Thread: Honing Epiphany (I think...)

In general when my razors begin to lose the comfort factor I will usually refresh them on the yellow coticule. Its usually a quick and painless proceedure and gets them right up to snuff again.

However to illustrate this whole honing thing, I got this eboy special. It is a Rogers Frameback 6/8s probably late 1800s and more wedge than typical frameback and the edge was in dreadful condition. Under the microscope there was no bevel just a highly polished rounded edge and not much of that. Initially I did my usual eboy special routine but spent more time on the 4K to establish a bevel until it looked good but it wasn't working. So back to the hone.I must have spent 2 hours on the 4K Norton honing with pressure to reestablish the bevel and under the scope it looked real good. I then went to the 8K (using bunches of pyramid schemes)and then the coticule and it really looked good. Unfortunately it wouldn't shave worth a damn.(it actually passed the HHT-very strange because arm shaving just caused it to pull and mangle) So I went back to the 4K for about another hour using pressure and then about 15 minutes with no pressure (you notice I'm not counting strokes here but the minutes) and under the scope it looked super and the thunbnail test passed so I decided to go to the belgian blue which I seldom use and spent about 30 minutes on that and it started to come around and slowly started to arm shave so another 30 minutes on the blue then I switched to the 8K Norton for about 20 minutes then that baby was passing all the tests. From there I went to the 12K Kitayama. That razor is so sharp now it would probably cut a silk scarf in two-so how does it shave? I don't know I'll use it tomorrow and let you know however one of my points here is that the first time I tried to hone it it just wasn't working and it seemed at first like one of those project razors that would never come around. I was doing all kinds of pyramids and switching hones and doing everything I could think of and it just didn't feel right on the hones but I kind of went with the numbers because in this case I felt like a newbee trying to hone his first razor and really had no clues. But, this last time I just honed until it just felt right on each hone. So do I think it will shave? I would be suprised if it didn't just because of the feel as I honed it but even if it needs more work it will probably need just more touch-up on either the 12K or the coticule. We'll see.

I think one of the problems is that many of use are in this mindset of the less honing we do the better which is true but when you get a real problem razor all bets are off as to how much honing is required. The only thing I'll say is for this one I wish I had a 1K hone.

You should be able to get one for about $10-$20 (shipping included) on ebay. I've been watching a few of them.

Thanks for that story. I was working on a wedge that I picked up at an antique shop in town and it has some really odd things going on with it. I think you are right, us newbies are afraid to get after a razor on the hones, but like you said, maybe some just need it.

Spacetoast, ME TOO! I used an 800, 1000, and maybe 2400 water stones on my razors with terrible results ( They work great on my chisles and hand planes ) then I posted here and it was suggested I use 8000 to finish. I went down the road to Lie-Nielsen Tools and got a Norton 4000/8000 stone and in no time made a quantum leap in sharpness. That coupled with maintaining light pressure and relathering gave me the best shave I've had to date with a straight (Dovo SS). Thanks again to those who replied to my post.
Regards, Zig

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

many of use are in this mindset of the less honing we do the better which is true but when you get a real problem razor all bets are off as to how much honing is required. The only thing I'll say is for this one I wish I had a 1K hone.

That's a good mindset.

I don't know what the issue was with that razor. It happens once in a while. When it does, I go right to the 1200 diamond and redo the whole edge. I stop when I feel a decent amount of grab in the thumb test (not finished sharpness, but some). I've never shaved with it in that condition, but it might, kind of like what MParker is talking about. That seems to do the trick, and it's not a lot of honing. I test after 10 reps, and if it's improving, I test after every 5. It never takes more than a minute or teo of that to get what I want.

After that, I can remove the tape and work my way from the 4K through the grits very quickly to a shaving sharp edge.

My worst project was a beautiful 7/8 (I think it was called a cornetta or something like that) that had a chip in it a lot deeper than the bevel. I didn't have the diamond yet, and I had to work it down doing circles on the 4K. That was slow and painful.

I just thought of something else. When I'm working on a coarse stone, quick sharpness test that works great is the old knife trick of siting edge-on under a strong light. Dull spots reflect light and sharp ones don't. When there are no reflections along the entire edge you can move on to the 4K. I like this one because it's so quick I hardly miss a beat in the honing process.

When I joined this forum I searched it as well as I could. There was so much discussion re pastes and hones that I really didn't know what did what.

I has taken me ages to realise that 1000 grit is required to get a bevel, then 4000 to finish up the process, then 8000 to start polishing and finally coticules, pastes etc..

I was skipping to early to higher grits from day one. As a newbie there is sooooo much great info but the trick is finding what we need to know early on.

Now I can get an edge on most blades and I'm just waiting on my corian bench hone with latigo leather pads and pastes for a smooth finish / feel.

It does take a while for the lightbulb to go on.

Gary