Thread: my first honing experience

i got 3 razors to do the hht with just some hones/whet rocks i had laying around the house and an inexpensive leather strop. wade & butcher, expert barber 400 from union cutlery, and a hand-made wedge i got for bout $11. man they are sharp. got another barnsley brothers that must have rock hard metal cause i cant seem to get that one as sharp as the others.

you better not give up on this blade.in that case all this help was===0
that will hurt

Well throwing in the towel was just one of the options but since Bart lives quite nearby and I'm afraid he has the capabilities to cut off all Belgian beer and chocolate supplies to the Netherlands ( just dont want to take the risk he actualy does) That is an option I dont have anymore..

So.. will I do a lot of laps on the DMT-E or shall I go for some laps on the DMT-F, then DMT-E.. BBW.. and then Coticule... Oh BTW I got a new BBW yesterday... do I need to break that one in as wel? or can I just lap it with the DMT-E

Thanks and I will keep you all posted...

Maarten

Originally Posted by mlangstr

Well throwing in the towel was just one of the options but since Bart lives quite nearby and I'm afraid he has the capabilities to cut off all Belgian beer and chocolate supplies to the Netherlands ( just dont want to take the risk he actualy does) That is an option I dont have anymore..

Yeah, right, you know how vindictive we Belgians can become...

Originally Posted by mlangstr

So.. will I do a lot of laps on the DMT-E or shall I go for some laps on the DMT-F, then DMT-E.. BBW.. and then Coticule... Oh BTW I got a new BBW yesterday... do I need to break that one in as wel? or can I just lap it with the DMT-E

You don't need to break in the BBW, (only diamond hones need to be broken in), but you do need to lap it till it's absolutely flat. <Hone Lapping 101 - Straight Razor Place Wiki
Your DMT-C (325 grit) is the perfect tool for that. By the way, your Coticule needs to be flat as well.

There's no harm in going to a coarser grit, as long as the DMT-F is properly broken in...
I personally add one layer of tape to the spine if I drop below the DMT-E, for the sake of protecting the spine from such coarse abrasion. It does introduce a slight obtuser angle, that you need to undo on the DMT-E later, but one layer of tape doesn't take long to correct. Just be absolutely sure that you remove all 600 grit scratches on the DMT-E, before going to the BBW.

Bart.

Eeh...stil not there. I realy like honing, but i also like sharp razor. There must be something i'm doing wrong here.
I've lapped both the coticule and the bbw, did the down stroke thing,did the MMT and that seemed ok. Honed on the dmt until the tpt made the razor feel sticky. Went to the bbw with slurry,watered it down.then the coticule. Stropped it and had a c@).y shave.
The razor does shave some..but not smooth.

Maarten

N

steps you have done are right.
Please check the edge everytime you changing stones.
i think mistake is this you are jumping out of dmt early.you haven't set bevel yet that is why all this happens.
you do have camera show us the edge again let 's see what will be our advise.'
As long as you are fighting we will fight together
i have struggled more then you when started this crazy habit.but now i am happy. i am sure you will be happy at the end too.just keep on fighting.show the edge please if you can show both sides of the blade picture it will help too.thank you

Originally Posted by mlangstr

Eeh...stil not there. I realy like honing, but i also like sharp razor. There must be something i'm doing wrong here.
I've lapped both the coticule and the bbw, did the down stroke thing,did the MMT and that seemed ok. Honed on the dmt until the tpt made the razor feel sticky. Went to the bbw with slurry,watered it down.then the coticule. Stropped it and had a c@).y shave.
The razor does shave some..but not smooth.

Maarten

N

Damn. It becomes weirder and weirder. Did yo try shaving arm hair, or passing the HHT when you came off the DMT? Did you end your work on the DMT with a set of extremely light laps?
How does the bevel look now? I reckon the double bevel issue should be completely gone by now. How did the TPT feel after the Blue? sharper or less sharp?
You did use only water on that Coticule, did you?

Sorry to ask so many questions.

I have an emergency plan (other than sending it to me and allow me to play with it ),
but I'm not ready to disclose it yet. If the bevel is good off the DMT, that razor should be up to par after 50 to 100 laps on the Blue with slurry and about the same on the Coticule with water.

Bart.

I didnt do the HHT or shave arm hair with it when I came off the DMT.. but I'm pretty sure it would have shaved armhair.. the TPT was sliding into the skin like butter all over the edge and I looked at the bevel every 10-20 laps to see how things where going.. I did the same on the BBW.. checked it regularly on the thumbpad and with the loupe. when it came of the DMT it felt a bit more course on the TP than after the BBW... it felt pretty smooth.. when I was done with slurry I just added a couple of drops of water until it was just water.. then I did about 100 laps with only water on the coticule.. I did see a very weird reflexion after stropping it was as if the edge was lighted up I could see it from most directions even when the bevel itself did not reflect..

I think I'll make some pictures of it this weekend.. but photographing, resizing uploading costs more time than honing this son of a knife...

But hey... I've got myself a nice new hobby

Maarten