Thread: Honing with a smile.

Originally Posted by randydance062449

You should be focusing on the edge bevel, not the spine.

I too, am following this thread silently, because this thing kind of went out of my league.
Randy, I don't think Josh was concentrating on the spine. His razor has a double bevel. The way Josh sees the edge after the Magic Marker Test, he sees the primary bevel cleaned up. That's the bevel closest to the spine. The secondary bevel is still marked. That's the bevel closer to the outer edge. Obviously, both bevels sit right next to each other on the very edge of the blade. Anyway, when Josh talked about the bevel near the spine, that's what I made of it.

It is called "primary bevel", Josh. As you progress honing on the 1K, it will broaden, till the point where the secondary bevel will be completely gone.

My next point is a question to me also: if you hone a lot more on the double bevel side of the blade, by the time you reached a single pane on that side, I think there's a big chance that you'll end up with an uneven bevel. I mean that the sides of the bevel won't meet at the middle anymore. The side you honed the most will be larger then the side you honed less. I have no idea how big the difference will be, nor do I know how that will affect the keenness of your edge. Maybe it makes sense to keep honing both sides, to maintain a symmetrical bevel? I really don't know. Randy will have to answer that one.

I only hope I haven't add to the confusion with posting this.

Keep at it, Josh. You'll get there eventually, and will have learned a great deal when you do. I noticed on another thread that you decided to buy a second, prehoned razor. It takes a wise man to swallow his pride by doing a just thing. Cheers for you. You'll end up with two superb shavers. I'm sure of it.

Bart.

Originally Posted by KingOfMalkier

Thank you Scott, I think you summed that up much nicer then I could have.

Thank you as well Randy, for all the advice. For the record, I was trying to describe the two "parts" of the double bevel, not referring to spine wear. The Norton's I believe are 3x8, though I'm at work so I can't measure them just now. (They cover just about the entire razor.)

I will try my best to do what you describe above. You preemptively answered my question about torque, but I have one last one before I hone and report back. When you say "concentrate on one side" does that mean completely ignore the other side? Or maybe do two laps on one for every lap on the other?

-Josh

Just work on the one problem side until the double bevel is gone. Then resume honing on both sides.
Thats what I would do but I am an expedient type of guy. You could work both sides if you wish.
You might want to note that when a person first starts this honing obsession thing that we can get carried away with the theoretical side and we over engineer the solution. Uneven bevels, wether on one side or both, are not a big deal. A shaving sharp edge is our goal. Lets keep that in mind.

Bart: I decided that all this learning-to-hone stuff is great - and enjoyable in it's own way (much less a chance of cuts!) - but I really am eager to get to the shaving. The dream is that when I get my current razor shave ready, my technique will already have some practice. That way a shave test will actually test the razor, and not my technique. Thanks for the encouragement!

Randy: You and I seem to be on the same page philosophically. It can be fun to get really analytical and technical on it, but lots of times it's probably overkill. I'll worry about the details down the road when I'm much better (hopefully!) at all things shaving.

I'll put in those laps tonight and hopefully have some good news later.
-Josh

I did the 150 laps as Randy suggested, trying to torque the edge into the stone a bit and also do a slight rolling hone to get the stubborn heel and toe. Still a double bevel along a good 2/3 - 3/4 of the blade. I wish it was easier to measure or mark it somehow. I <i>think</i> the second bevel is shrinking but it's almost impossible for me to say so. I'm thinking maybe I'll try putting a piece of tape where I consider the second bevel to fade into the edge and seeing if that divider moves. I'm also thinking maybe this is an indicator that it's time for a honemeister.

Are you using an X pattern stroke?

There is something really odd about this.

Randy was generous enough to have me call him and we talked about my razor, hones, and technique for a bit. He's described a pretty interesting technique for me to try that will work if I can be careful enough. Hopefully I'll have some time this weekend that I can hone during. I will post with my progress as soon as I can.

Also, Randy has exactly the kind of voice that straight razor shaver should have. Kind of like a cooler Wilford Brimley. I sound much more like a 12 year old - so jealous.

-Josh

Thanks, for updating us on the latest developments. You sure got me very curious about that "pretty interesting technique". I hope that it's not one of those well kept secrets that US government prohibits revealing to the rest of the world...

So Randy has a voice that can strop a razor just by talking to it, eh?
That explains it all, of course.

Good luck with the secret honing job,
Keep us posted,

Bart.

No secret, just round the edges of the hone then hone using only the rounded edge with a very light pressure. His razor is warped and the concave side was not making contact with the hone surface. This is the most expedient method for him.

According to the USPS, the shave-ready razor I bought from a member arrived this morning. I should have time tonight to try the new honing technique and visually compare with the sharp razor.

Unfortunately, I shaved this morning and with the TGQ soap I actually get a pretty close shave from the Mach 3, so a test shave will have to wait. But, that gives me a little more time to possibly get the difficult razor ready for it's true test.

-Josh

Originally Posted by KingOfMalkier

I actually get a pretty close shave from the Mach 3

DON'T SWEAR IN THE CURCH
Even as we speak, a posse, lead by Lynn, is being formed to hunt you down and wash your mouth with lather...