Thread: YAHQ (yet another honing question)

Originally Posted by BHChieftain

But I think technically you'd get maxium sharpness using paste after the hone, but I think getting maxium sharpness isn't always the goal- I aim for a comfortable shave.

I still have troubles ATG so I think sharpness is still an issue for me. It takes all my skill to get ATG right because the whiskers simply stop the blade unless ...

• I hit the tough areas (chin and upper lip) from every other possible angle first, and
• use a slicing motion, sometimes with a bit of scrubbing action.

I found an interesting thing in one of the "how to hone" descriptions (I think in the 1961 Barbers Text). It says the X-pattern when honing and stropping is quite necessary, and not just because the hone or strop is narrower than the blade. The X-pattern makes the striations on the cutting edge at a slightly diagonal angle and that helps the slicing stroke (and here's the key point) when done towards the toe, as the text recommends. I have concentrated on doing it that way in the tough areas and I think it helps. Might just be psychological, but it probably doesn't hurt, anyway.

Oh, yes. The strop I use is a paddle strop so I think rounding the edge is less of an issue with that.

Another follow up!

After receiving a newly honed Boker from gssixgun I realized how far off my hone skills were.

I also recently got a 10x loupe so took a look at the edges of both razors and noticed two things:

1. The honed edge on the Boker was much more mirror-like than what I had accomplished.
2. The honed edge on my razor had rounded, not flat planes.

To fix this up I did well over 100 laps, with slurry, on my Coticule. It is a fairly short "bout" so the number of laps probably overstates the amount of honing somewhat but it was still a lot. I did that many because Every 20 laps or so I examined the blade with the loupe and didn't stop until I got flat instead of rounded planes on the edge.

I tried the thumb nail test and was surprised at how easy it was to recognize the "grabbiness" of the edge. It was smooth and even the whole length of the blade! I did 20 more laps after this test.

I followed that up with water-only on the Coticule. I forget how many laps, but probably about 50-75.

Next came about 50 laps on a Swaty. Then a bunch on 0.50 diamond paste and 0.25 diamond paste, both on a rigid paddle strop.

Final examination with the loupe showed an edge comparable to the edge on the Boker. Not quite as nice, but close.

Finally the "shave test" -- It shaved almost as well as the Boker!

One other thing. I never could get good results from the arm-hair test. Very few hairs fell down into the sink. And, surprisingly, things seemed no better this time -- until I looked at the blade under the loupe and saw that there were many more hairs stuck to the blade, perhaps by static electricity.

Chief,

Thank you. You answered a question I was about to post - do I really need to strop if I finish on a 1 or .5 micron stone. I know stropping rounds over the edge, a good thing for the immediate shave, but will require more work to maintain the edge over time.