Thread: misty haze vs. mirror finish

I bought a Jnat to use as a finisher but when it showed up and I put it to use I noticed that it was leaving a hazey finish. So yesterday I decided to see just what the difference was between finishes when it came to shaving, I reached a conclusion that I was not expecting. I noticed I still had some scratches in the bevel so I kept honing and honing and to my amazement after a while the haziness disapeared and I was left with a mirror finish that would rival the mirror in my bathroom, it was completely scratch free(naked eye in good light) and had great resolution, I could see a pefect strip of my face while examining the bevel. It did take a good chunk of time to reach that point, a couple of hours or more, but my question is, is it your guy's experience that hazey stones will go to a mirror polish after enough time? Which finish will give a smoother, or sharper edge or are they too similar to tell apart?
I was thinking that I was going to have to delegate this stone to the middle finisher slot, although after the polish I see it is capable of I think I might of been wrong. It is not a very fast cutting stone, but when I get close to sharp the feedback almost gets to be too much unless I use a super soft touch, if I am not careful it will stop the razor in its tracks and it tips up on its edge, which usually gets followed by a few choice words. Will using lather or detergent help keep the feedback at bay?

Any thoughts? Thanks.

I would bet that lather or detergent would get rid of the stiction. I've never honed a razor with the cosmetics of the bevel in mind. I'm not knocking it, just saying. ... My point of calling it good is when I think the edge is as keen as I want it for shaving. To be honest I don't even examine the scratch level. I'll be interested in reading replies from others on this to see what their experience is.

If I finish a blade on 3M films it will always have a mirror polish on the bevel. I never really thought much about it. In my experience if the bevel isn't correctly set it still shaves badly but looks nice. The finest stone I have is a Chinese 12k which produces a nice edge but no mirror polish.

I didnt set out trying to get a mirror polish but I was enjoying my time on the hone, when I noticed that the scratch pattern was disappearing. I thought what the hell lets see what happens after all I was barely removing any metal, only the tops of the scratches my other hones had left. I was expecting the haziness to remain but the scratches to be gone, what I got was a mirror polish though. It took so long to get to that point that I dont think that I would go to the trouble again, if it didnt result in a smoother more comfortable shave. The bevel did turn into a comsmetic thing after I had all that time involved though. I noticed on the very tip of the toe, where I had blunted the spike, the bevel wasnt as shiny as the rest so I dropped back to lower grits to clean up the bevel ALL the way across, even though it popped hairs already. Well here I sit with a sharp razor with a misty haze finish, from heel to the tip of the toe and am wondering if it is worth the time investment again.

Thanks Jimmy, I will try one of those next time I polish on this stone.

Originally Posted by DogHair

If I finish a blade on 3M films it will always have a mirror polish on the bevel. I never really thought much about it. In my experience if the bevel isn't correctly set it still shaves badly but looks nice. The finest stone I have is a Chinese 12k which produces a nice edge but no mirror polish.

Thanks Kevin, I am pretty sure my bevel is good, it will suck the water out of a moist stone and run it right up both sides of the blade, all the marker has been removed each time I have tried that test, and it pops hairs too.

Do you see any difference in shave quality between the mirror finish on the 3m film and that which you get off the C12K?

I'm with Jimmy. I don't look at my edges to find out if they are shave ready - I shave with them. I have noticed that different hones will leave different finishes, and I have found that a mirror polish is not necessairly a better shaver than a hazy blade. Different hones produce different finishes, so you cannot make blanket statements. If you want to go by looks, you need to know what to look for from each hone.

you could make a mirror polish with 1000. Just keep rubbing in the steely swarf and it will burnish soon enough. (which is not to say that burnishing is the goal)

If that's what you did-I don't know

I have a couple of blades I use for practice honing and trying out hones. They end up getting honed more than needed. They do get mirror like bevels. To the poing that I can see individual hairs on my head. Like you, I wasn't trying to get this effect. I was just enjoying the feel of the hone on my new (to me) Nakayama Asagi.

Once it's there, it seems to stick. If I dull the blade and take it back to the 1K and through the progression, I seem to get right back to the mirror finish pretty quickly.

Originally Posted by Jasongreat

Thanks Jimmy, I will try one of those next time I polish on this stone.




Thanks Kevin, I am pretty sure my bevel is good, it will suck the water out of a moist stone and run it right up both sides of the blade, all the marker has been removed each time I have tried that test, and it pops hairs too.

Do you see any difference in shave quality between the mirror finish on the 3m film and that which you get off the C12K?

I find it depends on the razor. Some do better on film others the C12k.