Thread: Honing technique

Hello gents...
Could you, please, give me some advice how to hone my razor on my new set...
It just arrived today, but I won't be honing 'till tomorrow, because I'm not at home...
So, my honing set consists of a 1000/3000 grit whetstone, a 6000 grit whetstone and 0,5 micron home-made flatbed? (flat-bed?) hone...
The whetstones are japanese synthetic...
The edge of the razor has been dulled (bred-cutting) and the bevel has to be set...
Is it good to use some kind of piramyd?
Any sugestions are wellcome...
Thanks, Robert...

I suggest you go to the Wiki at the tool bar at the top of the page and look at the honing info. Watching the videos by Lynn, and Heavydutsg would be a big plus too. Having some sort of magnification like an eye loupe or better yet a micro scope is a big help in seeing how your bevel is progressing. Setting the bevel is the foundation so be patient and persistent.

Thanks, gents...
I did my homework and watched those videos...
The razor is a little over 5/8", 3/4" hollow or full hollow (definitely not wedge) old Soviet Raketa that has been restored and there was some relative big chips in the edge that I had to remove... I removed them using a 800 grit wet-dry sandpaper and a piece of polished marble as a flat surface...
Now, the blade is 0.2 mm bigger than 5/8"...
So, first thing is to set up the bevel...
For some time now I won't be able to buy any more stones and I was wandering if a 1 and 0.5 micron, or 0.5 and 0.25 micron flatbed hones would do the polish before hitting a strop?

I don't know what to tell you beyond having heard Randy talk about setting bevels with 1K paper. Someone will be along that has done it in the higher grits with sandpaper or what have you. Maybe do a search in honing for sandpaper and see what comes up.

Well, I tried honing with sandpaper a few weeks ago and it didn't work for me well...
So, I didn't push it and the only thing I did on sandpaper was bread-cutting the chips out and I ordered some whetstones...
The bevel will be set on 1000 side of my new 1000/3000 grit whetstone (I certainly hope so)...
I will post my progress...

I would start with the 1000 and using the marker test get a good bevel set. I do this with 1000 grit sandpaper, your hone should work even better.

From there I use the pyramid method of honing as found in the pyramid honing guide in the Wiki. You will probably want to start out with the aggressive pyramid from the guide. I would treat your hones as a 4000 and an 8000 for the purposes of using the guide. See how that does. There are some guys out there who have used a 3/6 hone in the past to put shaving edges on their razors, so don't despair there.

You should be able to get an edge that cuts hair well but feels a it scrappey or harsh on your face, it shouldn't pull hair but might not feel as comfortable as it could. This is where our flat bed strop and some honing paste come in. Since you are honing a a lower grit I recommend the 1 micron paste over the .5 for a start. stropping on this until the shave feels really nice ought to do it. I'd go about twenty laps or so between test shave strokes and work your way slowly to perfect.

Good Luck!!

Thanks again...
I'll give it a try and will see how it works...
If there will be any problems, I'll post about it...
Of to the wiki to study the pyramid honing guide and marker test...