My New Honing Progression

a few months back, i bought some HandAmerican leather from Woodcraft, and some diamond paste from cyberrockhound.com. i think 3micron, 1 micron, and .5micron(8k, 14k, 50k). the grits i am sure about, the microns i am not. they were only $10 for 5 grams, much cheaper than classic shaving, but a chance. anyway, i made 3 leather bench hones with the diamond paste. i used the 1mic and .5mic a few times but was not impressed.

after i lapped my chinese 12k last week, i had a newfound enlightenment. i honed a razor last week to a point that was shave ready. then i moved to the 12k and 50 laps, to the 1 micron and put about 40 laps on it. then to the .5 micron and 50 laps on that. i was so impressed with the sharpness.

so i took a Robeson back to the hones today. 4K King, to 50 laps on 3mic leather, to 8K Norton, to 50 laps 1mic leather, to 50 laps on the .5mic leather, to 10 laps on the cro ox. 50 laps on the plain leather strop, test shave. OMG, what a shave. absolute fantasy sharp.

so as a test, i then honed up a wostenholm pipe just to test the diamond pastes. 800 for bevel, 4K king, then 3mic leather. 100+ laps. then 1mic for 50+ laps, then the .5mic for 50+ laps, then cro ox for 10 laps. using different tests, was able to see vast improvements with each progression. i will test shave this one tomorrow and report back. hope it goes well. if not, i will take it back to the leather and try to progress forward.

vgod

Good post! Thanks for sharing. This is how we all learn!:tu

Yeah, very cool!

There's nothing like finding that superb edge in a blade. Congrats.

well, i shaved last night with this razor. about half of my face anyway. i could have finished, but i could feel the burn coming on. pulled just a litte on the cheeks, then a lot on the neck. finished with another razor.

i will take back to the leather hones tonight. i really want to know that i can get a razor sharp without a stone. it can be done!!!!!

vgod

I don't use pastes, but do use chrome ox. I've heard it said that pasted edges are more dependent, higher maintenance, kind of like the edges become paste junkies or something. Can you keep us posted to let us know if once you've pasted an edge and it's jaw dropping sharp for you...how long can you strop on plain leather without bringing it back to the paste? If honed edges can go months on just leather, how long can your pasted edges go?

Chris L

i took the str8 back to the leather hones last night. doing regular testing for progression. TPT, armhair poppin!

3 mic 100+ laps or so. i stopped counting.
1 mic and 60-70 laps
.5 mic for 50 laps. i kept count this time.
but then forgot the cro ox.
leather for 50 laps then.
before shower, another 40 laps on leather.

shave was good, not great. but i can see and feel the improvement. i think i will take it back one more time and see where it takes me. this is a good learning experience about pasted honing.

and yeah chris, i will keep up with how this razor does going forward with it's edge retention. hopefully it does not go south quick.

vgod