Thread: Please help me diagnose this honing problem.

If you want to eliminate the "razor angle" from the equation, then shave with the blade flat on the face.

Chris there really is no right or wrong with the direction of honing, most people do the away and back it seems, probably because that's what Lynn's vid shows....
Kind been thinking on this one and you have some variable that is coming into play here....
You have honed razors that shave fine and you have shaved different razors fine....

So my sugestion is to take one of these razors that is giving you problem and start from scratch on honing it, leave the other alone....

As to overhoning I am sure you have read some of my other posts on that, it just isn't all that easy to do... I would bet on an under or mis honed edge first.....

Another thing you want to do is look at the blade from all angles, it is not so rare to find that they are not all that even from the factories....

In fact here is an interesting pic... I tried to catch how totally off center this blade was made...

OK my 5 cts:

1st: do you use the same angle on both sides of your face?
2nd: you may have rolled the edge inadvertently while stropping one way. It has happened to me that when stropping I tended to lift the spine going one way while moving the razor away from my body and not doing it on the way back towards me.
3rd: do you keep the strop taut all the way and both ways? You may slacken it a bit when moving the razor away from you.
4th are you sure you do not apply a lot of pressure on the blade at the end of a stroke on the leather
5th are you sure you do not slam the razor onto the leather when flipping it over?