What Do you Do Before You Hone

We see lots of discussion here about things like pyramids and variations of pyramids. And I'm sure if you worked through one you would eventually get your razor keen.

At the same time I don't know how many posts we see by newbies who start a pyramid on a new razor that maybe needed a little touch up, and they end up ruining it to the point where they need to be rescued.

So, I'm asking: What initial assessment do you make (what procedure do you follow) to decide where to start when you first pick up a razor?

I bought a new razor (old stock) and it came "shave ready". I was like "Oh, sure it is." I did the hanging hair test and it failed...then I thought wait a sec. and I stropped it just right and sure enough it shaved great. So to answer your question (even though I messed the blade up later) I like to strop, do a hanging hair test, and then a test shave. Usually the first pass under the chin so if I get burned It won't be on my "face". Not the best practice but this is what I do....

I think I need to give an example. I use the thumb and thumbnail tests and here is how I adopt them into my procedure. I'm assuming I have only a 4/8K Norton and a plain strop.

THUMB
Do this test when you first pick up a razor.

Support the razor gently with the edge pointing up and lightly drag your thumb across the edge in a few places along the blade:

1) If the thumb slides easily and there’s no grab, go to the thumbnail test;

2) If the razor grabs slightly, do 5 swipes on 8K stone and 15-20 on strop, then repeat test;

3) If the razor grabs but you feel no edge do 10 swipes on strop, then repeat test;

4) If the razor grabs really well or moves with the thumb, you will usually feel an edge- shave.


THUMBNAIL
You have failed the thumb test.

Rest the blade on top of the thumbnail with edge pointing down and tilt the thumb downward slowly. If the razor slips sideways go to the 4K stone. In this case and steps 1 and 2 below, do 20 roundtrips and repeat test. If the razor seems to be improving quickly towards your goal you may need to test more often.

If not, bring thumb back to level and slide the blade on thumbnail from one end to the other:

1) If the blade slides smoothly and doesn’t dig in, go to the 4K stone (dull);

2) If the blade digs in but doesn’t move smoothly, go to the 8K stone (coarse);

3) If the blade moves smoothly and feels like it’s digging in, but you feel a gap or bump, you have a nick at that spot;

4) If the blade moves smoothly and feels like it’s digging in, go to the thumb test;

5) If the blade digs in but makes a rough, scraping sound you have an overhoned edge.

1. Thumb test for a little gripping from the edge. If that's good I try step 2.
2. Hanging hair test. If that isn't good.
3. strop and redo step 2.
4. If it's pretty well shaving sharp, but I want a better keen, I'll go to the 0.5 pasted flatbed strop for 40-50 laps.
5. If it's almost shaving ready I'll do three 1/3 passes on the Norton combo followed by steps 4, 3 and 2.
6. If it's not responding well to any of the above it's pyramid time.

X

P.S. All I can detect with the thumbnail test so far are the nicks so I use it only to test for nicks. If I find one or need to establish a bevel from scratch, I run 50/10 before an aggressive pyramid.

First it depends where the razor is coming from. If its a new razor I'll shave the arm hairs and see how it does. Usually if its new I'll go to the 8K and then the hanging hair test. Depending on how it does I'll either go back to the 8K or regress to the 4K for a few passes and move on to the 8K again. Lastly the 12K and the leather and the hanging hair again.

If its an ebay special it starts with a visual inspection first so I know what I'm up against. If it looks bad I'll go right to the 4K until it looks good before I do any shaving tests. Then starts the arm shaving and usually the 4K again and then to the 8K from there and the hanging hair test. At that point its on to the 12K and the leather and the hanging hair test again.

I've gotten to the point where depending on how it shaves my arm hairs I can pretty well estimate whether to go to the 4K or 8K and how many initial trips on the 4K its going to take.