So I was Honing tonight !!!

Sooooo.... Many may know I got my Naniwa Hones from SRD a few weeks ago, thank you again Lynn.
1k, 3k, 8k & 12k Naniwas
With help from many and especially Glen, gssixgun, and a few weeks of fooling around with them as well as watching Glens videos over and over I finally went with a razor that was going to be usable. I was practicing just technique with some ebay garbage I got when I first started. Getting the feel of the x stroke, pressure feel, razor/hone feedback etc... But tonight I took one of my better ebay razors and went start to finish.
I waited till my better half fell asleep so she would not witness me in the kitchen with my "box of rocks" as she calls them & all the other crap I had in there as well as the iPad setup playing the youtube videos lol. Man I would never hear the end of that!
So I set the bevel, I think, on the 1k and then moved on to the 3, 8 then 12 re-taping inbetween. I actually felt pretty good about the process and tried to hold back the "I can't wait to shave with this when I am done" feeling. But when I was done it had a nice even bevel, though it looked a little narrow, more so then on my others. BUT I cleaned up and went to the Shave Den and got my strop out and gave it 20 on the linen, 30 on Latingo & 50 on the smooth horse.
Lathered up and to my surprise the first stroke removed the whiskers! Now it was not the greatest and there were some slight nicks that I really think may be from poor honning. Maybe leaving behind some imperfections. I never get razor burn and it is rare that I nick myself. In the end I had a really close shave... really close but I came to understand what so many speak of when they say "a comfortable shave". All but 1 razor out of the 8 in rotation have been honed by either Lynn or Glen, so to say I am spoiled with very well honed razors is an understatement!
I have lots to learn I know but I had to share my first full hone to shave experience with you all.
Thanks again to Glen and Lynn and the rest who have helped me in my quest !

PS. I posted the best pic I could get of the bevel.

PPS thats my girls laptop with the Snoopy sticker... no ... seriously its hers not mine !

http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/a...e/08d740dc.jpg

Great way to start!
I think the happy dance is appropriate ;)

Awesome! I too had great help from both Glen and his videos when I started, if you pay attention you can't go wrong :)

Don't be afraid of stropping more, after honing I do at least 50 linen and 100+ leather.

Conversely don't be afraid to go back to the finisher for 5-10 strokes. It may save you time on the strop :)

Well done!

It's something very satisfying to the first shave with a self honed razor.

What I have found on the Naniwas is that they tend to clog quite a bit and need to be cleaned quite often, specially the 1K. I use to give them 2-3 "8 figure" strokes on 340 wet sanding paper on glass. (I don't have a DMT yet, but that would probably be better)
By doing this I feel they work better and gives a better edge.

Nice job! Sounds like a successful first foray into honing.

Another thing to not be afraid of is spending time on your 1k to set the bevel. You should be able to shave arm hair off the 1k and if you can't don't move up the grits. Otherwise you'll end up with a shiny but dull edge!

All this talk about over honing can put people off spending time on the 1k, but it's actually very hard to make an edge fail like that. I've done it precisely once on a 325 DMT with an old microtome and that's literally it. Very hard to do!

Good luck and have fun! :)

Great Job Cary !!!! There is a major satisfaction the first time you shave a razor that you honed :tu


Reading your post I only noticed one thing and PLEASE understand the worst thing in the world is to analyze by way of Pics on the computer :) but we do what we can do on here

You need to look close on the razor, and see if what we see on the pic, is actually on the steel first, before you do anything about what I say here...

In the pic down at the heel it looks like it has a lower grit scratch pattern which could account for giving you a nick or two, then again this could be just a reflection in the pic only you can tell...


http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/g...oshop/Cary.jpg



It only gets better from here my friend

+1 ... & some form of magnification will help to see up close. A jewellers loupe is plenty for everyday honing

I saw that too. I have a jewelers loop here somewhere. I'll break it out and give a closer look to see what is going on there.
I appreciate the comments and support. Like I said it was the first full deal and in the end it very well could be the razor I was honing needed a little more help then just a straight forward honing. I have a few other razors to practice on that I don't have to worry much about screwing up.
Rocks, steel & my face will find a happy medium soon enough. Honing is a lot like shaving in that you need technique more then anything. Then know and recognize the feedback from the hone and the blade.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Earthdawn

Sooooo.... Many may know I got my Naniwa Hones
....snip...
1k, 3k, 8k & 12k Naniwas
....snip...

Lathered up and to my surprise
...snip...

---

No surprise...
With that set of hones and some care
you will get many many great shaves....

Now that you have a "sharp shaver" you may
not need to unbox the 1k and 3k hones
except for once a year or so. You can
try a pyramid refresh with your 8K and 12K or
a progression with them alone. I find
that the 12K alone will refresh a razor for
me...

Do let your hones air dry slowly when not in use.

have fun...

Congrats on the good job! Don't worry about your bevel looking a little bit too narrow--a narrow bevel is very desirable! It says you're not overdoing anything. On old wedges it may widen with lots of hone wear, but that's another vale of tears altogether.

I share your impatience to shave after a honing session. Especially if you've just finished, say, 3 razors. You can use more than one in a shave, but that might be another thing to do after your better half has gone to bed.

You've got a great hone collection and a great learning resource. Have an enormous amount of fun.

OK... Got a few pics. Some zoomed in and some through my loop.

Heel where Glen wanted a close up of
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/a...e/be1e8661.jpg

Toe on the same side. right side.
http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/a...e/47f5d559.jpg

http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/a...e/b7eb678e.jpg

http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/a...e/ea2ece43.jpg

Thanks for looking and input

I would do more on a finishing stone, and the light reflective variances worry me a little, but I can't tell if there is a problem.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Earthdawn

OK... Got a few pics. Some zoomed in and some through my loop.

Heel where Glen wanted a close up
.....snip...

---

Good pix.

We can look all we want but if your shave test
tells you good things then all is as it should be.

I suspect that as long as you stay with
your 8k and 12k the entire edge smoothness
will simply improve over time. Once you have a
correct bevel set the need to "reset it" all
but vanishes because modern hones like
these do such a fine job.

BTW: One way to add smoothness is to use smooth
even hone and strop strokes. Consistent slow and smooth are
important.

The edge at the heel does look a little ragged but some steels have a coarse grain & /or some new honers can have a heavy hand :)
As AFDavis11 suggests see what you can do on your finisher but I normally don't like to see any toothiness after the 2-5k level

'No wisdom or skill to impart. 'Just a sophmore myself, but BIG 'GRATS are in order. Nicely done!

Sooooo.... The general thought is maybe start back on the 8k and then the 12k and see how it is from there?

That's what I'd do. I've got a Norton 8k then the Naniwa 12k. I think the N12k is actually faster than my Norton. If the N8k is proportionately faster, you shouldn't need much more honing at all. 10 passes on each hone, maybe. Really light touch. Monitor the scratch pattern at 10x or 20x if you've got a hand lense, so you can see whether you're honing out the lower-grit scratches, then estimate how many passes to use before you stop to inspect again.

The best use of the hand lense, for me at least, is that it convinces me that the really light touch really is effective.

That's a nice even bevel you've got going. Good work!

Cary, You have brand new hones go mess with them brother :)

Try a straight progression 8k -12k shave a few days
Then try a light pyramid 8k - 12k shave a few days

Play around mess with a bit of light slurry on the 8k

As Lynn loves to say "Have Fun"!!!!