I have been slowly practicing my honing on several razors that include one new that was professionally honed and used for about 4 months and then a couple vintage from ebay. I have been going from bevel setting to finishing with a simple Norton 1/4/8K progression and vintage Thuri.

I am trying to assess how well I am doing with regards to sharpness for shaving. I know I have much to improve on getting a really nice smooth edge for comfort. However, I am focusing right now on making sure that I am setting the bevel properly and getting the razor sharp enough for shaving.

In testing for sharpness,
- I always pass the TNT
- 60-70% of the time I can cut hairs off my arm (they're not scared off like some of you, though)
- I am still getting the feel for the TPT, but do sense the "biting" or digging needed for sharpness.

In the end, I shave and find that I am cutting the hair off my face. Sometimes there is a little more pulling or ATG comes off somewhat rough.

My questions are as follows:
1. If I am shaving hair off my face, am I doing a good job setting the bevel? 2. Are there noticeably different levels of sharpness that come off the bevel setting (1K and/or 4K) or does that come into play later in my honing progression?
3. If I don't pop hairs on my arm but still cut hairs on my face, does it mean that I am not setting the bevel as well as I should.
4. If there is just a little bit of pulling on the whiskers and/or against the grain is cutting a bit rough, is this corrected in bevel setting or in subsequent honing?

While I enjoy my honemeister razor shaves, I do like the craft and challenge of getting my own close shaves!

Thanks,

Jeff