Thread: My first better honing and shaving

Finally i had much better shave with my straight. The razor i used was very dull at the beginning. I set the bevel until the blade passed TNT and cut armhair easily. Then i moved to 4k grit and honed until i felt much better sharpness and passed TPT. I really don't know how many strokes i did but i think it was approximately 20..30. Unfortunately i don't have 8k grit because here in Poland it is extremelly difficult to get one (i found a shop where it can be purchased but it is very expensive and out of stock now). Directly after honing i brought the razor to the strop and did 10 strokes. Then i shaved. It was much better than before. Obviously at the beginning i shaved WTG and most of hair were cut without problems. After that, i shaved ATG. It wasn't painful but i felt some pulling (however it was acceptable at this stage ofmy experience i think). So now i'm thinking what to do to improve sharpness of my razor. I thought of doing additional 5 strokes on the 4k and 20..30 on 12k (the 12k grit hone is the only one higher grit hone i have now). Is it correct ? Perhaps many more strokes are necessary but i don't know exactly.
Also, i'm a bit confused about stropping. A person at the Youtube told me not to do too many strokes on the strop (10..20 only) as it can dull the edge quckly. From what i've read so far, most people recommend giving even 30..50 strokes.

I had an old barber tell me that,"you can over strop a razor". I believed him and then found out on this forum that he didn't know what he was talking about. If you strop properly you can do as many strokes as you want and you won't round the edge. Strop improperly and you can round the edge in one stroke.

Going from 4K to 12K is a big jump but from what I have read and seen the 4K is to get the razor sharp and anything above that is polishing and refining an already sharp edge. Over where you are perhaps you can find a coticule or a Thuringan and use it with slurry and then with water to finish.

About stropping: the general consensus on SRP at this moment seems to be 60 laps on leather, based on experiments that were run by one of the senior members. (Could be TheBigSpendur, or AFDavis, or yet someone else. I don't quite remember.)
I always do 20 laps on linen and 60 on leather myself, with no adverse effects.

About your honing: It's a big step, going from that 4K to 12K, but it surely doesn't hurt to try. The number of laps depends on the hone, but even with a fast hone, doing such a big step takes a lot of work. Without more information about that hone, I'd say 50 laps to start with. You can always go back and do 50 more, if you suspect margin for improvement based on the shave results.

I would not pyramid between your 4K hone and your 12K hone. Doing 5 laps on the 4K will undue all the work you did on the 12K. With the Norton 4K/8K that's not much of a problem, because it's a know fact that the 8K rapidly removes the 4K scratch pattern. With your 12, which I know nothing about, it might very well take 200 laps or more to eradicate the 4K scratches. You'll never get there if you're going to do 5 laps on the 4K, each time you go back to the hones after one test shave. My advice is to hone on the 4K till the sharpness maxes out. It should pass the "mow arm hair"-test. (shave arm hair, but lift the edge a bit while the spin remains on the skin, to find out if the razors pops some hairs above skin level). Next, moisten your 12K and do a few laps in the stropping direction. (this removes possible traces of overhoning) Then do your 50 laps on the 12K, strop 60 on clean leather and test shave.

One final tip: the lighter the strokes, the keener the end result. That counts even on your 4K.

Good luck,

Bart.

Thanks for all tips. I will do as you said. Anyway i know my honing gives some effects at last

Well, i see further improvement in sharpness. It's not a huge step but it seems it's acceptable. I will soon have another razor which was not used before (it's 100 years old). I'll try to hone it and compare to one i have now.