Heres my story...
I have been learning how to hone and thought that I was doing very well. Then something happened. I sold one of my razors and heard back from the buyer saying the razor was far from sharp. This was a razor i had honed and thought it to be sharp. It wasnt really in my rotation, so I didnt dull it out with use.
Now I have been traveling due to work so havent had any of my hones with me for the past 8 months. I just returned home and started reading again. It bugged me that someone thought my razor was sub par in honing.
I will tell you that for whatever reason i was never able to shave off the 4k. I was usually able to shave arm hairs and pass HHT's after stropping. (i know the HHT isnt a good marker). After reading a post today, It kinda hit me that maybe i wasnt doing enough passes to get where i needed to be.
Today I took 4 razors that I thought were sub par and re established a bevel using circular motions of 20 on each side...and repeated until the bevel was established on a 1k Norton. After that I started on the 4k Shapton starting at 60 passes. I attempted to shave arm hairs after each 60 and found that the norm was 120-180 strokes. After that I went to the 8k and did about 100-140 strokes...followed by the 16k giving it a good 60-100 strokes. I followed that up with 40 passes on a green pasted strop. Then went 30 compressed wool, 40 linen and 40 leather.
My only gripe was the toe and heel on some of the blades. I used my Radioshack magnifier and saw a well polished edge up until the very ends. I suppose ill be practicing on those. I had a Livi that gave me a hell of a time. The true test will be a shave.
I just found it a kicker that what I thought was sharp, someone else thought was really dull. If only there was a way to have a benchmark to see how one was doing.
Well thats my story and thank you for reading it. Any comments or critiques would be welcomed.
Isaac