Thread: The C-Nat-athon

Don't know why I'm the only one still posting, but here goes.

Just finished about 5 1/2 hours of honing this fine Saturday. I honed 4 razors today. All were finished in the exact same way, and all showed incredible edges that popped hair easily, passed the HHT very easily and for the first time ever I managed to do rolling X's on a smile that actually worked.

I honed a Cosmo silver steel 6/8, a Robeson Sure-Edge 4/8, an Ontario Cutlery 6/8 and a 7/8 Puma that is my pride and joy. I have hesitated to even touch the Puma for fear of ruining what edge it had left on it. I have that baby flat ready to go now.

I finally have a routine that works for any razor I have now. Once the bevel is set and good, after doing the circles and X's on the 4 and 8k until I am happy that it cuts arm hair and the HHT ( or TNT, whichever I decide is best for that razor) then 200 to 300 X's on the CNat with nothing but clear water and I get incredible results.

The shave from last 2 nights proved that this technique was sound as both of those shaves were amazing and as good as I have gotten ever from one of my own blades.

Each of the 4 I did today would scatter hair easily, and would split any type of hair I chose easily, mustache, head, arm even dog, heheheh.

I almost don't need to shave today as yesterdays was so good that I hardly have any stubble built up, but the suspense is killing me and I have so many to test shave now.

My back is really killing me after all this honing today, but it's worth it if I can get a good repeatable process down that works good with the equipment I have.

Here is my process:

Set a good bevel on the 1k, until it shaves arm hair easily.
Do lynn's circles and X's on the 4k until the edge looks ready to move on. It also passes a TNT, and the first of the HHT tests.
Do more circles and X's on the 8k until the 4k stratches are gone and only the 8k scratch pattern is present. It should pass the arm hair test, the HHT test also. It exhibits a suction on the 8k that just doesn't exist unless the edge is really ready.
Do Circles and X's up to 300 laps on the 12k until the 8k scratch pattern is gone and replaced by the 12k's much finer pattern.
5 passes on a diamond paddle
10 passes on the CrOx paddle
100 laps on a clean wool felt strop
300 laps on a clean leather strop

At this point no hair I can present to the edge can resist it's sharpness. I can take a head hair and easily cut it into 4 pieces by passing it onto the blades.

I guess I'm done posting now, as this thread has allowed me to move on in my honing experience to the next level. Between JaNorton and the CNat-a-thon I have learned much.

I guess I can't really go any further without spending money on a higher grit stone now. That will have to wait until I am employed again though, and really who cares since I am starting to get the best out of what I have already, finally..

Happy Honing fellows!!

Mike

Go Mike Go!

It does appear the 5 laps on diamond are weighing in. Perhaps try a layer of tape when you transition to the cnat?

Originally Posted by mjhammer

Don't know why I'm the only one still posting, but here goes.

Just finished about 5 1/2 hours of honing this fine Saturday. I honed 4 razors today. All were finished in the exact same way, and all showed incredible edges that popped hair easily, passed the HHT very easily and for the first time ever I managed to do rolling X's on a smile that actually worked.

I honed a Cosmo silver steel 6/8, a Robeson Sure-Edge 4/8, an Ontario Cutlery 6/8 and a 7/8 Puma that is my pride and joy. I have hesitated to even touch the Puma for fear of ruining what edge it had left on it. I have that baby flat ready to go now.

I finally have a routine that works for any razor I have now. Once the bevel is set and good, after doing the circles and X's on the 4 and 8k until I am happy that it cuts arm hair and the HHT ( or TNT, whichever I decide is best for that razor) then 200 to 300 X's on the CNat with nothing but clear water and I get incredible results.

The shave from last 2 nights proved that this technique was sound as both of those shaves were amazing and as good as I have gotten ever from one of my own blades.

Each of the 4 I did today would scatter hair easily, and would split any type of hair I chose easily, mustache, head, arm even dog, heheheh.

I almost don't need to shave today as yesterdays was so good that I hardly have any stubble built up, but the suspense is killing me and I have so many to test shave now.

My back is really killing me after all this honing today, but it's worth it if I can get a good repeatable process down that works good with the equipment I have.

Here is my process:

Set a good bevel on the 1k, until it shaves arm hair easily.
Do lynn's circles and X's on the 4k until the edge looks ready to move on. It also passes a TNT, and the first of the HHT tests.
Do more circles and X's on the 8k until the 4k stratches are gone and only the 8k scratch pattern is present. It should pass the arm hair test, the HHT test also. It exhibits a suction on the 8k that just doesn't exist unless the edge is really ready.
Do Circles and X's up to 300 laps on the 12k until the 8k scratch pattern is gone and replaced by the 12k's much finer pattern.
5 passes on a diamond paddle
10 passes on the CrOx paddle
100 laps on a clean wool felt strop
300 laps on a clean leather strop

At this point no hair I can present to the edge can resist it's sharpness. I can take a head hair and easily cut it into 4 pieces by passing it onto the blades.

I guess I'm done posting now, as this thread has allowed me to move on in my honing experience to the next level. Between JaNorton and the CNat-a-thon I have learned much.

I guess I can't really go any further without spending money on a higher grit stone now. That will have to wait until I am employed again though, and really who cares since I am starting to get the best out of what I have already, finally..

Happy Honing fellows!!

Mike

Don't worry I was the only one posting for a few days last week. That just says when some of us are lazy, as I have not needed to hone lately. lol But I think I am going to touch up some of my razors on the c-nat sometime this weekend. Anyone else that wants to add to our pile of c-nat experiences please do. It's been very interesting for me to see what everyone has and I think we have covered a large range of the different types of rock these stones are quarried from. I figured I would keep this thread going for about a month like others, so a couple weeks to go. Keep the reports coming guys!

Your doing great Mike. I did hone another razor up on my C12K. Same as before. Thick slurry with my DMT slowly diluted it. The 75 on water. Awesome shave with no irritation.

Thanks again for starting this thread and all who have contributed their information. I recently purchased a cnat from woodcraft giving me two hones to work on so this thread came at a perfect time. I finally tried to hone my first razor the other night armed with the info I gleaned from this thread and the many others and videos found here and wanted to share my results here based on the nature of the thread and what I was using. King 800/4000 and cnat.

Razor:
Ebay $15 Soligen purchased last year for the sole purpose of practicing honing and restoration.

I started out on the 800 and did my best to set a bevel. I think I did alright based on popping arm hairs and such still felt should be a little better though seemed it took a good bit longer to get that far then I thought it should. I was using the circles and x's over and over till I felt I was close enough to move to the 4000. Did the same pattern here again longer than I thought but maybe the norm for these stones. Was also concentrating on getting a decent technique and movement down. I probably did 5-6 sets of the 20 circles and 20 x's. Moved to the cnat with thick slurry and just kept doing sets and diluting until clear water. Have no idea how many but this part probably took around 25 min. Same patterns. Next night did about 40 on paste and 50 on leather.

Results:
Well, surprisingly it shaved! 3 passes even.
Quality of shave? Well...... could have been better. Not very comfortable. Seemed harsh, pulled some, just seemed a little dull.
Two nights later did 40 on paste and 100 on leather. Shave was a little smoother but still not quite there. Think I need to go back to the hones and practice some more. Pleased that I got that far first time out of the gate but need to work more on smoothness of my motions. Also need a better strop i think (some small nicks from learning) and definitely would like to have a loupe for looking at progress.



All in all, big thanks and it was fun and a I enjoy this art.

Feedback?.......Shoot!

Let me know if you see something wrong or have any tips for my next session.

Originally Posted by pinklather

Go Mike Go!

It does appear the 5 laps on diamond are weighing in. Perhaps try a layer of tape when you transition to the cnat?

Dangit Robert, you point out the only thing I forgot to document!! I did not mention that each razor had a layer of tape that was changed at each new stone!!

I remove the tape before the paddles and stropping though.

Catch me again anytime I drop a ball, please feel free!!

Thanks so much for the encouragement!!

Mike

Originally Posted by handyman

Thanks again for starting this thread and all who have contributed their information. I recently purchased a cnat from woodcraft giving me two hones to work on so this thread came at a perfect time. I finally tried to hone my first razor the other night armed with the info I gleaned from this thread and the many others and videos found here and wanted to share my results here based on the nature of the thread and what I was using. King 800/4000 and cnat.

Razor:
Ebay $15 Soligen purchased last year for the sole purpose of practicing honing and restoration.

I started out on the 800 and did my best to set a bevel. I think I did alright based on popping arm hairs and such still felt should be a little better though seemed it took a good bit longer to get that far then I thought it should. I was using the circles and x's over and over till I felt I was close enough to move to the 4000. Did the same pattern here again longer than I thought but maybe the norm for these stones. Was also concentrating on getting a decent technique and movement down. I probably did 5-6 sets of the 20 circles and 20 x's. Moved to the cnat with thick slurry and just kept doing sets and diluting until clear water. Have no idea how many but this part probably took around 25 min. Same patterns. Next night did about 40 on paste and 50 on leather.

Results:
Well, surprisingly it shaved! 3 passes even.
Quality of shave? Well...... could have been better. Not very comfortable. Seemed harsh, pulled some, just seemed a little dull.
Two nights later did 40 on paste and 100 on leather. Shave was a little smoother but still not quite there. Think I need to go back to the hones and practice some more. Pleased that I got that far first time out of the gate but need to work more on smoothness of my motions. Also need a better strop i think (some small nicks from learning) and definitely would like to have a loupe for looking at progress.



All in all, big thanks and it was fun and a I enjoy this art.

Feedback?.......Shoot!

Let me know if you see something wrong or have any tips for my next session.

Hi Handyman,

It sounds to me like a superb start! Much better results than I got my first razor out. As a matter of fact, I never even got a shave off my first try. I could tell by the arm hair test not to try it on my face. Then about 50 tries later I finally got a good bevel set.

Here is a great place for an illuminated magnifier (30x loupe):
Widget Supply 25mm 30x Chrome Teardrop Jewelers Loupe, Illuminated

That is the one I bought, and you can't beat the cheap price. It is not a cheap loupe though and I think it works magic for seeing an edge.

I also think you need a 8k stone to go between your 4k and 12k Cnat. But that is just because that is what I was taught you need. From what I learned from the JaNorton exercise all you need is the 4/8k stones to be able to set a bevel and shave from it. I did make that happen, even though I think I get a much better edge off the CNat than I ever did off just the 8k alone.

Keep going brother!! I needed all the encouragement I could get when I was doing my first razors, so I am here to encourage you as well!! Us rookies need to support one another!

Great job bro!!

M

Originally Posted by mjhammer

Don't know why I'm the only one still posting, but here goes. Just finished about 5 1/2 hours of honing this fine Saturday. I honed 4 razors today.

i am definitely following this thread, and enjoying the info and one .. i think you gave your own answer. 5 1/2 hours on a Sat! that's just a lot of time to invest.. and hopefully when i find some time and a razor i want to hone on a cnat, i'll be looking back on this info.. only i don't have a norton 4/8 so, i'll either grab shapton pro 2/5s or chosera 3/5s.. maybe i'll need to add an 8K in there too.

I have used the same Globusmen razor I used in my previous post every day now, experimenting with various edges:

The C12K edge from the first post: nice and comfortable

Same edge with stropping on CroX and CeOx added(10-12 laps on each): kicked the edge up a notch. Very nice

J-Nat Osuku Asagi edge: felt similar to the C12K edge

J-Nat with Crox and CeOx stropping : up a notch just as with the C12K

Les Lat coti edge, just the yellow side: Not comfortable.

Les Lat Hybrid side: Very nice, sharp and smooth.

Norton 8k, CrOx/CeOx/CBN stropping: Decent shaving edge, could have been smoother, but I may have messed up on this one.

And finally yesterday: To-k it down to 6K Shapton, and worked it back up through 8-10-16-30K and CrOx/CeOx/CBN stropping: Very very nice, my favorite of the bunch.


Now the difference between the 30k Shapton edge and the plain C12K edge isn't enormous by any means, but half the fun is going for the little extra

I'm going to revisit both the C12K and the J-Nat for the following days, experimenting with finishing with slurry on both.

Shave report after the marathon honing session yesterday!

I only test shaved 2 of the 4 razors, but both had excellent edges.

I used the Puma and the Robeson for todays shave, the Robeson got the right side, the Puma the left.

Now the Robeson is a 4/8 (Probably really closer to a 7/16) and is a very nimble blade. The Puma is a 7/8 and has a slight smile to it, and it is an extremely thick and heavy blade, so you have two very contrasting razors, both used the same routine to sharpen.

The Robeson was the cleaner shaving of the 2, and it left the right side not even needing a second pass, and this was after 2 days worth of stubble.

The Puma cleaned the left side, but being the left side was not quite as clean as the right. This is due to my technique on the left side though and not the razor. I try and use my left hand on the left side, so the pressure is lighter, and though I hate to admit it, shakier.

I did finish up with the Robeson on both sides doing a ATG (no XTG is needed with my hair pattern) on my neck and sideburns. Clean and slick. Both shave as good as they ever have, and it was irritation free and very smooth.

Very, very pleased with my results. By Golly, I think he's got it!!!

Thanks gents,

Happy Shaving!

M