Thread: Honing Feedback

I'm starting to notice a little drag on the 8k. I've been wondering about it as it seems to be when the razor is almost ready to pop hairs. I haven't tried to see if it sticks to the stone yet. It MUST be the surface tnsion of the water between the blade and stone that does that.

X

OK this morning I took a W.R. Case & Sons razor (new old stock from 10-15 yrs ago) that I've been working on and did a little more. I've never been able to get it to pop hanging hairs, but I eyeballed the edge with the radio shack pocket scope and the edge looked great. I gave it a few more passes on the 12k, then 30 or so on .5 pasted strop, then 40 or so in .25 pasted strop. While stropping on the plain leather to finish I could detect no sound at all. Just like I was rubbing the strop with a glass. Odd, I thought. Anyway, it still wouldn't pop a hair but I decided to shave with it. VERY smooth shave. No drag, as close to effortless as I've experienced yet. My theories have been proven in one case so far, to myself anyway. I'm going to wait for the 12k sucking feedback mentioned above, then take them to the pastes and see what happens. I might not even try the hanging hair thing anymore. They all have a smooth uniform drag on a wet thumbnail, so up until this point, I was obsessed with the hanging hair. I think this is progress!

knives are so much easier to tell when you're there. Just work on one side, then the other, until you raise a burr on one edge. Flop it back and forth to each side for a while until it covers the length of the blade, then move up finer and finer to bring the edge to as high a polish as you want. The starting grit for razors is too fine to raise a burr, so it's not as easy to tell when the bevels actually meet. Maybe I need a better microscope :-)

Originally Posted by JohnP

I've wondered about this too, I thought that the suction was due to the edge being smooth enough to make a seal to the stone, and then their being resulting suction created between it, the water, and the hollow of the blade.
It would be interesting to learn what it really is, though. I think all of us have noticed it. And by the way, Joe your thumb method sounds a little different than I've done. I'm going to try your version out myself this weekend, thanks for the good instructions. Here is essentially my method: In the past I would hone until I "felt" the stone, (the sucking everyone is discussing) then I would drag the edge on a wet thumbnail; if it dug in smooth I would strop it, and if afterwards I could feel the edge "catch" on my wet thumb, I would see if it would cut a hair waved across the edge (the hanging hair test, in a "less dangerous" method). Sometimes I also like to look at the edge as i go, using a microscope, although I must admit some of the smoothest LOOKING edges aren't necessarily the smoothest SHAVING ones...
Interesting stuff.
John P.

I don't think our tests are really that different. I just try to feel an edge. It happens after the edge starts grabbing. I don't know if the suction is a good test for coming off a stone. For example, if you had it on an 8K stone you would have it as soon as you hit a 12K.

If an edge is even under 100x and shows a shiny fin, it should shave, but the smoothness may depend more on the condition of the sides of the edge. The scratch pattern is like a tire tread and it contacts the skin when you shave. The friction it produces can cause discomfort. When you go to pasted strops the scratches get narrower and the leather strop smoothes them down. All of this smoothes the shave. You can see this smoothing in a microscope.

One of the things I do to improve the consistency of the hanging hair test is to clean the razor before performing the hanging hair test. The soap and water remove any particles in the fin and then I "strop" the razor over a terry cloth towel. The "nap" seems to remove any particles left over from the hone and straighten out the fin a bit.

Just my two cents,

Originally Posted by randydance062449

One of the things I do to improve the consistency of the hanging hair test is to clean the razor before performing the hanging hair test. The soap and water remove any particles in the fin and then I "strop" the razor over a terry cloth towel. The "nap" seems to remove any particles left over from the hone and straighten out the fin a bit.

Just my two cents,

One of the razor blade companies, I forgot which one, says you shouldn't use a towel on a razor blade edge because it dulls it.

Originally Posted by Joe Lerch

One of the razor blade companies, I forgot which one, says you shouldn't use a towel on a razor blade edge because it dulls it.

It has not done that to mine! Just a few laps, very light pressure.