Thread: Is it normal to take so long..

I would recommend that you use the 4K after the sandpaper. The 4K will smooth out the sandpaper's scratch pattern. If you are using a sandpaper grit that is sufficient to set a bevel, then I would suspect the scratches will be too deep to be smoothed out by the 8K.

Of course, I should point out that I have NEVER set a bevel, or honed at all, on sandpaper so it's likely that you should ignore my advice.

How long does it take to make 1000 strokes?
I always managed to loose count so i keep time. Setting a bevel is seldom formulaic imho. There's too many different directions needed to keep count, and I just cant see getting there by light finishing strokes for the entire effort.

two more questions? what is happening on the spine? What are you leaving on the stone?

took me a long time few hours. The spine seemed okay.

I've since then tried my luck with sandpaper instead

I started with some 1k then 2k then norton 8k and finally yellow coticule with some water.

The blade was pretty darn sharp.

I'm curious as to why you would need to set the bevel on a blade that was shave ready just a week ago. That must be one tough beard you have. High iron diet I imagine.

It's possible, as a few folks pointed out, that the issue is the tape. If it was first honed with a layer (or two) of tape, you are essentially reestablishing a bevel if you choose not to use tape.

I know this has been discussed plenty of times elsewhere, but briefly, by not using tape, you are changing the angle of honing, and your first strokes will be on the bevel angle, not on the cutting edge -- which nay not even be touching the hone. And you'll stroke away until that old bevel angle is honed down and you finally set a new bevel and get to the cutting edge.

Four thousand strokes does seem a lot, though. I generally set bevels with a 1k, and sometimes even with a 500, so it might just take that long on a 4k, especially if it's hard steel (although the FR I have is relatively easy to work with).

Hope that helps some, and YMMV,

cass

Apart from the tape issue, if it was really dull to begin with, it will take a lot of metal removal to get it ready.
The bevels will look ok, but as long as the 2 bevels are not touching each other, it will still be as dull as a shovel.

How does your razor react to the thumbnail test?
If it still doesn't grab the nail, more honing is needed, in which case you might want to use a 1K stone, or -if you don't have one- use 1K wet/dry sandpaper on a flat surface.

No, that is not normal. I also don't recommend re-setting bevels on finishing stones like a 4000 grit anything. Think of honing as a progressive process. You start with a coarse stone and proceed to finer stones. If you're not getting any results, drop back to a coarser stone. I take vintage razors from dull to scary sharp in about 20 minutes if nothing else is wrong with the razor such as a nick or a twist in the blade or a completely wrong bevel. In those cases it takes about 30 minutes. I use Shaptons for much of my honing lately and that 20 minute progression includes taking it out to a 30000 grit edge.