Thread: Why hone with light pressure?

I don't use the same light pressure throughout the process. My pressure gets lighter and lighter as I finish up on each grit. On the very highest grits/paste I use the lightest pressure throughout.

I think this post on pressure pretty much says it all, it really helped me to speed up and improve my honing. Anybody know if it's in the wiki yet?

Originally Posted by Sticky

I don't use the same light pressure throughout the process. My pressure gets lighter and lighter as I finish up on each grit. On the very highest grits/paste I use the lightest pressure throughout.

Does this mean that at the beginning of each grit you start off "heavy", and then go light? Or are you saying that it's just a steady easing of pressure?

Originally Posted by biggbadwulff

Does this mean that at the beginning of each grit you start off "heavy", and then go light? Or are you saying that it's just a steady easing of pressure?

In this post here Glenn says exactly what The Topher told me when he was showing me how to hone at his house. "Just enough pressure to keep the blade flat on the hone." What Chris showed me was actually more pressure then that in setting the bevel but once the bevel was set then it was the light "just enough" pressure from there on out.

Originally Posted by biggbadwulff

Does this mean that at the beginning of each grit you start off "heavy", and then go light? Or are you saying that it's just a steady easing of pressure?

Sorta'.

Using a 1200 DMT D6E to set bevels; "heavy" is about 3 to 5 times the razor's weight, beginning with circular motions (mostly). Once my bevels start to meet, I use lighter and lighter pressure with the standard x-strokes until I pass the TNT and marker tests. I am assuming an average razor weight of about 45 grams.

By the time I am on 8k; heavy might mean twice the weight of the razor, while light means just as light as i can get it. My "light" pressure is the same on every hone. My "heavy" beginning pressure, on each hone, gets lighter as I proceed upwards on each finer grit. By the time I get to 12k and above, the difference between my "light" and "heavy" is slight. If I go to 0.5 chrome oxide or newspaper, there is virtually no difference at all.

Recently I used an Ohaus scale to measure my honing pressure on barber hones. I was surprised at how high my lightest pressure actually was. Using the scale improved my lighter pressure ability quite a bit (a useful experiment).

I use the D8E 1200 too with some pressure. If I get chipping with the diamond plate I switch over to a Shapton 1K followed by the 2K. The Topher showed me how to set bevels and I have seen him in removing a good sized chip use enough pressure using circular strokes to wear through the tape on the spine and have to replace it. I have never used that much myself. I prefer to take more time if need be.

Once I get the bevel set I don't use much pressure. As noted above, Topher and Glenn have both said, enough to keep the blade flat on the hone. Interesting to see exactly how much pressure you are using with the scale. I have a little electronic one for mailing when I sell on ebay . I will have to give it a try.

Steven, Do you just place the hone on the scale and watch the additional downward pressure readings as you hone the blade?

Originally Posted by timberrr59

Steven, Do you just place the hone on the scale and watch the additional downward pressure readings as you hone the blade?

Yes. I place the hone on the scale and zero it first.

Some scales have a high/low lock feature, but placing the razor on the hone and flipping it for the return lap kinda' defeats that procedure.

What if you did use just enough_ of too much pressure. Enough to cause that plastic curl we all worry about.

You'd then be cutting at the bottom of that burr. Then after enough passes you would cut through it; returning the the same edge you had before.

Who was it that mentioned, perhaps in another thread, about excessive pressure eating up too much metal?

the scales idea is a neat one. It would be fun to watch the numbers jump around on an high accuracy digital.

I know I will be working on my honing some more...

Thanks, Sticky. That clears up some things for me. And that scale idea is great for getting consistency in each pass.