Thread: Beginners, The 1k shave . . .

Hey guys, just wanted to first-post my results of many firsts: first time honing, first time stropping, first time shaving with a straight!

I got an old Krusius Bros straight razor off ebay a couple months ago and have been slowly making new scales out of birdseye maple. I ran the blade in my brass tumber for a number of hours and it shined right up, but the edge was not even close to sharp. So i finally ordered a Naniwa 1K and proceeded to attempt to set the bevel on my scale-less blade (I just couldn't wait until i finished them!). After a long time on the stone, I finally saw a bevel appear, and after adequate "testing" resulting in large bald patches on my arms and legs, I decided it was about time to move to the strop. So on the "fuzzy" suede side of my home-made strop, I used some sort of strop paste sold in my local AOS store (unknown grit) and then to the smooth side maybe 50x.

I had about a 2-week beard by then which would have decimated any of my previous cartridge razors, so this was a great test to see how the straight would do. It cut the hair, but I could tell this was by no means as sharp as it should be for many of you more experienced straight shavers. I could cut hairs WTG and XTG, but could not go against. And it tugged at the hair like crazy. The end result was not a very close shave, but I think it was def. a lot faster than if I had to shave with the fusion and clean out the razor every single stroke.

My observations:
-I need to get something to flatten/refresh the hone (D8C?). There is quite a lot of metal deposit on the surface, most likely due to how much metal I had to remove to get a good bevel.
-the shave will get better with time/practice
-The bevel at the middle of the edge took forever to develop, possibly due to a slight frown. Wondering If I would need to straighten the edge on the side of the hone.
-There is significant wear on the sides of the spine. I might try some tape next time, might make a more consistent bevel.

Thanks so all the experienced guys especially in this thread for helping me realize that a 1K shave is def. possible, and any other advice would be greatly appreciated. I will be shaving off a 1K for a while since it's my only stone, so my results are definitely encouraging, with subsequent shaves yielding even better results.

how was the edge cutting armhair? was there any resistence?

The 1k stage is usually where i try to get everything i can get out of that hone it may be you just need to take a little further and your shaves will improve

alex

Originally Posted by justalex

how was the edge cutting armhair? was there any resistence?

The 1k stage is usually where i try to get everything i can get out of that hone it may be you just need to take a little further and your shaves will improve

alex

Well, it was cutting arm hairs way better than my pocket knife haha, I've never felt a shave-ready straight before. I could almost get it to cut a standing hair (tree-topping?) at the heel-end.

Originally Posted by TwistedOak

This may have affected your honing, were you using two hands to guide the razor? The handle also provides balance to the blade when honing/stropping, it is not solely for protecting the edge when not in use.. I was using a finger at the end to keep the edge consistent. I was noticing that I lack the technique/muscle-memory to keep the edge in contact with the stone. I even tried applying a lot of pressure at the middle to get a bevel at that location.

If it is tugging at your WTG strokes, do not attempt ATG. Your first pass not taking hairs off easily is an indication that your bevel may not be at the point of shave ready from the Nani1K stage. I tried ATG and it would not cut, so I didn't attempt that anymore.

Did you lap the Naniwa before using it? If not, you definitely need to get it flat before attempting your bevel setting again. Did you use water with it? Water should clear away the majority of the metal deposits in the swarf. I didn't lap it because I don't have anything to lap with, my goal for the entire project was to restore a blade and get a shave with the minimum amount of equipment (read $$$) necessary. I am ordering a DMT D8C now that I will use. I was using lots of water with the stone, soaking it first and pouring water on to keep a uniform water film on the entire surface. The swarf was clearing off with finger rubbing in the beginning, but after a while it started to accumulate no matter how much I rubbed it.

do you have pictures of this blade somewhere on the forum? Krusius Bros make good shavers, but if it has been honed improperly for decades, you might want to chose another razor to start your bevel setting practice. I haven't put pics of it yet, but instead of hijacking this thread, I will create another and link it here. Would taping it help very much? Or is that mainly used to protect a very nice blade...

Thanks for the comments everyone, keep 'em coming!

In my opinion, tape is primarily a cosmetic thing, it keeps the spine from getting wear. However, I could possibly see it being used to even out a severely uneven spine due to the slight amount of cushion it could provide.

Originally Posted by TwistedOak

In my opinion, tape is primarily a cosmetic thing, it keeps the spine from getting wear. However, I could possibly see it being used to even out a severely uneven spine due to the slight amount of cushion it could provide.

By this you're suggesting tape only on certain parts of the spine to compensate for the unevenness?

Originally Posted by Ru4scuba

By this you're suggesting tape only on certain parts of the spine to compensate for the unevenness?

Most likely referring to an advanced honing technique. One layer of tape is applied and then worn until steel can be seen, this first layer is not removed until honing is finished. Add at least one layer of tape and proceed to hone, replacing all but the first layer as needed.

In my opinion the advanced technique is rarely needed, because it is usually better to correct the spine once rather than having to fuss with tape every time the razor gets honed.

Jonathan

Originally Posted by Datsots

Most likely referring to an advanced honing technique. One layer of tape is applied and then worn until steel can be seen, this first layer is not removed until honing is finished. Add at least one layer of tape and proceed to hone, replacing all but the first layer as needed.

In my opinion the advanced technique is rarely needed, because it is usually better to correct the spine once rather than having to fuss with tape every time the razor gets honed.

Jonathan

Dead on about the Tape Technique

Although I do somewhat agree with your "Correct the spine" statement, this is not always possible, so far no one has figured out a method to add steel to the spine..

Hello gents,

Hope it's not too late to join this thread!

I picked up a straight off of Ebay, a JR Torrey. Mint condition but could not pass a TPT or cut forearm hairs. So that gave me a perfect opportunity to reset the bevel and test shave at 1k.

I set the bevel with a Suehiro Chemical Stone rated at 800 grit. Raised some slurry and used about 30 x-strokes. Followed that up with a clean stone, no slurry, and 25 x-strokes. Seemed to set the bevel fairly quickly. Passed the TPT and started to pluck those firearm hairs.

Moved on to the Naniwa 1k. 30 x-strokes here no slurry.

Stropped 40 strokes on an SRD webbed fabric material.
Stropped 60 strokes on an SRD Premium I strop.

Shaved. And what a shave it was! I could not believe how close the shave was. Some tugging but not terrible. It was comfortable enough to try a three-pass shave. No nicks, cuts, blood, or irritation. Did I mention that it was smooth! I could actually live with this if this was all I knew about.

Great thread and demonstration on how to test your bevel-setting technique. I will have to test shave after 1k on all my blades. Thanks all!

One question though if you have a heavy beard/stubble would this be an accurate test? I might want to try this on a few days growth. I enjoy shaving every day though!

Yup. This thread's gotta go back to the top. I'm interested... I'm realizing what a slow bevel setter the King 1K is, even with a Nag slurry when compared to the Chosera vid. I'm using Glen's quick low-down on popular bevel setters and Lynn's vid on bevel setting with a Chosera.

Yep. Really getting there now. Tomorrow, hopefully, I will finish. Eye opening.

I'm interested...

Beginner here. I'm glad you bumped this thread.

I've been refreshing edges on a Norton 4/8 and Naniwa 12K for a while, but I have very little experience on a 1K stone.

I think you guys are nuts, but that's not going to stop me from trying. I'll test shave my next razor in the to-do box when it comes off the 1K stone, and report back.