Thread: The thumb method to tracking an edge

Honing a razor is easy you run the blade across the stone in the X pattern with only enough presser to keep the blade flat on the stone. Keeping track of what you are doing is the hard part. I chose the old timers thump test. But you have to teach yourself how to feel the teeth and fin on the cutting edge of the razor. I studied the feel of a razor against a wet thump for weeks to learn the stages an edge goes throw. Here grasshopper is what I have learned.

1 Your thump has to be wet for about half a minuet before you can feel the fin on a razor. You just barely touch the razor, remember you are feeling a microscopic fin and you can brake if very easily. Here less is more.
2 The best and fastest way to learn to feel the fin is to keep track of the blade as you hone it. But if you keep your thump wet as long as it takes to hone your razor it will get to soft so you have to keep it dry between tests. Buy the way I almost never hone a razor in one setting. Give your skin a chance to rest before you put the final touches on it. The nerves in your skin will get tired after about 20 minuets, it has to do with the chemicals the chemicals they use to transmit signals and how fast they can make more. I just set the blade aside and finish it later.
3 Test your razor than run it across the stone a few times. The stone you use is your choice I start on the 8k and if I don’t feel the fin starting to form after about 4 passes I do the 4k a few times. Your thumb will tell you what to do. You will know the fin when you feel it and you will feel the teeth as well.
4 When I first feel the fin on the 8k I give it a few more strokes to feel to grow. Remember your learning to feel the fin, you already know how to hone a razor. Now I go from the 8k to the 15k and back again. Usually 1:1 or 1:2. The 8k builds up the fin and the 15k makes the teeth finer. You have to have the finest teeth you can still feel and still have the fin! If either one goes away the blade will not cut well. You can do the same thing with a 4k/8k stone. Your thumb will tell you when to use the courser stone more to build the fin and when to stick to the finer stone. At the end I go one or two strokes on the stone at a time and strop a little to help refine the edge. I use a medium fine and supper fine strop the same way I use the stones. When do I go the strop? When the edge is getting to the point where I can just feel the teeth, I strop 10 or 20 times to see if it makes the teeth finer. If not I stone the blade some more. No canvas! (the fin should feel nice and large when you are done) As you can see the better you can feel the blade with your thump the sharper your blades will be.
5 All the old men (90 + years) I have talk to tell me the same thing about pasted stops. They are very good for polishing the cutting edge of the fin, but they will wear is down and it needs a stone to build it back up.

Well that is what I have learned so far. Most of my progress has come in the last three week so it takes very little time to learn this. Happy shaving.

Buy the way do you think this is worth posting?


Mason