Thread: Beginners, The 1k shave . . .

I know this is a n old thread but felt I had to post my experience trying this method.

First of all, apologies for a quite long post, hope the newer straight shaver members will get something from it.
Who would have thought is was possible to get a reasonable shave from a 1000 grit hone. I certainly had doubts about it, but thought what have I got to lose? At best I learn something new and improve my bevel setting skills. At worst I spend time on the hones and improve the muscle memory some more.
So the story goes like this. Recently, I read on this forum a challenge was set for members to get a Straight Razor to shave off a 1000 grit hone. Stropping was allowed using Paper Denim Cotton but no pastes or diamond sprays allowed. The guide was to strop a maximum 80 laps on the first choice of medium (Paper, Cotton, Denim) and up to 60 laps on a leather strop.
The deal was to set the bevel to the point where it clearly will remove arm hairs above skin level using a straight razor of your choice. So I selected a razor for the test, As it turns out, I had just finished cleaning up and pinning a fresh set of scales on a nice enough looking 6'8" wide Charlex razor.
There was a small frown in the edge which was not too hard to remove with a DMT 325 grit hone. After that the bevel was soon set to where I could remove arm hair at skin level.
After another 10 minutes I managed to get the edge popping off arm hairs above skin level. I must say I was pleasantly surprised by that time.
I then decided to strop on leather first for 60 laps and then 80 laps on newspaper to finish it off. I find the paper helps smooth the edge out a little after honing. The paper is just 3 sheets of newspaper from the local newspaper wrapped loosely around a piece of wood 300mm x 75mm x 38mm (12" x 3" x 2 1/2")
Now comes the acid test - a shave using a wonderful concoction from Shaver Heaven, the 1st Aniversary Shave Soap. After a relaxing shower, made up a nice thick lather with a Franks Shaving Badger hair brush.
Apply the lather nice and thick and went for the first pass, WTG. The first stroke felt nice and sharp but I was thinking how long can this last? So I finished the pass without incident and lathered up again nice and thick and did my second pass XTG.
Damn, even that pass felt OK. Certainly not as smooth as a razor fully honed to 8K level, but still no cuts and almost no tugging felt at all. I decided to stop at 2 passes as the shave overall felt quite passable for a day at work. Spent the day at work today, and the shave still felt passable at days end.
So the question is this - Will I try this with other razor to see if these results are repeatable? I would say yes I will just to rule out freak good luck and of course the variables found between different steels such as German, US, UK, Japanese, Spanish.
This has been an eye opening exercise and certainly one worth spending the effort on getting a good result.
Any others wanting to give this a go or just improve your bevel setting, I say try it but as always use care and attention to detail when going for that shave.
Have fun.

Just because this thread goes back a while, doesn't mean it's not useful and up to date.

Thanks for taking the time to post such detail, it adds very useful information to the thread.

Personally, I'm a bit perplexed over why this thread has not been made into a sticky, but I'll dredge it up from time to time if nobody else does, as it really helps clear up the "when do I move on" question, that so many newer honers have.

Even some us old codgers need a reminder about getting it set properly at the 1K level, instead of wasting time on an 8K hone, wondering why the edge isn't improving. Not that I have ever done that myself, of course.....

Regards

Kaptain "When a clerk at a store asks if they can help me, Mrs. Zero usually comments: No... he's beyond help" Zero

I don't remember the thread, but I posted the exact details of a 1k-1k pyramid to make the tongue-in-cheek point that after you think you have your bevel set, it is a good idea to do another 25-50 or so strokes on the 1k. Of course that is not necessary if the bevel is definitely set, but if you are not quite sure, then it is worthwhile to spend more time on the 1k. Just be sure to lighten the pressure near the end of your time on the hone.