Thread: Honing a brand new blade

I purchased a new -- as in straight from the factory new -- dovo a while back but never really started using it due to it needing to be honed properly. After doing a lot of reading and research, including watching many videos some by Lynn himself, I believe I have a good understanding of the proper techniques. So I picked up the starter kit that most people recommend from amazon. 220/1000 and 4K/8K nortons with the flattening stone. I have been working the blade carefully on the 4K/8K combos following the techniques from the videos and such, however I'm not noticing any improvement in the blade. Good news is that I dont appear to be making it worse either. The blade will pop hairs off my arm easily enough but will not pass a HHT, in fact if I loop a piece of my wife's hair over the blade and pull on both ends, I have to put a decent amount of pressure on it before it will pop. So the blade just isnt sharp enough yet. What I'm thinking is happening is that from the factory it had such a bad bevel on it that I'm not getting the bevel set properly using the 4K. Would it be normal on a brand new blade to have to go all the way down to the 1K stone first for a while then go up to 4K? Or should I be fine at the 4K level and I'm simply doing something wrong? I'm keeping a close eye out for a wire edge and things of that nature. Thus far, nothing like that seems to be forming. Also, after honing I went about 60 laps on the strop before a shave test. still not sharp enough though

Originally Posted by grubbah

The blade will pop hairs off my arm easily enough but will not pass a HHT, in fact if I loop a piece of my wife's hair over the blade and pull on both ends, I have to put a decent amount of pressure on it before it will pop. So the blade just isnt sharp enough yet. What I'm thinking is happening is that from the factory it had such a bad bevel on it that I'm not getting the bevel set properly using the 4K.

If you're popping hairs off your arm, the bevel is fine. When you cut something, you don't normally cut it straight up and down do you? even the sharpest knife/razor will have problems cutting like that. Try a stroke more like this: or
And when making strokes, do not move at the wrist, movement should be at the elbow. The same goes with honing...don't flex your wrist. You will have more control that way believe it or not once you get the muscle memory developed.

Would it be normal on a brand new blade to have to go all the way down to the 1K stone first for a while then go up to 4K? Or should I be fine at the 4K level and I'm simply doing something wrong?

I haven't really bought many NEW razors, but the NOS ones I have picked up did not need to touch a 1k hone to get them shave ready.

I'm keeping a close eye out for a wire edge and things of that nature. Thus far, nothing like that seems to be forming. Also, after honing I went about 60 laps on the strop before a shave test. still not sharp enough though

Keep the faith, you'll get there. You said you got the Norton set...did you lap the hones properly before use?

Also, how much pressure are you putting when you are honing. I can't say for sure obviously, but when I started, even knowing to use "very little" pressure, I still used too much. All your hand is doing is to guide the razor, and keep it level on the hone. Don't try to force the razor down on the hone, the weight of the blade will be plenty. Also, how much water are you using on the Norton's while you are honing? You don't need to keep a big pool of water on the stone. I would say every 20 strokes you make, add 2-3 drops of water to the hone.

Too much water on the stones will cause the razor to glide ABOVE the stone, and not make appropriate contact at the cutting edge.

If you have the ability to take a video, throw it up on youtube and post a like so maybe we can see how you're honing. So many factors, it's hard to say for certain, but it WILL come with time and practice. If you find yourself getting frustrated, put it down and walk away. You'll be prone to making things worse if you hone when you're upset...I know from experience

If I understand correctly you've shaved with it and it wasn't up to the task ? Send it out for pro honing and get some used blades locally or off of ebay and practice you honing with them. That worked very well for me.

Try some black marker...

1. Set the edge on a flat hone. Establish the bevels using 1k to 4k grit, or use your grit of choice. Use the marker and TNT until the edge passes both. Do 3 or more additional very light laps to refine the primary edge bevels. One link to edge tests.

2. Polish on the next finer hone or paste of choice. Begin each finer honing step/grit by using the TPT and/or hair tests to establish your starting level of sharpness. Test using the TPT and/or hair tests every 3 to 20 laps, depending on the hone media used. Repeat the "laps and test" cycle until satisfied with the results (i.e. you notice a nice change).

3. Repeat step 2 or strop and shave.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

If I understand correctly you've shaved with it and it wasn't up to the task ? Send it out for pro honing and get some used blades locally or off of ebay and practice you honing with them. That worked very well for me.

Jimmy said already and i am with him.
Never ever try to hone your brand new razor by yourself if you don't know what are you doing.
Buy ugly blades from bay and train. After learning then you can start honing new razor's.
GL

The HHT is not a true test IMO, if its popping arm hairs it may be good to go, try shaving with it, thats the true test.

The factory bevel is sometimes very steep, which means you have to go at it for a while before you're getting right down to the edge. That steep, sometimes not very well polished edge may nevertheless be very sharp, sharp enough to pass the arm-hair test.

So yes, you can have a situation where the new razor starts out sharp enough to pass the armhair test, but doesn't improve from there even after many 4K strokes. In which case, patience. If you suspect that you're correcting a very steep factory bevel, you can use the magic marker test to monitor your progress.

That said, I think Jimmy and GL's advice about not using a brand-new razor as your training wheels is very sensible.

Originally Posted by nun2sharp

The HHT is not a true test IMO, if its popping arm hairs it may be good to go, try shaving with it, thats the true test.

For some reason, whether it's the hair or the technique, I have problems getting a razor to pass the HHT. I've even gotten a couple of razors honed by the leading honemeisters and couldn't get them to pass the HHT though they shaved great. As others have said, the ultimate test is the shave test. If it shaves well, nothing else matters. However, you need to have at least one razor professionally honed so that you will have some standard by which to judge a razor's performance. Good luck.

Just an update, I spent a bit more time on the strop and also corrected some flaws in my technique shaving and was able to get a satisfactory shave over the weekend. The same nicks and oopsies in the exact same places I had when I started with the DE razor a while back so I can chalk that up to technique and learning how I need to maneuver this 3" cutting surface around my face.

I'm still not 100% convinced that the blade is as sharp as it could be but it is sharp enough to do the job. The next time I feel the desire to take it to the stone I will try the marker test as was suggested to see what is going on with the bevel. Its quite possible that I simply haven't removed enough metal to get the right bevel on it yet. Without magnification its hard to tell.

On the other hand....its nearly christmas. Would this be a good excuse to purchase a new razor for my collection. One perhaps honed by the best

Originally Posted by grubbah

Just an update, I spent a bit more time on the strop and also corrected some flaws in my technique shaving and was able to get a satisfactory shave over the weekend. The same nicks and oopsies in the exact same places I had when I started with the DE razor a while back so I can chalk that up to technique and learning how I need to maneuver this 3" cutting surface around my face.

I'm still not 100% convinced that the blade is as sharp as it could be but it is sharp enough to do the job. The next time I feel the desire to take it to the stone I will try the marker test as was suggested to see what is going on with the bevel. Its quite possible that I simply haven't removed enough metal to get the right bevel on it yet. Without magnification its hard to tell.

On the other hand....its nearly christmas. Would this be a good excuse to purchase a new razor for my collection. One perhaps honed by the best

You must be married.