Thread: Help on Honing a Silverwing!!

Hi everybody!

Does anyone have experience with honing a TI silverwing? I just got one and it has a factory edge..I've been trying to hone it all of today without much success.

I first used my chinese 12k with slurry and I noticed that didn't do much
Then the conservative pyramid on my Norton 4/8k
Again the conservative pyramid
and lastly the Aggressive pyramid

Still it isn't shave ready it does not pass the HHT or the ball of thumb test.
I'm a newb when it comes to honing but I've had succes with my practicing razor (now it is my favorite razor to shave with!!)

I know the silverwing has hard steel (65 rockwell, whatever that really means) but could it be this hard?!

Someone please help me!

They have a reputation for being tough. Mine was pre honed by Lynn and hasn't needed any touch up after half dozen shaves. I recall thebigspendur posting that it was a tough job to get a Silverwing shave ready. Have you looked at the bevel under magnification ? See what you have now that you have been honing on it. You may have to go to square one and reset the bevel. See the tutorial on bevel setting in the SRP Wiki here. Note the description of a single bevel when light reflects. If it is more then one color you need to correct it. Once you have that work on the pyramid. Others will be along with more advice.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

They have a reputation for being tough. Mine was pre honed by Lynn and hasn't needed any touch up after half dozen shaves. I recall thebigspendur posting that it was a tough job to get a Silverwing shave ready. Have you looked at the bevel under magnification ? See what you have now that you have been honing on it. You may have to go to square one and reset the bevel. See the tutorial on bevel setting in the SRP Wiki here. Note the description of a single bevel when light reflects. If it is more then one color you need to correct it. Once you have that work on the pyramid. Others will be along with more advice.

Ok thanks, I checked it under a loupe I have..and I really don't know about the bevel, as stated before I'm a honing newb. But I have a feeling this one is going to a honemeister after all
I guess I can do the touch ups later myself, but this is probably too advanced for me now.

Even a factory edge on a carbon razor is tricky to tackle
as a first honing experience. They sometimes need to
have a totally new bevel set. In fact, I've had to break
out the 2k or 1k on a new TI before.

Better let this nice razor see a honemeister first, and
get a different (less expensive) razor to hone.

(and nice blade!)

- Scott

Originally Posted by sebell

Even a factory edge on a carbon razor is tricky to tackle
as a first honing experience. They sometimes need to
have a totally new bevel set. In fact, I've had to break
out the 2k or 1k on a new TI before.

Better let this nice razor see a honemeister first, and
get a different (less expensive) razor to hone.

(and nice blade!)

- Scott

+1 Better advice could NOT be given here.

I wouldn't be too hasty to redo a bevel on a new razor. Just because a bevel might look small or be a little uneven isn't a reason to redo it.Unless there is a real defect your just looking for trouble or unnecessary work.

As far as the Silverwing goes its not easy to hone and it takes some different approaches to get it shave ready. If your new to this stuff don't mess with it, send it out. As I recall I used several different things on it. I used the Coticule and I used a diamond pasted strop (.5) and CrO. I kind of went back and forth from the coticule to the diamond ending up with the CrO.

I also found its hard to judge the Silverwing because to me it feels different shave wise than any other razor I have. It has a very heavy feel to it when you shave. You think it needs more honing but you get this very comfortable BBS shave from it.

I wouldn't be too hasty to redo a bevel on a new razor.

Good point. I should say more specifically that I have
had to set a new bevel on new razors in order to
obtain sharpness, and not for any other reason,
including appearance.

- Scott