Thread: Honing Issues

How hard should you press? I have heard that you should start with more pressure and end with a small amount of pressure. Is this true? Additionally, does anyone have any close of pics of what a good bevel should look like?

Have you watched Lynn's and Heavysquaresg's videos ? If not that would be my first step. A lot of info in there. Do you have a microscope or an eye loupe? Good to have to see how you are progressing.

Here is something a very advanced honer told me early on,

"The purpose of the 1000 grit is to remove nicks and straighten/shape an edge. For that you use your eyes and the Thumb Nail test, not the Thumb Pad Test. The edge should be free of nicks and the bevel should go all the way to the edge.

If you are using a handheld microscope then the bevel will appear as one color, if there are two bevels, old and new, then the light reflects off the bevel at different angles and appears as two colors. The scratch pattern should also be uniform for both the length and width of the bevel. When you have that then move on to the 4000, but not before.

The Norton 1000 is a slow cutter compared to a 1000 grit wet/dry sandpaper or a 1200 grit diamond hone. Use what ever number of strokes it requires to get rid of the nicks and establishing a bevel. This is the most time consuming portion of honing a razor, be patient and persistent".

I can't express it better then he did. Hope this helps.

Originally Posted by bokaba

How hard should you press? I have heard that you should start with more pressure and end with a small amount of pressure. Is this true? Additionally, does anyone have any close of pics of what a good bevel should look like?

Up to a point the harder you press the faster you will remove metal. When establishing a bevel on a VERY dull or nicked razor it's not uncommon to use a little pressure at first but IMO I like to finish with a normal just the weight of the razor type of stroke. You have to be careful when using pressure though as it's easy to apply either too much and get a burr or wire edge in the later stage of bevel creation or if you apply uneven pressure you will remove more metal on one part of the blade. As for pics if you search you will find a few of good looking bevels although I don't think any that are labled as such.