Thread: Post your Progression

Be patient, Tony, it just takes time. BTW, I see you are in Western NY. If you are anywhere near Rochester, you should drop in some time. JoeD and CarrieM also live in the Rocheter area, and we get together pretty frequently.

This is a great idea for a thread, I've wondered what progressions other use.

Mine currently-

Get bevel set DMT 1200. Needs to be very sticky and shave leg hair easily. I use a combo of short, chopping "back and forth" strokes, circles, x-strokes and usually some heel leading. Usually begin with chopping, move to a few circles, then go to normal strokes.

Lightly "downstroke" (I just call it breadknife) the edge. I do this to get rid of any microchips or imperfections I might not see with loupe.

Move to naniwa 1000 grit. Get sticky leg shaving bevel again. Give it another 50+ laps after I think its sharp enough. I use light pressure on these, haven't had any overhoning problems

4000 shapton GS. Move to next stone when my hair is cut 1/4 inch + from where its held.

8000 shapton GS. Move to next stone when my hair is cut 1/2 inch plus from where its held.

Sometimes spyderco UF here. Usually use alot of circles on spydercos to help speed things up. Not patient enough for the massive amount of regular strokes spydercos require.

16k glasstone. 20-30 laps.

Sometimes sypderco UF here, too.

Pastes, then hanging strops.

Reading through these I see that no one seems to use 3M microfilm. I have this in 0.3 and 0.1 micron varieties. Ocasionally I finish my kitchen knives on these over a glass base although I usually stop at my Chocera 10k or my Naniwa 12k (after 10 minutes of usage a 0.3 micron finish is long gone).

I haven't had to hone my razors yet as they came shave ready but I wondered whether it might make sense to use the 3M film as a final finisher before stropping.

Anyone have any views?

Claude

If you search the forums, there are quite a few threads on it. the 3m film is an option.

Originally Posted by Claude

Reading through these I see that no one seems to use 3M microfilm. I have this in 0.3 and 0.1 micron varieties. Ocasionally I finish my kitchen knives on these over a glass base although I usually stop at my Chocera 10k or my Naniwa 12k (after 10 minutes of usage a 0.3 micron finish is long gone).

I haven't had to hone my razors yet as they came shave ready but I wondered whether it might make sense to use the 3M film as a final finisher before stropping.

Anyone have any views?

Claude

I have been experimenting a lot lately with different hones, pastes, sprays. I tried the dovo pastes and they didnt really do it for me. Also experimented with a spyderco and diamond spray, again didnt really do it for me. Nothing wrong with these methods, more my lack of skills probably.

The system I found that works the best for me as of right now is the following. I use circles and sometimes back and forth strokes. Circles are a life saver on the 1k.

(dmt 600 w/ one layer of tape on blades that need a lot of work)
No tape the rest of the way unless wedge or heavy hone wear.
Naniwa 1k
Naniwa 3k
Naniwa 8k
Strop

Originally Posted by Claude

Reading through these I see that no one seems to use 3M microfilm. I have this in 0.3 and 0.1 micron varieties. Ocasionally I finish my kitchen knives on these over a glass base although I usually stop at my Chocera 10k or my Naniwa 12k (after 10 minutes of usage a 0.3 micron finish is long gone).

I haven't had to hone my razors yet as they came shave ready but I wondered whether it might make sense to use the 3M film as a final finisher before stropping.

Anyone have any views?

Claude

I use 3M film on glass... 0.3 micron can generate a gosh sharp edge.
I think that shaving off a 12k superstone is smoother..... YShaveMV.

For me 15 micron and 5 micron film on glass will set a very precise bevel with
less bother than a sequence of hones that need to be lapped flat. Fresh film cuts
steel very fast and for me makes short work of the occasional eBay blade
I pick up. Once the bevel is set a SS12K maintains the shave quite
well with an occasional revisit to my Norton 4/8K combo.

Film mostly does not make sense for a hone master with a full
set of hones... and a good flow of blades to work on.

Honing progression, For the longest time, it was pretty much like Glen's
Naniwa 1, 3, 5, 8, 10 and 12k, moving to the next hone when the edge dictates. If there was damage, I'd use the 200, 400, maybe even a DMT if needed. I always use a variety of strokes/circles. ( I only use DMTs if there's edge damage, not for normal bevel setting) When I posted that progression some time ago, I was told it was excessive, I didn't think it was, and I always felt I got a better edge by lowering the number of strokes (depending on the razor) and using progressive grits.

Recently, I did several heavy W&B's and a DD using the Norton 1k, 4k and 8k and finished on a Nakayama Maruichi Asagi. I like the Norton's and Naniwa's for the bulk of honing.
I'll use a variety of Finisher's, J'nat's, Eschers, Shapton, N12k and C12k, Even pastes or sprays, depending on my mood. I don't use Coticules much anymore, once in a while. I have a nice pink tiger 7x1.5 that I love. I'm glad to see I'm not the only OCD honer out there....

Interesting post and good to see a nice variety of methods here.

Thus far I have tended to use the following progressions, depending on the razors concerned:

DMTs - coarse, fine and extra fine for aggressive repair work
or
Shapton GS - 500 & 1k for bevel work - depends on the steel; depends on the amount of work needed. With heavy bevel work, I will use tape to protect against spine wear.

DMTs' scratches are usually pretty deep so I tend to favour the GS. But sometimes they seem to be the go for quick and effective steel removal at bevel setting stage.

After 2k it's up to 4k and 8k Shapton GS which I find are great stones. No specific amount of passes here and a combination of strokes are used - depends on the blade I'm working with at the end of the day.

The 4/8k GS give a nice mirror finish and show any imperfections in my previous honing work, so by 8k I usually have a nice looking edge under the loupe.

Beyond 8k it's all about j-nats for me; I have a nice Okudo Suita as a medium finisher and a super-fine, fast-cutting Ozuku Asagi as my final finisher.

If I am dealing with a problem razor, I often substitute my 4-8k GS progression with two yellow coti's that I have, one being super fast cutting and the other more of a finer polisher. It just depends on what the feedback from the razor is. The GS are quite quick cutting stones and it's sometimes easy to degrade the edge, so the coticules work well in coaxing the edge to where it needs to be before finishing.

After cotis I'm back in J-Natsville, Tennessee.

Palm strop for 30-40 passes - AHT to assess, then if good, finish with 70 passes on my hanging Russian leather strop followed by another 50 or so on the modular paddle (Premium I) then test shave.

Naniwa 3k
Covenant 5k
BBW
Coticule
Swaty
Strop w/ CrOx
Strop - just leather

I used the Dovo green and red paste on a pair of french wedges I hate. It saved the day.

I may have to keep these around for the occasional razor that makes me cry crocodile tears.