Thread: Honing Question

I've recently bought an Imperial razor from ebay which has been honed badly in the past. I think I need a very coarse stone to correct this. I've got a 1200 and a 4000/8000 Norton. How coarse can I go without damage to the razor?

I've done probably 100 laps with the 1200 and it's still bad but slightly better, it seem like the bevel is too steep if that makes sense.

The blade is otherwise very nice with no stains or pitting, the scales and pins are also clean and tight.

When you say 1200 grit my assumption is that you're referring to the DMT D8E 1200 grit diamond plate?

I've had to easily do hundreds of laps on a 1K Shapton ceramic stone which is an aggressive stone in order to reset poorly honed resto razors. Since there's no magic number of laps for bevel setting given each razor's different geometry, steel hardness, level of damage, etc, the number you've done already could definitely be appropriate. If it's getting better.........

If it's a 7/8ths to start and you're down to 4/8ths, that would be a different story.

Chris L

Originally Posted by Chris L

When you say 1200 grit my assumption is that you're referring to the DMT D8E 1200 grit diamond plate?

I've had to easily do hundreds of laps on a 1K Shapton ceramic stone which is an aggressive stone in order to reset poorly honed resto razors. Since there's no magic number of laps for bevel setting given each razor's different geometry, steel hardness, level of damage, etc, the number you've done already could definitely be appropriate. If it's getting better.........

If it's a 7/8ths to start and you're down to 4/8ths, that would be a different story.

Chris L

I've got a King waterstone 1200. Maybe I'm throwing in the towel to quickly with the 1200, I'll try several hundred more laps and see how it goes. I know the bevel is off as I used a magic marker on the edge and after many laps I'm still seeing some black on the very edge in places, so I know more metal has to come off.

hopefully my 6/8 won't become a 4/8!!!

This thread is a great place to start if you haven't seen it already: http://straightrazorpalace.com/advan...ged-blade.html

The other thing that is not always mentioned to new guys is that if you are just honing out damaged areas, putting some decent pressure on the blade is acceptable, as are circular strokes. You have to remove a fixed amount of material, so anything that will get you to that goal is fair game. You just have to know where to stop the aggressive work and return to the smooth, even, light pressured passes.

Originally Posted by Russel Baldridge

This thread is a great place to start if you haven't seen it already: http://straightrazorpalace.com/advan...ged-blade.html

The other thing that is not always mentioned to new guys is that if you are just honing out damaged areas, putting some decent pressure on the blade is acceptable, as are circular strokes. You have to remove a fixed amount of material, so anything that will get you to that goal is fair game. You just have to know where to stop the aggressive work and return to the smooth, even, light pressured passes.

Thanks for the link.

After MANY laps on the 1200 I've got the heel to just past center sharp then there's a bad spot, and the toe is sharp. I can still see a very fine black line from the marker on one side so I have more work to do. I'll try the circular method in the bad area and see what happens. Somebody must have honed this with the spine off the stone like a knife.

Yes, or the hone was not flat.