Thread: Confusion over sharpness

Originally Posted by northpaw

It might help in coming up with an answer for you (and someone's bound to ask anyway)... what's the natural stone you already have?

it's a tam o'shanter scotch hone "for razors and medical cutting instruments"

thanks.

if this is a one time only honing issue,
why don´t you send the razor to a honemeister,
instead of experimenting with your (only?) razor

I could not follow your process exactly. Let me admit I have no clue what sort of edge The ToS produces. It should be adequate I think.

You could always send your razor out, but you could be in the same position shortly after its return.

Do you have a leather and cloth strop? And, another way to shave?

You could proceed by shave testing your linen stropping technique. Improved= good. If not you would return to the stone and try again.

You can always finish your shave with your old method.

Being new to it the first thing you need is a loupe or mini-microscope. Being able to correlate what you see to what you feel is very important in the beginning.

Rather than a finer finishing hone I believe you would be better served with a synthetic waterstone in the 3-4k range. Slow cutting naturals have a way of messing things up in the beginnings. Being able to return reliably, quickly to a point where the natural can be effective again is a good thing.

Originally Posted by kevint

Do you have a leather and cloth strop?

i have a latigo strop, but no linen or cloth.

ciao

Originally Posted by MisterDavid

it's a tam o'shanter scotch hone "for razors and medical cutting instruments"

thanks.

The Tam O'Shanter is a great little hone, and should get your razor shaving very well if you do your part. If you haven't lapped it yet then you must do this before trying to get your razor sharp. Use 400 grit wet/dry until it's flat (you can verify this by drawing a grid on the stone with a pencil). Then polish it with 600 grit sandpaper, then finally 1000 grit. At each step draw a grid with the pencil and sand until it's gone.

Use the TOS with water. It is a slow hone, but a sure one, and puts a really lovely polish on the edge. It isn't discussed much around here anymore, but nonetheless there are several of us that use it.

How about barber hone? do you have any? it will be cheaper solution. hope this helps.

Originally Posted by mparker762

The Tam O'Shanter is a great little hone, and should get your razor shaving very well if you do your part. If you haven't lapped it yet then you must do this before trying to get your razor sharp. Use 400 grit wet/dry until it's flat (you can verify this by drawing a grid on the stone with a pencil). Then polish it with 600 grit sandpaper, then finally 1000 grit. At each step draw a grid with the pencil and sand until it's gone.

Use the TOS with water. It is a slow hone, but a sure one, and puts a really lovely polish on the edge. It isn't discussed much around here anymore, but nonetheless there are several of us that use it.

it's quite an old ToS, been used for years with knives, will it still need a lapping do you think?

ciao,
Misterdavid

Originally Posted by MisterDavid

it's quite an old ToS, been used for years with knives, will it still need a lapping do you think?

Misterdavid,
If the hone isn't completely flat, it will need to be lapped. I suspect if it's old and used for years, it will need lapped. You can post a picture if you aren't sure and someone will advise.
Cheers,

I'd lap it any way. I have had athew brand new dovos and they have shaved realy well out of the box but do have a slight abrasive feel to them that i don't prefer so give it 30 laps on my coti wet then a thew dry ones then ch.5 and that will make a nice differance

Originally Posted by MisterDavid

it's quite an old ToS, been used for years with knives, will it still need a lapping do you think?

ciao,
Misterdavid

Even more so, knife beet the snot out of hones. It will improve in all ways lapped.
Mike

Sorry, i type slooow drool,......