Glass showerd door hone!

I'm new to all this so willing to try anything.

Ii have a scottish hone and a chinese 12k in the post but was fed up with not getting a good enough edge from teh Norton 8k and then to linen /leather strop.

So I found myself eyeing up the smoothly sanded edge of the glass shower door and thinkning "Hoe different can that be from one of those Shapton hones they keep singing about?"

Well it worked a treat. I was pretty rough on the skin and needed a few good passes on linen and leather to smooth it out but it gave me pergaps the best edge I have found yet.

So my question is this:

Why all the fuss about wide, flat hones, why not just a thin strip of one about 1/4 inch wide that will touch the entire edge of the blade regardless of smile?

I'll be making a thin strip of glass hone for travelling with.

Well I'm sure I will answer my own question when teh finishing stones arrive, but until then, it's teh shower door for me, and then raid my fathers ashtray for some cigar ash.

necessity is the mother of invention!

My dad always used a halogen (back then I guess it was a sodium light) light bulb rod thing. You know, the one that is frosted? Well, as a matter of fact they make them with varying levels of frostedness, which translates to grit for us. Man, he used to have some sharp knives. For free! Of course he was a lineman and had access to all kinds of blown light bulbs. Your post made me think of him.

Now I haven't tried this, but I read in one of those old newspaer links you have to search for hours for... That in a pinch straight razors could be honed by placing them in a tall drinking glass and rubbing it back and forth inside the glass..... :shrug:

As far as thin hones go, the edge can be damaged by sharp corners (or at least honed unevenly) so a width of an inch or so is about the practical minimum (for me) that a blade can lay perfectly flat on. Over long periods of honing with as small a width as glass has, the blade might develop some irregular curves as well.

There are lots of hones for DE blades that are pieces of curved frosted glass, no reason something similar couldn't work for straights in a pinch, except for the altered bevel angle thing.

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Originally Posted by gssixgun

Now I haven't tried this, but I read in one of those old newspaer links you have to search for hours for... That in a pinch straight razors could be honed by placing them in a tall drinking glass and rubbing it back and forth inside the glass..... :shrug:

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Are you sure that was for a straight and not a DE blade? I can't picture how it would be done with a straight.

I remember reading somewhere on this site that someone either honed or was advised to hone a razor on the top edge or a car window. Sounds quite similar, with the advantage that the windows are ususally rounded, so that's one potential drawback out of the way.

A car window would be good, a thicker window would be perfect, you could even grind it to be smoother and just carry a 6 inch nail file size peice of glass to use as your travel hone.

i hear what is said about needing 1" min. but if you were really careful and the glass was totally smooth I'm sure it would be great for just touching up the good bevel you already have.

I was highly impressed with what it did to my edge, I nealry had my first BBS shave:tu

I suppose it could work in a pinch, but in all practicality you'd have to be in that pinch for more than a few months, otherwise a strop and some kind of ash would suffice.

Though it would be nice to have the option of a tiny little hone like that, for novelty if nothing less.

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Originally Posted by gingahippy

So I found myself eyeing up the smoothly sanded edge of the glass shower door and thinkning "Hoe different can that be from one of those Shapton hones they keep singing about?"

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Given that the glass side is only the backing, and the honing surface is ceramic... quite a bit. :D
You are not the first to make the wrong conclusion, but the glass in 'glass hone' is only use for mounting the ceramic to give it strength and to prevent it from flexing.

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Originally Posted by gingahippy

Why all the fuss about wide, flat hones, why not just a thin strip of one about 1/4 inch wide that will touch the entire edge of the blade regardless of smile?

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Preference. I like wide hones much better than narrow hones. Also if it is only 1/4 inch wide, the risk of scraping away the edge itself is large. I suppose you could do it if the edges of the stone were rounded...
Like steeling the edge of a kitchen knife. :hmmm:

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Originally Posted by gssixgun

Now I haven't tried this, but I read in one of those old newspaer links you have to search for hours for... That in a pinch straight razors could be honed by placing them in a tall drinking glass and rubbing it back and forth inside the glass..... :shrug:

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i think that refers to a variously successful and unsuccessful technique for safety razors

I have glass of varying widths (all 3/8 thick)I use the 3 X 11 most.They are acid etched with hydraflouric acid to provide a frosted surface to hold the various grit pastes I use .They are made from float glass,and are flat to within a couple of light bands.This is the same stuff we used to sharpen surgical instruments in the old days before they became disposable.It costs less than a dollar to make a 3 X 11,and they last a long time,maybe 50 razors before the frosting get worn down,and they lose their flatness.You can make some really sharp,smooth edges.You can use diamond paste.I use oil soluble pastes(I dont use diamond too much),and give it a shot of WD 40 every once in awhile to keep the medium in suspension.Best Regards Gary

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Originally Posted by Utopian

Are you sure that was for a straight and not a DE blade? I can't picture how it would be done with a straight.

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I remember that this was done for DE blades as well. A flat surface is what we need to sharpen straights, not a curved one.

X

Well, now that my coticule has arrived and been tested I seem to have lost interest in all other hones.

:)

But I'm sure I will come around to the idea of frosted glass as a travel hone.

So where exactly do I get the hydraflouric acid?

In the UK now you can only buy a limited number of iron tablets (only from the pharmacy, not from the supermarket any more) and it has to be over the counter, not off the shelf.

That's how restricted we are on 'dangerous' substances. :rant:

The chemist seemes a little threatened when I told her that if I wanted to kill myself then I'd use some of those razor blades they had stocked on the shelves.

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Originally Posted by gingahippy

In the UK now you can only buy a limited number of iron tablets (only from the pharmacy, not from the supermarket any more) and it has to be over the counter, not off the shelf.

That's how restricted we are on 'dangerous' substances. :rant:

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Tell me about it! If I go to the supermarket and try to buy two boxes of medicines at the selfservice checkout - say ibuprofen and paracetamol- then my purchases get stopped, an assistant is alerted and someone half my age has to come over and decide whether or not i'm gonna top myself with them! AARRRGGHHH!!!! :rant: