Thread: First Attempt at Honing

I decided to break out the Norton and give it a try on my Clauss, the less pretty of my three razors. I lapped the Norton on waterpaper like it says in the instructions and then started with a few passes on the 4000 side followed with probably 30+ passes on the 8000 side. I then stropped it and it passed the hanging hair test. I shaved with it tonight and it was good, not as smooth as my Henckels, but I doubt it would be anyway. Anyhow I was wondering how I could keep it from getting hone wear on the spine? I heard of taping the spine, but what type of tape do you guys use? I tried electrians tape and it seemed to grab on the hone, so I took it off and honed the razor without tape. Also wouldn't having the extra thickness of the tape on the spine effect the bevel??

You will find much discussion on this subject on the forum. Some rail against the idea, some advocate using tape but the bottom line is that it is a personal thing.
First of all, electrical tape is what most folks use althought I suppose something else could be substituted. One layer of tape should be sufficient. If you are doing some restoration and using a low grit stone, you may have to swap your tape and you may have to lightly lap your stone to clean it.
The biggest thing that you will have to do is to keep track of which razors are honed using tape and which are honed not using tape. Or, use tape all the time.

Just to clarify we use PLASTIC electrical tape, I tend to use the same brand everytime I buy it, but then again I am kind of wierd that way.....
One layer of electrical tape wont even change the angle on the razor 1 full degree so you dont have to worry about the shaving angle of the blade....
If the tape gets a wear spot in it, you need to change it, also you learned one of two things.... Either the razor has a slight warp or some uneven hone wear, or you are not holding the razor flat on the hone

Tonight I decided to attempt my Henckels, I did several strokes on the 4000, then switched to 8000, did around 20 strokes and then back to the 4000 for a bit, I finished off with around 40 strokes on the 8000 and stropped it for around 40 strokes on just me plain strop. It seems to be sharp, passes the hanging hair test alright. I used electrical tape this time like last time, but I tryed to put it on smoother and it seemed to work very well. So far I'm happy with my honing.

Congratulations!


Honing. It's not *really* that hard once you have the tools....unfortunately, I can tell these things....you're probably already scouring eBay and elsewhere to try out *other* "more exotic" hones...


It's part of the sickness...

John P.

Originally Posted by FLYBYU44

Tonight I decided to attempt my Henckels, I did several strokes on the 4000, then switched to 8000, did around 20 strokes and then back to the 4000 for a bit, I finished off with around 40 strokes on the 8000 and stropped it for around 40 strokes on just me plain strop. It seems to be sharp, passes the hanging hair test alright. I used electrical tape this time like last time, but I tryed to put it on smoother and it seemed to work very well. So far I'm happy with my honing.

ah, very good congratulations.
while glen is right that the tape changes the angle by less than 1 degree it still changes it. What it means in practical terms is that if the razor was honed with tape and you're using no tape or a thinner tape you will need to reset the bevel before your hone is working on the edge again. If it's the other way around, i.e. you're using thicker tape than it was previously used you will work right away on the edge, but that will create a double bevel.
In any case I believe you got that KB from me and as you can probably tell I've taped the spine (1 layer black electrical vynil tape - scotch super 33+ by 3m).
I'm a bit surprised that you needed to touch up a friodur - never had one, but from what I hear they hold an edge typically for many months.

Anyways, honing yourself is the only way to get a razor exactly where you like it Enjoy

on the tape subject. i bought electrical tape from the dollar store and used it.. it was junk, the hone ate thru it and it left bumpy trail marks on the hone surface. then i decided to go to the hardware store and buy the real stuff, 3m - scotch whichever name brand you choose. that works much better and holds up without a problem.

next is if you are eating thru that tape you are most liking using too much pressure, especially at the spine. lighten up your touch. yes, you might not have the perfect edge the first set of pyramids that you do and you will have to do another set, but thats too be expected. can't get it perfect the first time usually.

~J

Originally Posted by gugi

ah, very good congratulations.
while glen is right that the tape changes the angle by less than 1 degree it still changes it. What it means in practical terms is that if the razor was honed with tape and you're using no tape or a thinner tape you will need to reset the bevel before your hone is working on the edge again. If it's the other way around, i.e. you're using thicker tape than it was previously used you will work right away on the edge, but that will create a double bevel.
In any case I believe you got that KB from me and as you can probably tell I've taped the spine (1 layer black electrical vynil tape - scotch super 33+ by 3m).
I'm a bit surprised that you needed to touch up a friodur - never had one, but from what I hear they hold an edge typically for many months.

Anyways, honing yourself is the only way to get a razor exactly where you like it Enjoy

I did get the KB from you and I remember you mentioned that you taped it, so I was just trying to do the same with my other razors. I really didn't need to hone the Friodur, I just wanted to play around with the hone a bit, also it had a almost microscopic dent or something right on the edge and I thought a little honing would get rid of it, which it did. The Friodur is such an awesome shaver I really wish I had gotten another one when there was a bunch on ebay a while back, but they aren't on there anymore, I keep checking.

Ah, good . If you can see a 'dent' on the edge it most certainly will shave better when that is gone. I've never had a friodur but they are supposed to be pretty much the benchmark in stainless, so not a surprise there. They are not uncommon so if you want another one you'll get it sooner or later.

Originally Posted by FLYBYU44

I decided to break out the Norton and give it a try on my Clauss, the less pretty of my three razors. I lapped the Norton on waterpaper like it says in the instructions and then started with a few passes on the 4000 side followed with probably 30+ passes on the 8000 side. I then stropped it and it passed the hanging hair test. I shaved with it tonight and it was good, not as smooth as my Henckels, but I doubt it would be anyway. Anyhow I was wondering how I could keep it from getting hone wear on the spine? I heard of taping the spine, but what type of tape do you guys use? I tried electrians tape and it seemed to grab on the hone, so I took it off and honed the razor without tape. Also wouldn't having the extra thickness of the tape on the spine effect the bevel??

After watching Lynns DVD and then reading this post I'm confused. The above seems an awful lot of passes on the hone. Hell, you may be right it appears to be working! I'm in the process of of learning to hone and am currently trying with "Lynns Pyramid" style starting at 5 passes on the 4000 grit Norton and following on the 8000. I finish off on a Belgian coticule with about 20 passes then strop up for about 50 passes.
Thing is this is not quite getting the edge ( I'm aware there may be more wrong than the numbers here). Are you only on the 4000 then onto the 8000 or switching between them?