Thread: Honing pressure

Do you use the same pressure on the blade while sharpening on a 1000 grit stone as a 8000 grit stone?

Bill

Originally Posted by conan

Do you use the same pressure on the blade while sharpening on a 1000 grit stone as a 8000 grit stone?

Bill

No . That would be
a big mistake.
you don't use pressure while on 8k. gl

No. I use more with the 1k because I'm setting the bevel and less with the 4/8 because I'm sharpening and polishing. On the higher grits a bit more than the weight of the blade but not a lot more. Even on the 1k it is not bearing down but some pressure to remove metal expeditiously. In the finishing stages you may get down to just the weight of the blade. It kind of depends on the razor and how you feel that night. Some of these full hollows are so thin that they are nearly stiff foil. Too much pressure distorts the blade and buggers things up. Too little and you'll be there forever. It is a delicate balance that you have to learn. It helps if you have an experienced honer to show you up close and personal. I was lucky that a forum member who knew his way around a hone showed me the ropes.

Originally Posted by conan

Do you use the same pressure on the blade while sharpening on a 1000 grit stone as a 8000 grit stone?

Bill

Pretty much yeah. I use the same "pressure" which is next to nil.
As Jimmy already pointed out an edge will deflect away from the stone with pressure & some blades will chip & crumble. Either scenario won't get you to "shaveready" in a hurry.

If the blade is a restore straight off the buffers "some" pressure is appropriate as you are really grinding a whole new bevel but your question was about "sharpening" so, honing or stropping, it's just about keeping contact with edge & medium.
I actually find stones cut faster without pressure. Must be the "less is more" thing

I don't even use constant pressure on any given hone. For example, on the 1k I may start with pressure until I get the bevel "set." Then I'll do some circles and gradually reduce the amount of pressure till I'm just using the weight of the blade. Then I do X's with just the weight of the blade. Then I move up to the 5k and begin with some pressure, which I'll reduce till I'm at just the weight of the blade again. On the 8k and finisher, I'm currently never using any pressure.

That's what i call pyramid pressure.

I feel like you really need to watch yourself at 1k. Too much pressure there can mess up a good razor- I won't say ruin it but it may loose that look.

I would find it very difficult to hone a razor without pressure. Especially a smiling blade where directed pressure is what makes it work.(at least I dont actually lift anything as far as I know)

Then there are warped blades where you cannot use the same, exact method on both sides-you can use pressure to even things out.

Using pressure is not neanderthal_ing, or "getting down on it". It's only the subtle application of force where and when needed to produce the right action.

Originally Posted by kevint

That's what i call pyramid pressure.

I feel like you really need to watch yourself at 1k. Too much pressure there can mess up a good razor- I won't say ruin it but it may loose that look.

I would find it very difficult to hone a razor without pressure. Especially a smiling blade where directed pressure is what makes it work.(at least I dont actually lift anything as far as I know)

Then there are warped blades where you cannot use the same, exact method on both sides-you can use pressure to even things out.

Using pressure is not neanderthal_ing, or "getting down on it". It's only the subtle application of force where and when needed to produce the right action.

+1. Actually I find it more difficult to control the razor trying to use the weight of the blade. When I'm doing that I hold the razor further back on the tang nearly at the pivot. I think it was Glen who said just enough pressure to keep the blade flat and in contact with the hone. That is where I am much of the time but controlled pressure has it's place in some of the procedure some of the time AFAIC.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

+1. Actually I find it more difficult to control the razor trying to use the weight of the blade. When I'm doing that I hold the razor further back on the tang nearly at the pivot. I think it was Glen who said just enough pressure to keep the blade flat and in contact with the hone. That is where I am much of the time but controlled pressure has it's place in some of the procedure some of the time AFAIC.

Yes it is, and it is the best way I have found to describe it over the Internet anyway.. As Jimmy said if you can be sitting next to somebody and they can show you the ripple of water as it moves down the hone and you can hear it and see the razor move, life is much, much, easier.. But lacking that I have found the best way to describe it is you have to still be in control of the razor so "Just enough pressure to keep the razor flat on the hone" is the best I can do... Watch that because even a smiling blade using a rolling X is flat on the hone from edge to spine at that point in the stroke, I figure someone will ask. ..

Hehehehe basically that means the pressure changes with the razor, and the stone and the point at which you are in the honing cycle itself...

I like what Dylan said too about not even using the same pressure on the same stone sometimes....

Another fine example of why the straight razor has held my attention for so long. It really seems to be an example or reflection of the way everything else in the world is.

Whatever you truly believe, will be true for you! That is why there is almost always opposite points of veiw and advice about what should be done.

I am sure it is different for professionals and those who hone their vast personal collections and those who only need to do one occasionaly. which is not to say that doing 10,000 will of necessity make you better at it than one who's done 100

There is the very difficult matter of explaining in written words, advice to help another who may have very little practical sense; but I wonder if it is not just a little deeper.

If I have some running dialog in my head, hoping to pin down the vital parts of the process so I may later explain its aspects. It may be that it isn't exactly what I do if I have no other goal than sharpening my razor.

Both shaving and sharpening can be a little spiritual practice when you quiet the mind and just do one thing at a time. But first you have to learn how. And I don't think anyone can truly learn anything without making mistakes-which you if you learn something from them they are not really mistakes anymore.
It's a funny thing.

It's why honing is an art and not a science. Unfortunately many approach it as science and then wonder what went wrong.

You just have to adapt with each razor and hone and what the particular razor needs.