Thread: How sharp can you get without a set bevel?

I've been trying to learn to hone since last year (intermittently) and haven't had success. I can get my Geneva Cutlery Tiger sharp enough to shave my arms or my legs, and it'll shave my face, but not closely and not without tugging the whole time. I've read everything I can find but I'm not sure where my problem is.

I'm using 3m abrasive film as described in the wiki, 15, 5, and 0.5 micron sheets on a plate of glass. I've seen this exact progression lauded at least twice (besides the wiki guide), so I know it's not the film, which I've tried rinsing and replacing. I picked the razor because it had a really straight, even blade and spine.

I've tried pyramids on the 5 & 0.5 after setting the bevel, I've tried straight progressions and I've tried using a microscope (between 50x and 400x) to watch the scratch patterns and look for microchips while trying to learn the tests by feel. I've also tried it with and without tape on the spine.

Every time I start from scratch I set the bevel, move up to a 0.5 polish then hit a sharpness plateau and no amount of honing on the 5 micron seems to improve it. The thing is, everything seems to point to the bevel being fully set. I never leave the 15 micron until I can feel the whole blade sticking to my thumb pad, every part of it will cut both arm hair (mine is very light) and leg hair in any direction. When I used tape I changed it frequently. It will also pass the thumbnail test, but I don't usually use it. I even tried setting a microbevel once by doubling up the tape, starting with a few strokes on 0.5 film, and eventually the 5 micron without any noticable improvement.

**Edit: another thing that confuses me is that I typically get a feeling of suction as I finish up on the 0.5 micron film, like people have said a sharp razor will produce. Obviously my stropping could be suspect but I'm positive I've tried skipping it.

I know that not setting the bevel fully is the main newbie mistake, but can I honestly be doing that and still be able to (technically) shave my face with it? Or must my stroke just not be good enough?

A while back I thought my problem was a convex bevel. The 15 micron film is stiff and becomes arched when cut into hone-sized strips. Through the microscope it looked like the scratches would always be polished out in the middle of the bevel first. I figured that when I stuck the film to the glass the spring in the film was sucking up extra water, giving it too much cushion. I swapped to the flatter adhesive-backed film which seemed to solve the problem in the microscope, but the razor hasn't gotten any sharper.

Do any of the successful honers have any advice for me? I'm sick of wasting steel but set on figuring this out.