn't matter how wonky the blade WAS... you have corrected it. It will now hone up just fine. If this is a Gold Dollar or Gold Monkey, the steel is up to it, and 99% of the difficulty is behind you once you have a proven bevel.

What the others said about circle strokes. It is natural to rock the pressure a bit between spine and edge when doing circle or back-and-forth winshield wiper strokes. Plain edge leading x strokes are generally needed for leaving that bevel nice and flat and the apex nice and tight. When you do the sharpie test using regular laps, where DOES the ink disappear? Your razor has to be making contact somewhere.

Shaving arm hair easily? Okay then, I say it is ready to hit a LAPPED 4k stone, or film. It may surprise you how well a 4k edge can shave your face. Especially if you ensure that all 1k scratches are completely honed away by the 4k, and you finish the stage with plenty of extremely light laps. Adding dish soap or using shave lather helps even more, by creating a buffering layer between stone and blade. It makes for a shallower scratch pattern at the expense of lots of extra laps. If you can shave off the 4k then it is probably ready to repeat the same on the 8k.

You are quite correct in that it is not much use to take it to a 12k if it won't shave off the 8k. The 8k stage is a good place to stop and evaluate your results and your improvement. Bevel set through 8k will likely only be done once for as long as you own the razor. You will get plenty of practice with the 12k or equivelant lapping film.

There was a time when an 8k Norton was considered a finisher. And after all, it is finer grit than most barber hones. Granted, quality has gone down considerably in that brand, but I dare say it is still probably up to it if you lap the stone down from its typically inconsistent surface.

You are definitely getting this. I would not be a bit surprised to read that you had a wonderful shave a couple days from now. Hang in there.

Originally Posted by STF

I have a question, how do you guys make a razor smile, I assume it's done on a hone.

I like smiles, I want smiles - miles of smiles.

All of mine tend to pick up a hint of a smile because I tend to use a rolling X stroke instead of just a plain X. You start with a little extra pressure toward the heel and sort of lift the blade up to guide pressure toward the toe as you progress through the stroke. focusing a little more pressure toward the heel and tow results in a smile curve on the blade.