Thread: Help with honing; newbie problems.

Gentlemen, I am a long time straight razor user. All of my honing has been done on a Naniwa 12k for the sole purpose of touching up the edge. For well over a decade I have been rotating my razors and when they began to pull I went to the 12k. Long story short, I have been using a Feather razor for my shaves for over a year. Upon unpacking my razors from years in storage (moving homes and renovations), and acquiring a few new ones I purchased a Norton set from 400 to 8000. I have been using a progression I saw on YT, tape on the spines, and my blades pass the HHT. However, they pull on my face, unlike my Feather. I am asking for help. Are Feather blades that sharp where conventional blades no longer compare? Or more likely, am I not honing them to their potential? I thank you in advance. John

I'm no expert and wont pretend to be.

I use my DE's when i am pushed for time and although I usually use Nacet's I've got quite a few Feather blades and have been using them lately.

My straights give me a much nicer shave than my DE even with feather's so I would say you might want to rethink you honing technique.

Is your bevel set properly, without a good bevel you can hone you razors into toothpicks but they will never be sharp.

Hi John.

Invest in a loupe, a cheap one will do the trick but a 10x Belomo will last a lifetime and give great magnification.

Use a layer of tape on the spine and ink the bevel.

Use a 1k if you have it, you shouldn't need to go lower unless you are restoring. Do a few laps. You can see if you are honing to the edge as all the ink will be removed. Keep going until the bevel is set.

Once the bevel is set carry on with your progression using a loupe to ensure previous stria has been removed.

Done!

As a default I would say that there are a lot of posts here about honing which should prove helpful. There are also many tests that will help you judge where you are and how well you are doing outlined in those posts. This is a good place to start.

Beyond that there are plenty of members that are willing to give you individual help. Skype or Zoom lessons can go a long way or maybe there is someone nearby that can meet in person. That would be the optimal choice.

The other thing you could do is send them out and have them honed. Then you should be back where you were.

As a relatively new guy to honing , my first bit of advice is don't over complicate this In your head it's not voodoo. The second is get a decent loupe and check your bevel through out your progression your looking for consistency the length of the bevel on each hone you use.
Also if you plan on staying in the honing game you may have to experiment with different hones and stones to find what you like edge wise or gets you to that feather edge. If you had your razors honed by someone in the past and were happy with those edges it would be worth asking that guy what he used to get them there. Good luck on your honing adventure!

These responses have been most helpful. I already have a light microscope on my workbench, and I will begin with bevel resetting using ink on the bevel. The loupe is in the mail. I'd like to say, after 14 years of being a member here with many spent away I always know that this forum is a wealth of knowledge but more importantly staffed with the most polite gentlemen. Until next time-J

Hone on brother.

Let us know how you do and if you need help. You can PM me if you want. I'm sure there are plenty of others who would do the same.

Originally Posted by JohnnyCakeDC

Gentlemen, I am a long time straight razor user. All of my honing has been done on a Naniwa 12k for the sole purpose of touching up the edge. For well over a decade I have been rotating my razors and when they began to pull I went to the 12k. Long story short, I have been using a Feather razor for my shaves for over a year. Upon unpacking my razors from years in storage (moving homes and renovations), and acquiring a few new ones I purchased a Norton set from 400 to 8000. I have been using a progression I saw on YT, tape on the spines, and my blades pass the HHT. However, they pull on my face, unlike my Feather. I am asking for help. Are Feather blades that sharp where conventional blades no longer compare? Or more likely, am I not honing them to their potential? I thank you in advance. John

Never used feather blades. Which Naniwa 12K are you using? I have a Kagayaki 12K and the edge off it behaves bizarrely to me: shave was buttery smooth but leaving tons of micro nicks on my faces. Edges off Shapton Pro Kuromaku 12K feels pretty harsh to me. But if I put them through CrOx pasted strop, the shaves are superb. I think what you actually need is Shapton Pro Kuromaku 30K. I got mine just over a month a go, super happy with the edge off it but currently I can only get ~15 shaves so far after finishing. I'm currently still playing with it, I probably can get my original target, 20 with less passes.

BTW, please forget about the HHT. Some of my edges off Kuromaku 4K pass it, all off Kuromaku 8K/12k pass it, but I don't really like those. And most if not all of edges after finishing on naturals fail it but the shave off them were superb.

When doing hht it takes a while to understand what its telling you. Its not a definitive test. Some guys get hht at 1k stone/bevel set. But its not going to give you a nice shave.

Kill the edge, do a bevel set on 1k. Use a loupe and ink, when you 5hink you got bevel set, run the edge across a glass to blunt it slightly and do bevel set again. And again. And again. At that point you might be ready to go up the stones.
A naniwa 12k stone can be a fine finisher. It just takes practice just like every step in honing. Its not as simple as it seems but with time you can hone your own.
Then comes the years of learning to make comfort in your edge. Sharp as just the starting point in honing.

After i learned to really hone i looked at honing like this...
Learning what it takes to make a sharp shaveable edge is like graduating highschool.
After that the real learning starts. :gl

Originally Posted by Gasman

When doing hht it takes a while to understand what its telling you. Its not a definitive test. Some guys get hht at 1k stone/bevel set. But its not going to give you a nice shave.

Kill the edge, do a bevel set on 1k. Use a loupe and ink, when you 5hink you got bevel set, run the edge across a glass to blunt it slightly and do bevel set again. And again. And again. At that point you might be ready to go up the stones.
A naniwa 12k stone can be a fine finisher. It just takes practice just like every step in honing. Its not as simple as it seems but with time you can hone your own.
Then comes the years of learning to make comfort in your edge. Sharp as just the starting point in honing.

After i learned to really hone i looked at honing like this...
Learning what it takes to make a sharp shaveable edge is like graduating highschool.
After that the real learning starts. :gl

Wow, HHT at 1k... Never imagined that. Seems I still have a long way to get there...