Thread: Newbie to Honing....HELP!

I just started honing, I just re-scaled a D.Peres 11/16th" str8. Used cheap plastic scales, after all my first attemped didn't want to mess up any expensive scales!! But it turned out Not great, but OK, for me that's pretty good. Now to honing, I used Norton stones, 1K,4K,8K,and green 1uM paste. I used a magic marker to judge the eveness of the bevel and Lynn's progressive method, first agressive, then the conservative approach. I used slurry at first and watered it down as I honed, then very, very light strokes with a clean stone and just water. As I whent along the tpt seemed to confirm my progress but at no time could I get a HHT or SHT to work, After deciding that I whent as far as I could I whent to the paste to do the final polishing. THEN--- the shave. It was great!! I mean I got a BBS with very little effort, and using the same facial prep I always use. Now to my probably misplaced question, If the shave was so good, shouldn't the razor be able to cut a single hair either hanging OR standing?? Is there a honing proticol that I should use on the razor to bring it TO that state?? AND is there anyone who has had experiance honing and or just shaving with any str8 made by D.Preres, and also marked 'MANGOSTEEL'.
I hope this little tome of mine made sense to sombody!!! I apologise for any spelling erors as the spell check on this blog does not seem to work on my computer for some reason.
Sincerely, SRP's tinkersd!
And a great BBS to all!!

This has been declared many times...

The only test that matters is the shave test. If you are getting a good comfortable shave, put the hones away and be happy, you're done.

+1 on what Utopian said. You may, however, have a go at this article: Hanging Hair Test, from trick to probing method - Straight Razor Place Wiki. It has all the finer points of the HHT, and then some.

I liked that Wiki article. That's an interesting way to make it a more uniform test.

For some people the HHT will work but for others it will not because of the variation in the composition of human hair. The shave test is the only real test, the others are only approximate indicators. Be happy, you have done well!

Thank you fine gentilmen for your great feedback!! It made me feel more at ease with the work I'M doin' in my new hobby. I think I'll bloody well get back to my hones now, I do need the practice!!!

And a great BBS to you all!!


tinkersd'of SRP!