Guys I have given this blade a lot of honing. I think that with the 1k side I have worked through all the corrosion. At the beginning I even had little tiny holes that you could see through the edge at 150x. I removed all of that and then moved on to the 8k side. I thought it was pretty good by running across my thumb. I even took a couple of shaves with it. Was not as smooth as I expected and with my lack of experience I also was wacking my chin.
What led me to look for advice is that most of what I read listed the hanging hair test as a standard test. In no way was the razor capable of meeting that test. That is when I started taking image captures on the microscope and looking for improvement. I did not see the improvement from the 1k to the 8k that I was expecting. If I had taken an image with light from above you could see that the rough cut from the 1k stone was gone but the 8k did not really seem to even up the actual leading edge much. Once it was pointed out that the gap from 1k to 8k was too extreme it made sense to me. I have ordered a 4k stone and if I am lucky it may be here by Saturday.
I also think the advice to get a properly honed blade makes a lot of sense; however, I want to push on and try to see what I can do with the 4k stone when it gets here. I am pretty determined when I set my mind to something and think I should be able to get a good edge. I will obviously know if that is true or not once I get the 4k stone in my hands and a day or so to play with it. I think messing around with the razor and the hones is good fun and think I can see my way through it.
I am also looking to pick up another used razor from Ebay since I have read that it is recommended that one have two razors ready to use. I am also expecting my strop to hit any day now.
In response to an earlier concern about affecting the temper on the blade I am sure that did not happen - the blade was pretty gray and dark when I got it. I used some steel wool to do initial cleaning and then disinfected with Hydrox Hydrocide. I then used a 6" buffing wheel on my drill press at 780 rpm. I am sure that I did not generate enough heat to impact the temper.
I would estimate that I probably put at least 80 round trip strokes on the 1000k stone. There were quite a few irregularities in the blade that I needed to polish through. I probably ran about 60 strokes on the 8k but as I said it did not really even up the leading edge but it did remove the scratches across the surfaces of both sides.
Thanks for all of the good advice. I think I am going to "pretend" shave with my razor during free time before my hone arrives so that I can get a feel for shaving with my left hand. I have not done that before but I find the contortions required to shave both sides of my face with my right hand really complex.
Ed
