Thread: It really isn't Rocket Science

So i picked up a king 1000 and the Norton 4000/8000 combo. I got up this AM and sat down and watched the various honing videos in the WIKI, i then drew all the fancy pencil lines over the 1k and 4k/8k both sides. Placed some wet dry on a piece of glass and sanded everything smooth till the lines were gone.

I then got to work on the 1k with my Ontario Cutlery razor. I started with small circles then moved on to x strokes. I noticed a small little chip almost a nick so went back to the 1k. Got the edge to the point where the light was a nice consistent refection from end to end. Then i moved to the 4k/8k pyramid. Finished on a balsa strop with CrO2 then 100 laps on leather. In total i was about 1.5 hours on the stones.

Off to the shave test. Showered picked my favorite vintage brush. Whipped up a nice lather and started my shave prep.

Starting on my dominant side with a nice stretch I did i wonderfully smooth down stroke with no pulling or tugging. It was almost perfect, except not a freaking whisker was cut. I had a blade full of fluffy white lather and a 2 day growth still on my face.

Yeah, this is not rocket science but it aint freaking easy

Sounds like a little more time on the 1K is needed. Make that stone your best friend. Get a sharpie, and draw a line on your razor from heel to toe (at the edge), put a piece of tape on the spine, and do a couple strokes on each side. Make sure that you have good coverage along the blade...ie: where the steel and stone have touched, the marker will be ground off.

Setting the bevel is the key here. Essentially you're making a v with two sides of steel. If the two sides are not meeting, you don't have a V, you have a U. You need to remove metal evenly from both side of the blade, from heel to toe, in order to transform your U into a V.

When you have a V, do the Thumb Nail Test (tnt). Wet your thumb nail with water, and place the edge of the razor gently against your nail. Lift and replace on a different part of the blade. If it "sticks" into your nail slightly and does not drag, in that section you have a V. If it does not stick and just glides across, you still have a U in that place. Continue honing. (Circles work really good here.)

Once you have a V, and the blade sticks at different points, use nice even X strokes, with little to no pressure. Now you want to make the V a nicer V. A little keener. Now comes the Arm Hair Test (AHT). Get that razor to saddle up to an arm hair and make it pop off. I don't move from the 1K until every single part of that bevel can do this. I'm sure there are many honers out there who don't have to do this with every part of the blade, but I'm willing to bet they've been honing a lot longer than me.

When that whole blade pops arm hair, and is a nice even bevel, kiss your 1K good night, tuck it in, and wake up the 4/8 combo.

No, it's not rocket science, but it does take some work and some practice. If your blade was in fact sharp, then the likely suspect is your angle which was probably too low. Raise the spine a bit on the next try and give that a shot. If that doesn't work, it's back to the hones for some more "rocket science". Good luck!

Did you do any kind of sharpness tests along the way ? It's best to have some kind of expected behaviour from the blade to warrant lathering up.

i had done the thumb nail pad test. I tried arm hair but i am cursed with little arm air and fine what is there. And hanging hair a tough option for me as my head is pretty much shaved

Lots of good advice given above

One thing you do have is your thumb, and I don't mean the nail.
I am personally down to only one test beside the visual inspection during honing.
And that is the Thumb Pad Test. (And of course the shave test, but that is usually after honing)
I'm stuck like glue on the 1K until I can get the correct stickiness from that.
I have trained myself to feel the difference in that same test as I move thru the progression of stones.

Arm hair tests and HHT's is not the best of options for a blonde, bald Scandinavian

TNT is early, like at 1k right? Don't use it beyond that or the edge will degrade. A good edge will shave those fine hairs so you can still use them as a benchmark.

Thanks everyone.

I could not sleep tonight so off to the Garage and marked the edge with a marker. Two strokes on each side and inspected the blade. Front side had a nice shine along the edge. The back side was still marker from tip to tail. So as a 2nd test I taped up one of my Bokers that i have yet to have honed and did same test. Both sides nice shine from tip to toe. So I left the Ontario Cutlery and got to work on the Boker. After 2 hours on the 1k i finally got it passing the TNT from toe to heel and poping arm hair. It also shave arm hair easily.

I am sure like everything technique is important. I noticed that it would pass the TNT on the heel but not the toe or middle. More time on the stones and it would be passing TNT in middle but not toe or heel. More time and same result what was passing is not passing. Fiannly though i seem to have it all lined up from toe to heel. Now that sad part is was that fluke or did my technique after two hours just get more consistent.

I will take it to 4k later today

Congrats! that sounds like significant progress.

Originally Posted by dyimages

I noticed that it would pass the TNT on the heel but not the toe or middle. More time on the stones and it would be passing TNT in middle but not toe or heel. More time and same result what was passing is not passing. Fiannly though i seem to have it all lined up from toe to heel. Now that sad part is was that fluke or did my technique after two hours just get more consistent.

If the heel came good first but you spent a long time on the blade, that good part part could appear to degrade as you go along , form a burr etc. The burr can't grow exponentially so it cleans up as you go to a certain point. You may get some residual microchips or raggedness but the next stone should help there. If your stroke was at fault I imagine you got it right after 2 hours. No flukes, all science