Thread: I can Hone,But I wonder why

I only do my own blades,I only do them if they have perfect as new Geometry,will not do frowners or smilers,I send them out to the pros than I do my own maintaince honing and can keep a blade going for years.
What I wonder about is,You get a blade back from a true honemeister,shaves as smooth as silk,all is well, as expected.But it is a shave that do's not last,will need to shave the next day again,no razor burn,just pure comfortable nervana,life is good.
Today I honed one of my beloved Palmeras,absolutly N.O.S mintorama,Set the bevel on my 1K chosera,than 4/8 norton.> 12k PHIG> finish on my Esher,edge looks great,10 strokes on latigo with .125 CBN,20 linin, 50 leather.
Never do the HHT stuff.
Shower,,get out,Lather and start to shave,Blade pulls a tad (mind says sH$$t,Not good) just okay,not in the comfort zone,One pass WTG, One Scything pass XTG, which is my norm.
I get a perfect shave,Zero razor burn,no A.S burn,no stubble,no weepers,no blood,nada,this is what I call a two day shave.
Perfect in most aspects,not smooth,but the perfect shave,have only been honeing for a bit over two years.
I have alot to learn.Very mysterious stuff honing

If you are getting any pulling at all after the 8k nortonis then you should've done more on the 8k norton.
Strop on leather and test shave after the 8k level and test shave, if not a great result then go back.
Each time you need to go back to the 8k norton make less strokes than the last time to avoid over honing.

Once you do that then you will have less pulling moments that make you doubt your results.

I suggest you could go back to the 12k, 20 laps, try again. That works for me. If a threepeat does not do it, it is back to the nortons.
I have learned from some here that it must blow arm hairs off the entire length of the blade off the 1000 before proceeding. Otherwise, all is wasted motion.

It depends on your hair type but I have thick dark hair and I wont progress past the 8k level if I can't cut arm hair mid length without any resistance.

If the hair is cut mid length after 8000 grit without any pull, tug, pop, or resistance then I will strop 100 on leather and shave.

Good advice. I feel like it is imperative to be able to get good shaves off the 8k (after 60-100 laps on bare leather).

Once you get that then you can go further into the pleasure zone with higher grits

I am sure that the advice that you have gotten thus far is spot on. A good bevel foundation is the key to a good edge. If I am reading correctly you use CBN on leather? If that is the case I would try CBN of felt. I have found that I get better results if I use a softer substrate when using CBN.

Hang in there, you will get it!


Richard

I get such shaves every now and then, feels like there is a bit of pulling but the result after is just great. I just go and do some more laps on my prepolisher then finisher.

The other thing to remember is that not every razor will give the same feel on the face, even when honed to shave ready. I may have misread or misunderstood your post, but it sounds like this is the first time you've used this particular razor? It is probably true that the edge could need some more work but I am also a firm believer in a running-in period when you use a new razor - it can take a while, and a bit of to-and-fro between shave and hone, to dial it in to your particular set of attributes. Other razors, on the other hand, just go straight from the box (my Bengalls, for instance, just worked straight away whereas my Frio took a few weeks to sort itself out.)

One of the things that marks a good honer, IMO, is not that they get it right each and every time: that is an unrealistic expectation that no one can ever live up to regardless of how good they are - a good honer has the ability to diagnose and correct, whether that be drastic problems like warps, chips, frowns etc, or mundane problems like not quite finishing or not enough time on a lower grit or whatever.

And the only way to learn that kind of stuff is through mistakes, or with time, or both. I'd wager the honemeisters have made mistakes on more edges than we've had hot breakfasts, but each mistake is another layer of the experience and expertise we all value so highly.

So when your edge is not quite there, or you haven't set the bevel properly, or you miss the tip or toe you should celebrate the fact that now you have the opportunity to learn how to diagnose the issue and figure out how to correct it. You've taken another step on the road toward honemeister-ville.

James.

Thx all,great info.

Pixel

Going from Escher to .125 CBN, may be too big a jump. Drop the C12K and strop with Chrome Ox after your Escher, then CBN .125.

Do not use linen post CBN. Linen is too aggressive for a true CBN edge especially if the linen is not pristine. You may be degrading your CBN edge with the linen.

I shave off the .125 CBN edge, the next day I strop on a suede leather then Cordovan leather. That edge should be good for 2 weeks of daily shaving, then 10 laps on the CBN will get you right back to a super keen edge.

What do you have the CBN pasted on?