Thread: Progression on honing

excuse me, but isn't that just adding 3k into it? where's the sixk and the 10

i would be gladly add 6k and 10k in rotation i didn't have at that time. instead of 10k i did use 2 different barber hones.
what i wanted to find out speed of the honing . it did decrease time of honing a lot. that is the purpose of this test.

Here is a question that fits well here....
Starting with a dull razor, I spend ample time at 2k and 4k to form a good bevel that pops arm hair and feels agressive on the thumb pad. I've noticed recently on a few different blades that as I continue on to refine that bevel with finer grits (like 8k, 12k, 16k) the edge will start to feel dull on the thumb pad.

My expectation is that after setting the bevel nicely, it should then polish out fairly quickly when using a tight procession of fine grit stones. A 10X loup shows that to be the case as the bevels begin to mirror light. However, the sharpness does not come along with the polish.

Eventually, either by looping back to a coarser stone or back honing or tinkering with slurries, etc. I have managed to get a nice edge, but I don't seem to be getting there with just a straight forward procession. What am I doing wrong?

your are not setting bevel right. Exactly to say you are moving from 2 to 4k too early.(could be from 2 to 4) .don't worry about getting shiny bevel worry about setting bevel -getting "V" edge first.after this you will be fine while you are moving nest hone.
hope this helps

What helped me is not leaving my bevel setting stone until it could shave hair.

Not having the bevel set correctly leads to hours of frustration

Thanks, good suggestions, but not useful here. I'm familiar with the problem of moving on too soon before the bevel is good. I stay at 2k until it shaves arm hair very easily, over the full length of the blade! So I know for sure I have completely ground both sides of the blade to a new edge before moving on. I double check with a 10X loup as well as the TPT. In some cases I am removing old chips so I'm at 2k for a long time.


Maybe I'm not staying on the 4k or 8k long enough? How do you know when to move on from those?

Originally Posted by matt321

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Maybe I'm not staying on the 4k or 8k long enough? How do you know when to move on from those?

When the scratch pattern from the 2k has been largely replaced by a 4k or 8k pattern. Often visible in good light without magnification. Or when the TPT and/or HHT gets noticeably better. Or all 3.

I use the visual method until it looks close finish-wise. Then I TPT the edge. If the TPT confirms my visual assessment, then I'm done on that grit.

Originally Posted by matt321

Thanks, good suggestions, but not useful here. I'm familiar with the problem of moving on too soon before the bevel is good. I stay at 2k until it shaves arm hair very easily,


Maybe I'm not staying on the 4k or 8k long enough? How do you know when to move on from those?

Now move from 4k to 8 k when arm hairs pops up from the blade.