Originally Posted by
AndrewK
I'm like really sure the bevel is set...Are you sure? I can't get many arms hairs off a 1k but that could be normal for me judging by a reply to another thread and my experience so far. My arm hairs are kinda thick and wiry. Maybe I'm misinformed? I know gssixgun gets his arm hairs off a 1k but another member here said don't worry about that as it's tough. You should ignore that "other" member as you seem to be misinformed or just don't understand. Setting the bevel is 80-90% of the work put into honing a razor. If you can't get a razor to cut a arm hair at mid shaft along the entire edge, you will more than likely never get a good shave out of your razor.4k and 8k arm hairs are no prob. 8k is obv better and the bevel looks nice and uniform. What magnification are you using? I ask this because if you are looking at the side of the blade with the naked eye, you aren't seeing the bevel/edge. I have heard many new honers think that because the side of their razor is shiny and mirrored that their razor should be shave ready when they aren't. I think my C12k is just a junk stone cuz it seems to make an 8k edge worse. Stay with the 8K as your finisher for a while, because if you don't learn the first three stones (1,4,8K) as your honing "foundation" you will continue to have a hard time. My 12k is grabby and rough like at light pressure the blade wants to skip across. It's like I can't use too light of pressure but to get it smooth seems to be too much pressure. I wish I would've got the Naniwa SS 12k and not cheaped out. Anyway, I use TNT and arm hair(to see if I can get a few lighter ones which is still tough) before moving off the 1k. The edge looks great now from the paste and strop but I think the tool marks left behind are probably from the C12k. I will have to try just the 8k and paste and see what that looks like. A pic of the 325 plate wouldn't show anything and I already lapped the scratches out of my stones on glass and 240 wet/dry. The plate is not uniform in one raised spot of abrasive that gouges all my stones slighty. It was mostly visible in the actual lapping process and on the stones. I'm not sure what difference it makes in sharpening but I'm guessing if I can see visible gouge marks on a stone from the plate although they may be slight they probably aren't good for sharpening a surgical like instrument on such as a straight razor. There was feedback passing over the scratches when I ran the blade over them then I said screw it and lapped them out on sandpaper and glass.