Thread: A honing and shaving epiphany ......Finally

Originally Posted by OLD_SCHOOL

I believe I was told the same thing by Heavydutysg135 a few months ago. I've not yet had the courage to try direct off the 8k yet, mostly because I have tried razors finished on a Coticule by experienced honers, and I was not able to get comfortable shaves off them. If I believe the stories about a Coticule being smoother than a synthetic 8k, then I foresee that a shave off 8k would be disasterous, for me.

EDIT: One day I guess I will try it.

Maybe it depends on the beard/skin of the individual ? I have gotten good smooth shaves off of coticules . I am under the impression that I have gotten razors sharper off of synthetics like the Shapton pro and glass but it is hard to quantify. Sometimes I tend to equate harsher with sharper and there again it may be the individual's beard and skin sensitivity. You should try shaving off of the 4/8 , you might be pleasantly surprised. OTOH, I doubt if you will be getting rid of your Nakayama.

Originally Posted by mparker762

Hmmphf, you younguns have it easy Back in the old days we used to shave off the 8k all the time, and we liked it. Coticules and Eschers at a whopping 10k grit were the high-grit polishers, assuming you could find them on ebay and beat the snipes.

We 'younguns' appreciate the work of you 'oldtimers' that cleared the land and put in the runway !

I'm sort of the same way. I have put my razors through some stropping on plain newspaper and now I think they are a bit too sharp for my face. They pass the HHT like a breeze but the shave is a bit harsh on my sensitive skin. I'm expecting a coticule in the mail soon so I'm thinking about trying some passes on it to calm the edge down a bit.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Once I lather up I do the whole shave as usual. That's just me, you can do it any way that you want. Usual for me is WTG for the first pass and then a combination of XTG and ATG depending on what works best. If it pulled I would probably abort the mission and bring it back to the hone immediately.

I can tell by the nature of the hair popping on my leg whether I will get a good shave. I don't find the shave off of the 8k uncomfortable at all. At least not the two times I have tried it. I will be trying it a lot more with various blades so I'm sure there will be some that are better then others.

thanks. I have had razors be fine on WTG, but be a mess on ATG.

I'm so dissapointed! I thought my stone would be here today but it seems like I'm going to have to wait until Monday to get it...

Originally Posted by Joed

Yep, if it doesn't cut arm or leg hair at several different places along the length of the edge coming off the 4 k don't go to a higher grit until it does. I am sure this is the main cause of honing frustration as well as too much pressure.

Also, test shaving off the 8k is a good idea. Ya don't need to shave your whole face off the 8k even though it would be a good shave. Those of us that use polishing hones may be spoiled and not like the feel but it was the way I finished my edges for several months until the finer hones found a home with me.

Other signs to look for are changes to the sound while honing and watch for when the water runs up the blade for it's entire length. The water running up the blade has replaced the TNT and TPT tests for me and is a good sign on all hones.

Hey Joed,

can you explain what you mean by the water running up the blade?

thanks!

I believe what he means is that the water runs up on the blade during the stroke rather than just being pushed in front the edge.

The idea being that the edge is so fine and making such good contact that it moves between the water and the stone causing the water to move up onto the blade.

This is an especially important indicator when you're changing angles, like going from a taped spine to a non-taped spine.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

We 'younguns' appreciate the work of you 'oldtimers' that cleared the land and put in the runway !

And the landing lights, and the handy dandy AOS in duty free.

+1 - thanks to those who came before for making it that much easier.

Why wait til the 8?

One should be able to get some semblance of a smooth feeling first pass off the 1k.

Skin sensitivity and beard type surely do come into play, or so I hear.

Regardless I do believe the shave test to be a fine teaching tool. The face will give you more information about edge condition, than shin or belly hair(running out of test patches lol) or any other sharpness test.

I've shaved off the 8k a few times for curiosity's sake. I've never tried off the 4k or 1k. I gotta try that!