Not enough pressure?

I have a torrey that I am trying to set a bevel on and I am about ready to throw the thing in the trash. I have done 5 sets of the circles and the thing is mildly sharper than a butter knife. I noticed when watching some of Lynn's videos that there seems to be a lot of metal being removed and I am not seeing this when I am doing the circles. I am getting some, but nowhere the same amount. Should I apply more pressure? I don't want to press too hard but this is getting extraordinarily frustrating. I am still very new to honing but the few others I have done didn't require more than 2 sets of circles. Also, I am using a Norton 1k to set the bevel.

What grind is the Torrey? If its a hollow grind you may be using too much pressure and flattening the blade to the stone. If its a wedge, it just may take more work due the amount of metal you have to remove.

Regards,

Howard

It is a hollow, I will go back and try with lighter pressure and see if that works..arghh!

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Originally Posted by SirStropalot

What grind is the Torrey? If its a hollow grind you may be using too much pressure and flattening the blade to the stone. If its a wedge, it just may take more work due the amount of metal you have to remove.

Regards,

Howard

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Torreys are also made of harder steel. Take your time and do it right, you have one of the best made razors out there,

Norton 1k is a very aggressive stone, my guess is you need to apply a bit more pressure, or just take your time and hone until the bevel is set.

Well I walked away, came back, did another set with light pressure and no avail. I did notice that I am getting much more wear in the center of the blade.. today is not my day, I may just send this one out as it is supposed to be a gift and I don't want to screw it up.

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Originally Posted by sclick

Well I walked away, came back, did another set with light pressure and no avail. I did notice that I am getting much more wear in the center of the blade.. today is not my day, I may just send this one out as it is supposed to be a gift and I don't want to screw it up.

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have you tried the magic marker trick to see id the whole bevel contacts the stone while honing?

Light pressure isn't enough, use firm pressure, but not so much that you flex the blade.

So I did the magic marker test and I was not making full contact. The razor has a slight smile to it which I somehow didn't notice (lesson learned, never hone while doped up on cough medicine) hence my irregular wear on the spine. I am going to have someone more experienced take care of this for me if I haven't already caused irreprable damage. I certainly hope my noobosity did not bring about the demise of a razor. Does anyone know of a honemeister in the Baltimore area?

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Originally Posted by sclick

So I did the magic marker test and I was not making full contact. The razor has a slight smile to it which I somehow didn't notice (lesson learned, never hone while doped up on cough medicine) hence my irregular wear on the spine. I am going to have someone more ecperienced take care of this for me if I haven't already caused irreprable damage. I certainly hope my noobosity did not bring about the demise of a razor. Does anyone know of a honemeister in the Baltimore area?

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I am sure the razor will shave again.

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Originally Posted by sclick

So I did the magic marker test and I was not making full contact. The razor has a slight smile to it which I somehow didn't notice (lesson learned, never hone while doped up on cough medicine) hence my irregular wear on the spine. I am going to have someone more experienced take care of this for me if I haven't already caused irreprable damage. I certainly hope my noobosity did not bring about the demise of a razor. Does anyone know of a honemeister in the Baltimore area?

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Disclaimer: I don't claim to be an expert, but I (finally) get good shaves from every thebay razor I have bought.

A few points:
1) I found the marker test can be misleading. You may find you hone the marker off the edge, but that doesn't mean the two sides meet at a sharp bevel.
2) I guess I lucked out on the more hollow razors I honed. They apparently had much better bevels than some of the heavier grinds I tried and didn't require much pressure. However, I spent hours and hours on a Genco Heavy and a Shumate Ben Hur and put them away in frustration. At the Rocky Mountain meet, I learned from Glen (gssixgun) that I was using much less pressure than necessary. Adding more "torque" to the blade to push the edge onto the Norton 1K, I got good bevels on both of them with about 60 circles on each side - alternating 20 on one side then 20 on the other. Then, back off on the pressure and do 20 or 30 X-strokes on the 1K before moving up.
3) If I had not used a layer of tape on the spines of these two problem blades, I would have really noticeable spine wear.

As always, YMMV, but more pressure made the difference for me.

Good luck