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

Originally Posted by HNSB

It sounds like the bevel isn't the problem.

I've never honed on film, but I wonder if you need one or two more grits in your progression. I don't know what grits the film comes in, but if you had a 10 micron and a 2 micron or something like that it might help.

Also, there is no point in going to the 0.5 until its as sharp as you can get it on the 5.

You may just need something between those two...

I worried about that early on, but these are the only grits available where I shop (Lee Valley). And I've seen other members, Niftyshaving for example, report good performance from a 15, 5, 0.3 set.

The 0.5 starts to look worn out or clogged with swarf quickly, but I've tried changing it several times. Plus, through the microscope I can see it wipe out the scratches from the 0.5 surprisingly quickly. The bevel goes practically black and through a magnifying glass looks like a mirror. I've seen several people say that a set of films last for at least 5 razors, but assumed I was overusing the finer two anyway.

For now I can only assume that my strokes are bad. I may try a different razor and try shaving off each grit to see where I'm actually hitting the plateau.