Thread: What I learned about honing today

First off, I've been sharpening chisels and woodworking tools for quite some time, so my failures at honing a razor were starting to really bum me out. Today was my 4th or 5th attempt,after lapping my stones, reading the tutorials and watching the videos a dozen times. I could not establish a good bevel with my 1k Norton, and could not crop the hair on my arm.

Finally, disgusted with my progress, I reverted back to my tool sharpening skills. I prefer sandpaper for that. I wetted down some 320 sandpaper and gave my Ebay special a few good laps. Instant bevel. Glee and joy ensued.

On to actually CUTTING something, next. The edge was looking good on my 1K, finally, and I moved on the the 4/8, using a pyramid. I had been using essentially zero pressure and I did 2 things differently. First, I sped up my strokes, second I applied decent, but light pressure for the 25/20 strokes on both stones. Nice, but not where I wanted to be. I have 2 separate 4k 8k stones, as opposed to the combo. I rubbed the two together to create a slurry and NOW I'm in business. I had a shave ready razor within 5 more minutes.

Lessons:

Sandpaper is still my friend...just not too much.
pressure is my friend...just not too much
Slurry is my friend...I have no idea how much is too much

Goog

Interesting -- hone on hone....

When sharpening a razor that is total dull i always start with an unnamed chinese coarse stone (about 200 - 300 grit) to make the bevel almost ready. Then i get to 1K and so on. If you want to start with 1K it will be really slow.
I use the same method with my woodworking tools. With knives i use wet grinder followed be a leather wheel.