Grrrr.... losing this honing battle

I received this with much pleasure Friday. Cleaned it up with some steel wool and Flitz, and went to work Saturday AM honing. Stroke after stroke, lap after lap, put it down, came back to it, re-lapped my stones, put it down, came back to it, slept, ate, came back to it, etc. ...

This is a Halma 300 from Giesen and Forstoff, Solingen, 3/4" with virtually no wear. I really believe I was the first to put it on a hone, couldn't believe my good luck. But--------- I can't get a bevel on it. I'm close, but it seems impervious to my 1k bevel-setter. Look at the spine; there's still practically no wear after hundreds of strokes at 1k, and I'm not taping the spine. I really don't want to take it to my 200 stone, I'm afraid it will chip.

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_e96GWMBYR-E/TI...0/IMG_0330.JPG

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_e96GWMBYR-E/TI...4/IMG_0329.JPG

Any ideas?? Is this thing maybe stainless and harder than diamonds? My 1k King hone has never let me down before.

Are you leanin' on that thing yet?

Try some pressure to see what happens. Also, hit it with a marker on the bevel just to be sure, you never know with a new blade...

You can try on my DMT1200 if you want.

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Originally Posted by joke1176

Are you leanin' on that thing yet?

Try some pressure to see what happens. Also, hit it with a marker on the bevel just to be sure, you never know with a new blade...

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I'm always a big wimp when it comes to pressure, but I guess it's time.

I honed a Helma last year I don't remember it being really hard but who knows...

You might try

http://straightrazorpalace.com/advan...rt-slurry.html

also I have this system when I hit a "Brick Wall" razor I change something.

Add tape / subtract tape

Do circles / do X strokes

Change hones for 20 laps

Back Hone 5 laps

Strop the razor

But change something up

The Tomorrow Method works pretty good sometimes as well.......:)

I can't see any wear on this thing. I would agree that a little pressure on the 1K might be the ticket.

Have fun,

Lynn

Quote:

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Originally Posted by stimpy52

I'm always a big wimp when it comes to pressure, but I guess it's time.

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Go get em tiger! I do like circles and back/forth's with pressure too.

I'm not going to play any more tonight, but let me dig through these ideas. Dylan -- I'll be in touch.

I have a King 1k waterstone , and it is a slow cutter compared to my Norton 1k . I haven't used the King ever since I got the Norton . You may want to get a 220/1k . Don't be afraid to use a lower grit hone such as a 200 or a 220 . Just keep the pressure light , and keep an eye on the edge . Once you have a decent bevel , go back to the 1k . Some razors have extremely hard steel , and can take quite a while to hone a proper bevel . I'm currently honing a Shumate professional , that is such a razor . I've restored another Shumate pro , that was just as tough . Two others I can think of is a Fredrick Reynolds , and a Morley . Don't give up , keep at it and you will get it done eventually .

I have come across razors like this at times. I usually change the hone and my pressure. The options I have on hand are a 1k norton, 1k Chosera and my coti. The Chosera water only is usually my starting point, then slurry, then the norton and lastly the coti w/ slurry and the dilute method. I had one recently that needed to go to the coti w/ slurry. The latest batch of my blades all seemed to be extra hard. Let me know if yo and Dylan want to have a mini meet on this razor at the location of your choosing.

My go to hones are the Naniwa set in 1/3/8/12k, but I sometimes find that the 1k Naniwa isnt quite aggressive enough and I need to swap over to the 1k Shapton to get the bevel set.

Then I either stick with the Shaptons (just for fun!) or go back to the 1k Naniwa for 20 strokes then progress using the other Naniwa stones.

I find that the Naniwa 1k is quite a soft stone, which can be good because it leaves a less aggressive edge than other stones, but it can also dish out quite easily once you start using pressure. Its also not as an aggressive cutter than the Shapton 1k.

In the last 6 months I've added a few natural finishers to my hone arsenal, but with some of the razors I've had recently I'm going to start adding a few different bevel setters as well! The 1200 DMT is definately on my list and I've heard the Norton 1k is also a great bevel setter.

I remember reading a post by GSS saying that he started setting a bevel @ a 45degree angle, then 30 degree angle, then a few layers of tape, them removing layers as he went along....

This seems a bit much, but I can't remember why he used this method. But if you're really worried about going to the 220, then maybe this is an alternative?

Hopefully GSS can clarify a bit.

After I took a day off from this razor, I worked up a 1k slurry and went to work with some extra pressure. Progress was still stinkin slow, but I kept at it, slurrying back and forth between my 1k and 4k, finally able to back off the pressure after the bevel finally came up.

Super shaver. Thanks for the advice and encouragement.

Glad to hear it worked out, Stimpy! You show dose razors who's boss!