Thread: Circular Strokes

Brought out a nice eBay Puma I got a while back, and began honing it up for the first time. During the final passes on the 8K Norton, I got a bit too cavalier with the 'flip' end of the stroke, and the blade hit the stone lightly.

I decided to check it with the SRP 60-100X Scope, and sure enough, it had 'micro-nick' right on the edge that had fracture out! D'uh! FIRST time I have ever done that!

I went to 'backhone' the nick out, as usual, using the reverse "X" pattern on the 4K side, but tried using a circular stroke instead first. IT REALLY got the nick out fast! I then returned to the "X" pattern to establish the right scratch pattern, and went back to the 8K and the 13K to finish-up.

The circular stroke really, really did speed-up reestablishing the edge, while maintaining the spine-to-edge geometry. I will use this when needed from here on out.

Just a report from the honing trenches.

Best -

Thanks Chaaz, just for the record, what grit of hone did you use to remove the nick?
The 4k side of the Norton hone I assume. Now the major question is how deep was the nick? Was it 1/2 the width of the bevel ? More or less? About how long did it take you on the 4K to remove the nick? If you have to do it again would you prefer using an 800 or 1000 grit hone?

Personally, I use an 800 grit ceramic spyderco hone to remove nicks and establish a new bevel.
It just works faster than using a 4000 Norton.


Just wondering,

Hi Randy ...the chunk that fell out was about 3/4 of the bevel deep, irregularly shaped. I used the 4K Norton for taking the nick out, and at that point wish I had the 1K, but the 4K worked with a little work - not too bad.

One thing I noticed was that the bevel had a 'wave' to it before I started, where the previous owner(s) had applied more pressure to one area of the blade/spine. The circular honing work I used in removing the nick also reestablished the correct edge geometry, and pretty much corrected the uneven bevel width.

This Puma is worth the work, and is almost where I want it for shaving. Can't wait to run this one over my face!

Next up is a very nice Clauss razor, with fancy scrolled, pressed scales!

My daily rotation has grown to the point where it is a long time before I see the same razor twice!

Can't WAIT until the SRP Specials arrive sometime in the next week or so!

Best -

I restore bevels with circular strokes, too. I usually use a 600 to 1200 grit diamond hone for that and then move up once the bevel has been established. No sense to me in polishing your way to a new bevel with a finer stone unless you've got lots and lots of time on your hands with nothing better to do. I'd only caution that you don't want to put too much pressure on the blade no matter how fast you want to reset the bevel because flexing the blade makes for some sloppy honing and can yield some unexpected and unpleasant results. Also check to be sure both sides of the bevel are even when you're done. Then you're ready to put a shaving edge on it again.

Thanks guys!

Would a circular motion work best on the lower grits?

I think Lynn does circles on the 4K to remove chips.

Sometimes I'll do circles or back-and-forth honing on a trouble spot using my coticule.

For the most part, you want to remove any defects in the edge on a lower grit, usually 1K to 4K. Since circles are for removing defects, most of the time you'd use them on the lower grits.

Josh

I don't have a 4k grit, so on a 1000 grit I did about 300 circles on each side of the razor and managed to get the two chips out. The edge looks much straighter now than it did. However, I have a feeling I will be on the 8k for awhile to get the razor back to sharp again. 50 passes and I went to bed.

Funny thing though, since my only straight razor is dull, I lathered up as usual this morning but shaved with my old Gillette twin blade cartridge and now my face is smooth and I don't have razor burn.

I'd complain but my face feels great - Oh well, back to the hone Sunday

Originally Posted by PapaBull

I restore bevels with circular strokes, too. I usually use a 600 to 1200 grit diamond hone for that and then move up once the bevel has been established. No sense to me in polishing your way to a new bevel with a finer stone unless you've got lots and lots of time on your hands with nothing better to do. I'd only caution that you don't want to put too much pressure on the blade no matter how fast you want to reset the bevel because flexing the blade makes for some sloppy honing and can yield some unexpected and unpleasant results. Also check to be sure both sides of the bevel are even when you're done. Then you're ready to put a shaving edge on it again.

+1 on that.

Too much pressure almost certainly leads to uneven pressure which almost certainly leads to an uneven bevel which almost certainly leads to an unhappy face.

Originally Posted by hoglahoo

I don't have a 4k grit, so on a 1000 grit I did about 300 circles on each side of the razor and managed to get the two chips out. The edge looks much straighter now than it did. However, I have a feeling I will be on the 8k for awhile to get the razor back to sharp again. 50 passes and I went to bed.

Funny thing though, since my only straight razor is dull, I lathered up as usual this morning but shaved with my old Gillette twin blade cartridge and now my face is smooth and I don't have razor burn.

I'd complain but my face feels great - Oh well, back to the hone Sunday

Wow 300circles on a 1000 grit.

That's some amount of metal removed. You must've had two ugly and bad chips.