Progression with my equipment for W&B steel?
This is a possible double post, but I'll put it together.
I've currently been bested. I have a few Wade and Butchers which I've been dying to shave with, but the first one I've tried to hone I can't get sharp. The edge bevel starts to progress to sharp and the arm hairs start to cut smoother, but then I reach a wall where it isn't as sharp. I can't seem to get even close to the hair popping stage! I've restored a couple of other razor edges and touched a few more up, but this is my first wedge. So, is there a trick I should try? I'm still not an expert when it comes to going to the higher grits. I'd rather not go with multiple layers of tape since I like the idea of each razor having a standard amount of tape on the spine (currently one). I've lapped my hones, done the marker edge test and my stroke is even, but it won't get sharp enough! Do hollow grounds "pop" hair off differently then wedges? My current setup is 220/1k, 4k/8k (Nortons), BBW with slurry stone, coticule, dovo red and green paste.
Which brings me to my next question :OT ?? . I've been doing the 1k - 8k progression for bevel to sharpen, bbw with slurry, coticule with water as my normal progression. Should I use the dovo pastes? If so, in what cases (since I think they're fairly aggressive)? Also, does that norton to natural progression seem like the best logically/chronologically? Sorry for the long post, but I've tried to find all this info and so far haven't seen it on the forums.