Hone Breakthrough

I recently took my straight shaving to the next step. I began to hone my own blade and I wasnt successful at all. But today.....well today i was able to pass the HHT.

I have tried to do the pyramids....but it just wasnt working for me. So i tried something more simple.

10 passes on the 4k of my Norton (Moderate Pressure)
15 passes on the 8k of my Norton (Light Pressure)
10-15 passes on the Yellow Coticule (Very Light Touch)
10 passes on 0.5 pasted paddle

Now i wasnt passing the HHT after the Coticule and was pretty depressed. Now i was passing the Thumb Pad test and felt it digging after each stone change.

I figured what the heck...lets take it to the strop. I proceeded to strop about 20-30 times on the linen and then i went about 60 on the leather. GUess what.....I passed the HHT after that. Figured...what the heck, took one blade back to the coticule...and tried HHT after..and nothing...then went back to the strop and passed the HHT. Is that a normal thing or am I doing something wrong. Im just happy that I actually put an edge on 3 eBay style razors today. I basically just did the 10 passes on the pasted strop at the very end of everything..Popping hairs like crazy.

IsaacRN,

I'd love to comment constructively, but now you know more than do I. I can hang a hair, but that's about a far as it goes. I have honed two razors with which I am now shaving, so maybe I can just hang the hanging hair test. I'd still like to be able to pass that definitive HH test, but the thinning hair on my head seems to be too thin to get it to cooperate. Thinning thin hair: dilemma upon dilemma.:thinking:

Maybe I should get a hirsute pet. The problem is that considering all the rain we've been getting, I should probably consider a pet carp. Anybody heard of a hanging scale test?:hmmm:

Bruce

Im gonna let you in on a secret......I use my Chest Hair :P Theres lots of it and a bit coarser than the hair on my head.

Seriously though....any type of Critique on what im doing would be GREATLY appreciated.

I know some people say that they find that a coticule honed razor does not perform so well on the HHT.....I can't say though because I don't use the test due to thin hair.

Isaac,

The coticule has a touchy relationship with the HHT. For quite a while after I started using a coticule, I couldn't get my edges to pass the test.

I think it's because the coticule leaves a less toothy edge than the Norton, so it doesn't bite into hanging hairs as easily.

I've gotten the best results on the HHT from the Norton 4K and the Belgian blue, which is around 6K. It's quite possible to get a 1K edge to pass. At the higher grits, the edges start behaving unpredictably.

With quite a bit of practice under my belt, I've gotten better with the coticule, and now my edges usually pass the HHT very well. It doesn't seem to have much relationship to how well they do or don't shave, though. :)

Good luck,
Josh