Thread: 8 is enough more is icing on the cake

I recently got these two beauties off of ebay. Both were in good shape visually but the edges were dull and a bit chipped and wavy. I got on them with my DMT 1200 and a couple of drops of dish soap in the water and soon had a bevel set. I did pyramids on the Puma with the Norton 4 & 8 as described in the SRP Wiki here.

I did three progressive pyramids on the Puma before it felt right with the TPT and was popping hairs with the edge suspended above the skin. I did my routine 50 linen and 50 leather and it was passing HHT all along the blade. Shaved and got a 2 pass comfortable bbs off of the Norton 8K.

The following day I took the Puma to my Blue/Green Escher and did 30 strokes. This was not an entirely arbitrary number. My honing mentor The Topher seems to like 30 strokes as a good amount for finishing and I have stuck with that. Test shaved and it was fine. It was a slightly smoother shave.

Next up was the Boker Red Injun 102. This was a tougher customer in that the edge required breadknifing. There was a slight chip at the point and a few more along the blade. I again got out the DMT 1200 and went to work. The diamond plate made short work of the chips and setting the bevel. I didn't time it but I would guess it might have been fifteen or twenty minutes.

This time I decided to go with Shapton Pros. I have 'em and may as well use them. Early on when I was looking at the Shaptons I read posts where experienced members said that for a new guy the Norton was easier to learn on. The Shapton pros didn't give as much feedback and were more for a person who was an experienced honer.

Having been at this intensively for over a year I have finally gotten the hang of these hones. I have posted recently that I didn't care for the Shapton Pro 5k or 8k and I am eating those words. I first took my pro 2k to follow the diamond plate and did maybe 30 or 40 passes. I changed up from the plate because the Shap 2k seems to leave a slightly smoother scratch pattern then the DMT and I have always liked the feel of this hone and its performance. Once the TNT was passed I went to the 5k.

I did the same pyramid sequence with the 5 & 8k Shapton pros that I had used on the Puma except after two aggressive pyramids I followed with one conservative. Again using the info in the SRP Wiki. I still don't get a great deal of feedback from the pros but I am way more experienced at honing now. I watch the water moving up the blade and I can keep a light and consistent stroke. I did the pyramids doing the TPT every now and then and got the edge popping hair easily. Did the stropping routine and again was getting HHT all along the blade.

So I got another great shave off of an 8k except this time it was off of the Shaptons rather then the Nortons. This morning I took the Boker to an Escher Yellow/Green. I did 50 round trips with this one just because I felt like it. Call it intuition or stupidity but that was what my mind told me to do. I stropped and got HHT all along the blade easily again. The shave was great again.

So to end this long ramble I am going to make it a policy on newly honed razors to always test shave off of the 8 rather then move up in grit just because it is there. To those who only have stones up to 8k grit don't feel deprived. The finer polish obtained from the higher grit stones is just icing on the cake and you can get great shaves off of what you have IME....YMMV.

That suggestion of test shaving off of the 8k came up again about a week ago and I think it is a great thing to reinforce. If you can't shave off of the 8k, then you are wasting your time polishing an edge that isn't sharp enough in the first place. It doesn't matter how many strokes you do on the higher grit, if it ain't sharp, it ain't gonna be sharp with a 100-500 strokes on that polishing stone.
Thanks for the reminder!

Love the way the Puma Inox razor looks! Beautiful razor!

Originally Posted by Dups

Love the way the Puma Inox razor looks! Beautiful razor!

I quite agree!

I like your razors! I want a puma. Thankfully someone sent me a Puma to hone, so I might be able to nip my budding desire in the bud.

As for the 8k, you are very convincing. I keep forgetting that I used to shave off an 8k stone and it was pretty acceptable. Now I can't live without the finishing stone, but your absolutely right. 8k will shave and shave pretty good. I'd give it a C+ grade or B-.

Originally Posted by Utopian

That suggestion of test shaving off of the 8k came up again about a week ago and I think it is a great thing to reinforce. If you can't shave off of the 8k, then you are wasting your time polishing an edge that isn't sharp enough in the first place. It doesn't matter how many strokes you do on the higher grit, if it ain't sharp, it ain't gonna be sharp with a 100-500 strokes on that polishing stone.
Thanks for the reminder!

That is what I didn't get at first. Randy told me to test shave off the 8k but I had the finishers so why not use them? Glad I came back to the basics. Now I know I've been on the right track.

What a well put together great post, Jimmy. Thanks for this and for the great pictures. Very nice looking razors. Great information here.

Chris L

Thanks for taking your time to post this thread.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

That is what I didn't get at first. Randy told me to test shave off the 8k but I had the finishers so why not use them? Glad I came back to the basics. Now I know I've been on the right track.

This is exactly the same thoughts I had when I started honing, why should I shave of the 8K when I had read so much about the the different finishers, and spent the money for them? It really wasn't before I started to "maxing out" the 8K, and test shaving of it, I started to get the best out of my finishers, as I previously had taken the razors to the finishers too early and didn't get the most/best out of any of my hones.

Thanks, Jimmy. One caveat, though, is that it also depends on the 8k. I get great shaves off a coticule (yah, that's a bit finer) or swaty, but edges right off my DMT EE 8k are, while sharp, very uncomfortable.

Originally Posted by RayG

Thanks, Jimmy. One caveat, though, is that it also depends on the 8k. I get great shaves off a coticule (yah, that's a bit finer) or swaty, but edges right off my DMT EE 8k are, while sharp, very uncomfortable.

You know Ray I just recently got the DMT 8000. After setting the bevel on the DMT 1200 I find it great for getting tough stainless or Damascus blades ready for regular stones. I haven't tried shaving off of the DMT. So far the razors coming off of the Norton or Shapton pro 8k are comfortable and close.