Need advice after last honing bout
Ok, finally got the chip out of my dovo stainless hollow ground after TONS of light honing on a 4k norton. I honed on the 4k until the chip was completely gone. Here was my progression:
Norton 4k - billion light laps to get chip out. Was passing HHT over most of blade but not the greatest pop and some hairs wouldnt pass.
Norton 8k - Ton of laps, didn't count, just judged by the way the blade was suctioning and pushing water. No longer passed HHT unless I dragged the hair over the edge.
Chinese 12k - Ton of laps, didn't count, just judged by the way the blade was suctioning and pushing water. Same, no longer passed HHT.
Leather stop - Lots of very light passes just on the leather side. Same, no longer passed HHT.
All this was done with a single layer of tape on spline, except stropping. Now, my problem. I was expecting a really sharp edge from this by the way this thing was suctioning and pushing water so evenly. It would practically dry out the stones in one pass! Well the shave wasn't that great.
It was very weird, not really pulling on hairs but it was having a hard time cutting hairs close. It kept cutting and cutting every pass as I could see the stubble on the blade but it wasn't cutting close enough, and obviously not sharp enough. I could actually see that the hair on chin was too long after REPEATED passes.
I just don't understand these symptoms of the edge. It was smooth, didn't quite pull, but it didn't cut well either! lol. Can someone give me some suggestions? I'm really close to giving up. I thought I was pretty much on the path to learn honing, I have tried tons of times and have had more success lately, but this is really discouraging. I have all the equipment and I can't even get my own blades shave ready!
