Thread: Please clear this for me, honing ratios

Hey, I like my old avatar .... I just want to see if Randy wants this one, LOL .... or did you find it first?

No no.. you miss understood me... I dont want it..

I was just making a "hand-me-down" joke..

Way to go Superfly!

A couple of observations.

1. What is the URL for that .avi?

2. The nail test is used principally in the initial stages of honing. It can tell you if there are any nicks in the blade, if the blade is evenly sharpened and if it is sharp at all. After you have gone above the 4000 grit stage of honing then use the hair test. It is less damaging to the edge of the blade.

3. The proper speed to use, for a new person, on either a hone or strop is SLOW. The pressure is always just the amount of pressure needed to keep the blade flat on the hone/strop.

4. To even out the sharpness of the edge you will have to pay close attention to keeping an even pressure on the blade while honing. Watch the water daming up in front of the blade as you hone. That will give you visual feedback .

5. 100 laps on a strop is a lot. I use 30-40. You might need a "little" more honing.

6. Give the razor a test shave, just on your cheeks. See how it shaves. Let us know how it goes.

Originally Posted by superfly

Today my razor passed the hair test!

I have done a couple of passes on the N8000, more to practice the stroke then to do actual honning. But then, i downloaded the movie from web called "Mr Ham good one.AVI", and it realy changed things. In the movie a guy strops the razor on the canvas, then the leather. But, before seeing this movie, i had trouble finding the right amount of pressure, movement, and speed on the strop. I stropped the razor over 100 strokes , i think, and it shaved arm hair really nice, without pulling. That is a 1/4 inch from the hand. I forgot about the razor, since i was clean shaven. Tonight i took a hair from my girl's head (light brown), and decided to do a hair test. I couldnt believe my eyes: a hair just split!. But the razor passes the hair test only at the middle.

Conclusion:

Hone the razor following the metods described, test on the nail, and STROP. You will need a propper stropping technique, or no shave ready razor. And, get a DE blade and compare. A DE blade easily passes the hair test.

How can i get the ends of the razor shave ready? Should i go back to the hone, or assume the honning is ok, and just strop some more???


Tomorow i will try to shave, and see how it goes.

Hi Randy,

The link for the stropping file is
http://www.heavenlyharvestinc.com/images/Mr%20Ham%20good%20one.AVI
I think it is realy nice stroppping example, athough the guy doing the stropping is showing off, and slightly exagerates the process

I agree on the nail test. I also think that it is a little invasive method of checking the consistancy of the blade, which is more at the hicarbon than the stainless blades.

As for the stropping speed, i think it is not the speed that is important, but the actual pressure on the blade. When i started stropping, i was just moving the blade along the strop, realy slow, frighten that the blade would somehow damage if i add some pressure, not doing actual stropping at all. A little yelow paste helped, but the stropping video i saw gave me a little courage, and i think i got the stropping right. The guy in the video is overdoing it, but it is a nice exampe...

I also noticed that the water is not moving the same amount in front of the blade. I will try to add a little pressure and control the honing proces with water as visual aid.

I know that the 100 laps are too much, but i cannot control myself I would strop for 20, than after couple of hours 20 more, and it added around 100 Does the excessive stroping do gamage on the blade? Can i destroy a good edge by doing it? After all, i need practice, so it is better to practice on a blunt edge then destroying a good one...

I think no more shaving for me untill tomorow. Yesterday i did some crossgrain strokes, just to see what will happen, and today i have no shave ready whiskers on my skin Gonna wait till tomorow. cross-against the grain shaving is not a good idea for a straight razor enthusiast, it slows down the learning process

superfly

http://www.heavenlyharvestinc.com/images/Mr Ham good one.AVI

what the!@#

http://www.heavenlyharvestinc.com/im...good%20one.AVI

Sometimes I notice that stropping seems to be accumulative. I shave with a razor, let dry, strop it, then put it away. Next time, I strop the razor, shave with it, let dry, strop it, and put it away. Occasionally after a few series like this, the blade just "gets there". I haven't done any additional honing or used a pasted strop. It seems just the continuous stropping over several sessions have finally polished the edge to the point of near perfection for this particular razor and steel type.

Hello Superfly, it sound like your progress is going just fine. In answer to your question re stropping,

"Does the excessive stroping do gamage on the blade? Can i destroy a good edge by doing it? "

I do not think so but my point would be that the more strokes you take on the strop then the greater the chance of making a mistake.

When I am stropping I still find myself going to fast at times and notice that my razor is not making full contact. I have to slowwwww down and concentrate on what I am doing.

By the way, I dislike that video because it sets a bad example for beginners. I wish I had a better one to use but unfortunately i do not.

Best of luck!

It looks to me that he's lifting the razor off of the strop, I never lift it until I'm done.

Hi guys,

Today was my shave test. Well, i tink still no go, but a little better every day Slow progress indeed... The razor is getting better at the hair test, shaving my arm hair with almost no pulling and popping sound, but i think my beard is still too much to handle. Anyways, i ran out of arm hair, so ill have to test on my whiskers (just kidding, i still got some arm hair left on my right arm).


I had some experience sharpening knives and chisels, for one of my other hobies (instruments building), and i must say, razor is more dificult to sharpen than any other blade i have tryed... Eather the steel on my SS blade is much harder than the other cutleries, or the hone grit is too fine, or i am afraid to grind some metal.

As for the stropping videos, the both videos are done in similar fasion (Lynn shaving video and Mr Ham). In both videos the stropping is done very fast, the scraping sound is evident, although Lynn says it just sounds like that

I share Randy's opinion on stroping speed:


I do not think so but my point would be that the more strokes you take on the strop then the greater the chance of making a mistake.
but i think the concetration is more important. I tend to mess my stroke at the last couple of moves...

thanx,
supafly