Moving up in the honing world...

So I've been pottering about with hones for a while now, starting with the WNY meet where I honed my first two razors- one being a great success, the other just mediocre. Then the next few were all honed by myself- no watchful eye or supervision. I got everything I tried shave ready, and have been experimenting and I think I've finally dialed in the "perfect" finish for me.

Of course now that I am posting this it will probably Murphy's Law me and bite me in the ass.

What I do when I finish is I do a few laps on the Swaty, then a few on the Natural (either Thury or J-nat, whichever I decide to use- one is very narrow, the other is wide and long, respectively, and they work better with different razors I think) then one or two on the swaty, then the natural, then one or two on the swaty, then a few on the natural until I think its there. And for touch ups- a few laps on the swaty, and a few laps on one of the naturals.

No idea why it works or if my system even makes sense but what I think is happening is I'm putting a sharp edge on it with the Swaty, then refining it with the natural, kinda like pyramiding. Plus I think the Swaty is faster than the naturals- but I could be very wrong. Does anyone know for sure?

Yes my friend you are in learning curve. It will take time but i am sure you will get there.
small tip
why you are doing pyramid on swaty and Japan hone? if i did read right?

Please don't tell me you are getting sharper edge? You know why because without doing that you will get sharper edge?
Problem is you are not moving from one to another hone on time.
GL

Its not really a pyramid. I am using the swaty mostly before the Japanese or Thuringen, then every say, 10 laps on the natural I do a lap on the Swaty. Not a lot, just one, sometimes two. And that only happens one or two times, so it goes like this: 6 laps swaty, 10 laps natural, 1 lap swaty 10 laps natural, 1 lap swaty, and then I usually stay on the natural til I'm satisfied. To touch up: 4 or 5 on the swaty, 10-20 on the natural, about 30 on linen and about 30 on leather.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by khaos

Plus I think the Swaty is faster than the naturals- but I could be very wrong. Does anyone know for sure?

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Sounds like a whole bunch of apples & oranges to sift thru to answer that.
Cutting speed varies even amongst the same group of naturals. You can only compare your Swaty to the stones you have at hand.