I did it!!! .....almost

Well, I tried to hone a razor last night. Today was the shave test. I'd have to give it 6.5 or 7 out of ten. I followed gssixgun's video closely, and took the Morley Clover razor I have through the steps. Its a very light razor compared to the Boker King Cutter and Dovo Best Quality I also have, the weight difference is quite noticeable....

Shave test: I think I did an OK job on the edge, but nowhere near as nice an edge as the Dovo I got from Lynn, or the Boker honed by gsssixgun. I am willing to chalk up some of the problems with the shave to a new razor, a different weight, and my still-developing technique.

I didn't cut myself, but I did get some irritation on my lower neck which I have not experienced with my other straights....I think i was over-compensating for the lighter weight with too much pressure.

I have to pat myself on the back fora decent first effort....


Barry

Nice one!

I will soon be starting my honing experience to (well in january sometime) what did you use?

Good for you! It's an incredible feeling when you hone your first blade to shave ready. You'll learn with experience how to push your edge, and the signs to look for on your stones.

You've got a new skill....you should be proud.

Well done mate! I am also going to attempt to hone my own razor but I dont anticipate actually getting it shave ready on my first attempt.
It would be awesome to acquire the skill needed to hone myself, till then Onimaru55 are you out there???

I used a Norton 4k/8k combo stone, plus an artificial nagura for the 4k to set the bevel.

I'd like to know what to look for - one side of the bevel is 'longer / deeper' than the other - it goes further up the blade. It all looks pretty much shiny / mirror-like, but I dont think it would qualify as shave-ready in anyone's books - but I think its close-ish.

Barry

FWIW:

a) Don't worry about the asymmetrical bevel. It shouldn't affect the shaving quality of the blade.

b) If you can arrange a CrOxide pasted strop, try it out. I find it hard to get shave-ready edges from an 8K, but easy from an 8K followed by CrOxide. [I know this is considered cheating by many experienced honers . . . ]

. . Charles

Once you've maxed out the 4k, which is really important, then you can move to the 8k to get a pretty comfortable edge.

Once you believe you have gotten as far as you can on the 8k, try this: Clean the stone, wipe the razor. Add new water to the stone, and now wipe it off with your finger. Make sure there's no bumpies on the stone. 10 super smooth, ultra light, no pressure X strokes. Going down the hone should take 3-4 seconds, coming back on the hone should take another 3-4 seconds. Nice and slow.

See if that helps any.

Also.....when you arrive on the 8k, if you see metal being embedded on the hone very quickly, it's time to go back to the 4k. Some metal will embed on the 8, however, it should not happen after say 2 or 3 strokes. If it does, that means you haven't maxed your 4k yet.

Charles - Thanks for the advice.

When I tried straight shaving three years ago, I bought a container of CroOx that sat on my shelf until this past October - when i was cleanign up my workshop, and threw it away because I wasnt using it.... now I wish I had it. I DO have the Dovo pastes - the red and black - which some folks here say work pretty well.

I have some balsa, and I will paste up a couple of peices with the Dovo stuff, and give it a shot. My next iorder from SRD wil linclude the green paste they sell.

Barry

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cpcohen1945

FWIW:

a) Don't worry about the asymmetrical bevel. It shouldn't affect the shaving quality of the blade.

b) If you can arrange a CrOxide pasted strop, try it out. I find it hard to get shave-ready edges from an 8K, but easy from an 8K followed by CrOxide. [I know this is considered cheating by many experienced honers . . . ]

. . Charles

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Maxi -

Thanks for the comments - can you clarify: 'maxing out the 4k' is defined as what? no more 'rough' feeling? no more metal coming off on the stone?

I think I was a little bit rushed on the 8k - I shoudl have done a few more light x-strokes liek gsssixgun shows in his video.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Maxi

Once you've maxed out the 4k, which is really important, then you can move to the 8k to get a pretty comfortable edge.

Once you believe you have gotten as far as you can on the 8k, try this: Clean the stone, wipe the razor. Add new water to the stone, and now wipe it off with your finger. Make sure there's no bumpies on the stone. 10 super smooth, ultra light, no pressure X strokes. Going down the hone should take 3-4 seconds, coming back on the hone should take another 3-4 seconds. Nice and slow.

See if that helps any.

Also.....when you arrive on the 8k, if you see metal being embedded on the hone very quickly, it's time to go back to the 4k. Some metal will embed on the 8, however, it should not happen after say 2 or 3 strokes. If it does, that means you haven't maxed your 4k yet.

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Keep working at it and experimenting, youll be there before you know it

bman,

Here's my take on it. When I get onto the 4k, directly off the 1k, there's a bit of bump and grind going on. I can feel the razor and the stone interacting. It feels rough. There's also a good bit of metal either floating up as swarf, or embedding into the white of the stone. As you move into the 4k, you can feel in your fingertips the lessening of the bump and grind. You can also watch the water interact on the cutting edge, and see the amount of metal swarf taper off.

If found that slurry works well on the 4k, but for the sake of excluding that variable, here's how I get what I want out of the Norton 4k. Please keep in mind that above all, YMMV, you may need more or less strokes depending on the steel, your pressure, etc.

I start on the 4k, taped razor, clean water. 20 circles each way, medium pressure. Followed by 10 x strokes. 20 circles light pressure, followed by 10 x strokes. clean the stone, wipe the razor. clean water. 20 circles no pressure, 10 x's. 20 light circles, clean the stone, wipe the razor, fresh water. 10-15 no pressure, smooth X strokes.

While I'm doing this, I'm paying attention to the feel, and the look of the water at the cutting edge. Like I said, depending on the steel, I may need to knock some strokes off, or add a few on. I'm looking for smoothness on the stone, and water running up the cutting edge onto the blade.

This also is a general starting point, ie: if it's a rehone with no bevel set, I'll start with the no pressure circles and no pressure X's and see if that does the trick first.

I hope this helps a bit. Remember that honing is about 2 parts reading, 8 parts practice. Its difficult to describe exactly what you should look for or feel. I've tried. You'll develop a feel for it as you hone more and more razors.

I also did my first honing with Red Point blade however I don`t have 8000k stone (not yet:-) and I had to use 6k followed buy 15k polishing. I stared with blade restoration (if I can called since I`m beginner) stone 320, than followed by 1k and then 6k, 15k. I Have also perform stropping as closed i could to recommended by many in this forum. Blade (not)passed HHT but with one exception- very soft hair (my wife :-) as they just bend over the blade where any other hair just pass it with sound of ding.... hair cut. Next test was little of shaving, which I can tell failed... It looks like I failed first time... I hope next I will get better but looks like there is long way before I will achieve this goal.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bman40

I didn't cut myself, but I did get some irritation on my lower neck which I have not experienced with my other straights....I think i was over-compensating for the lighter weight with too much pressure.

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That could very well be the case. However, as an ex-beginner I can say you may find the same phenomena from a very fresh blade off the hones if it is really sharp, but not smoothed out on the strop. Some blades take an edge so sharp that the edge seems to "stick" into the usual lather, even if properly wet and providing plenty of glide.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Maxi

. . .
Once you believe you have gotten as far as you can on the 8k, try this: Clean the stone, wipe the razor. Add new water to the stone, and now wipe it off with your finger. Make sure there's no bumpies on the stone. 10 super smooth, ultra light, no pressure X strokes. Going down the hone should take 3-4 seconds, coming back on the hone should take another 3-4 seconds. Nice and slow.

See if that helps any.

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This makes a lot of sense. The size of the scratches on the edge are determined by:

a) the size of the grit, and

b) the pressure of the stroke.

So heavy strokes make deeper and broader scratches than light strokes, on the same hone. Rather than go to a higher grit, one should "max out" a stone by using lighter and lighter pressure.

Thank you --

Charles

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bman40

one side of the bevel is 'longer / deeper' than the other - it goes further up the blade.

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An asymmetrical bevel is caused by a) uneven spine wear, and b) an uneven honing stroke (more pressure used on one side of the blade than the other). Over the long term, b) is the cause of a). Unless your razor has excessive hone wear no "spine correction" should be necessary, and if the razor shaves fine I wouldn't worry too much about the bevel size.

Second try - with pastes.

I pasted some balsa strips with the Dovo red and black pastes, and the shave this morning was much better. I also took a lot more care with the Morley, and made sure to use almost no pressure. The ontl problems I had was the blade 'caught' the edge of the cut I gave myslef late last week, and nicked it a bit - otehr than that, a pretty decent shave.

Thanks to all for the tips and advice.

Barry