Thread: My first "real" attempt at honing- let the criticism fly!

The razor is a Dovo Pearlex. I was going to upload a picture but I'm maxed out. Sorry.

This is where the blade started
This is the 400 grit Naniwa Chosera with a criss-cross cut
This is the 1000 grit Naniwa Chosera
This is the 3000 grit Naniwa Chosera
This is the 5000 grit Naniwa Chosera
This is the 8000 grit Naniwa Snow White
This is the 12000 grit Naniwa Super Stone
This is Chromium Oxide on balsa
This is after 40 laps on a clean Walkin' Horse bridle leather strop
This is after I shaved

So, I received the rest of my stones from Chef Knives To Go: Kitchen Knives, Chef Knives, Shun Knives, Global Knives, Wusthof Knives, Henckels Knives (the cheapest place online I could find what I was looking for- including ebay, fyi) and the 400x USB microscope that I used to take the pictures.

I found the microscope to be VERY helpful to be able to see what I was doing. I found that my "light" pressure was still WAY too much and when you read over and over to use very light pressure, that's what it means. I was able to see that my "light" wasn't nearly light enough because the scratches weren't being honed away, I was just creating new ones. Barely putting any pressure down on the razor while honing proved to give the highly polished results you're looking for. The edge, to the naked eye, looked like a mirror after the 8k stone. You can see that's not the case under the microscope.

It's kind of hard to see in the pictures, but with more inspection on my end, it appeared that the 12k Super Stone did a better job with polishing than the chromium oxide on balsa. Can anyone confirm this?

I also found that, while I had read that these stones cut quickly, I didn't really appreciate what that meant until I could see the results under a microscope. I believe every time I've tried to sharpen a razor I have fully over-honed , simply because I didn't understand just how fast these stones remove metal- also, the amount of metal you're trying to remove is very, very little. Literally, the depth of the scratched from the previous stone is all you're trying to accomplish. When going up a grit level, this is accomplished in just a few strokes with these stones.

I'm quite impressed with how these stones have performed for this purpose. I know I have more stones in this pyramid than I needed but I already had them so I figured I would use them. I was waiting for the 8k and 12k to arrive- the 1k, 3k, and 5k I had previously.

Again with the "light", even when I was stropping before the microscope, I was stropping too hard. It doesn't seem like "no pressure" would do anything to steel, but it certainly does. So, to all of the other beginners out there who think they need to push a little harder, I cannot stress to you enough, in this case, less is absolutely more. If the blade is touching the hone, you're probably pressing hard enough. If you're applying pressure, it's probably too much. This goes for the strop as well.

Well, thanks for reading! I would love to hear whatever anyone has to say about this (except that I could have just used a Norton or Belgian coticule) I'm going to be using the stones for things other than razors which is why I went the route that I did. If anyone has any questions for me, feel free to ask.

Thanks!

Nice pics..enjoy the shaves!

Pics do not mean anything really, on the other hand the shave test means everything.
If you like the shave then you did a good job.

This particular razor was supposed to be shave ready when I received it- I purchased it used. I shaved with it but it tugged quite a bit. This go 'round was much better but not as smooth as a cartridge which is what I'm basing my shaves on. I'd like to know if straight razor shaving vs. a mach 3 is a fair comparison? Obviously, they're very different but I would expect the sharpness to be comparable and therefore, the amount of resistance through the whiskers to be comparable as well. Possibly, my blade is sharp enough but my technique is lacking? I'm still pretty new to all of this!

I did, however, get a very close - under the skin- shave. Mostly.

Originally Posted by mustangman6799

This particular razor was supposed to be shave ready when I received it- I purchased it used. I shaved with it but it tugged quite a bit. This go 'round was much better but not as smooth as a cartridge which is what I'm basing my shaves on. I'd like to know if straight razor shaving vs. a mach 3 is a fair comparison? Obviously, they're very different but I would expect the sharpness to be comparable and therefore, the amount of resistance through the whiskers to be comparable as well. Possibly, my blade is sharp enough but my technique is lacking? I'm still pretty new to all of this!

I did, however, get a very close - under the skin- shave. Mostly.

A shave ready razor should shave effortlessly. In your case it could be technique or the edge is still not there.
The only way to know is to get a razor honed unprofessionally so you have something to compare against.

Wow. And I still only use my tongue to check the grit of the next hone to use!

A picture is worth a thousand words, but a shave holds the answers.

Those are some nice photos. It looks like there are some deep scratches remaining from coarser steps....it appears that the 3000 grit hone was used a little too heavily, and the next steps were not employed adequately to remove those scratches.

Originally Posted by unit

A picture is worth a thousand words, but a shave holds the answers.

Those are some nice photos. It looks like there are some deep scratches remaining from coarser steps....it appears that the 3000 grit hone was used a little too heavily, and the next steps were not employed adequately to remove those scratches.

the scratches do not mean anything for the shave really, there will always be some left no matter what.
those pics show one angle of the bevel, turn it around and there will be other scratches visible. Shave test is what matters ultimately.

Originally Posted by mainaman

the scratches do not mean anything for the shave really, there will always be some left no matter what.
those pics show one angle of the bevel, turn it around and there will be other scratches visible. Shave test is what matters ultimately.

I agree...but photos are almost the only thing I have to go on here, and polishing (for knives) is something I know a little bit about.

No doubt that a blind shave test is all that really matters. I have some fairly ugly edges that shave quite well

Originally Posted by unit

I agree...but photos are almost the only thing I have to go on here, and polishing (for knives) is something I know a little bit about.

No doubt that a blind shave test is all that really matters. I have some fairly ugly edges that shave quite well

knives and razors are two very different animals, you can polish the knife bevel to perfect mirror and that will not affect the cutting performance. For razor it can be done as well , but it will take time and also might compromise the edge.

As I mentioned above the razor has to be sent for evaluation or the OP needs to get a pro honed razor for comparison.