Thread: Razor is pulling ... 1000 on the C12k?

Originally Posted by DFriedl

I think I would just do a reduced number of laps on the 8k side and finish on the PHIG. 1000 laps on anything is craziness.

Slow and steady wins the race. I thought going on a slower hone would just make it take longer? My thinking is that once technique is set I should be able to slowly remove metal and produce a sharp blade; having such skill as to understand the proper and correct sharpening of the blade, I should be able to use more advanced tools such as faster and deeper cutters (i.e. diamond or lower grit stones) to bypass portions of the work.

It occurs to me that a high amount of experience and skill is needed before one could effectively use intermediate levels of cutting grit. rather than blindly following vague prescribed sharpening schedules. A 4k grit synthetic hone has physically larger particles which cut physically deeper than a 15k grit synthetic; if you don't remove at least half the depth via an 8k (which we assume has particles 1/2 as large and thus cuts 1/2 as deep), you have not completed your job with the 8k. Beyond that point, every stroke with the 8k is wasted, yes? Yet up to that point, a large portion of the surface is out of reach of the 8k cutting surface, and so the 8k effectively strips the peaks and smooths the cut.

The skill to know when my razor benefits no further from a given grit and, conversely, when it would benefit more from a decreased grit is one I don't yet have. We can talk theory about how hones cut razors all day; this will not make me a honing expert, but it will perhaps give me a better starting point to hone my skill toward that end.

Cutting with a higher grit stone would both remove metal more slowly and provide valuable experience training myself to make the correct motions without defect; or so is my expectation. Perhaps this expectation is wrong? It is at least probable that the value of such experience is overestimated: my beard hair is as iron wire, it destroys razor blades.

PHIG?

Originally Posted by unit

heck some would just use a loaded strop.
Going farther, I feel if I need more than 10-20 strokes on my 12K I go back to my 8K. As much as I would like to get more time/value out of them, these expensive stones should get used the least...

I particularly avoid chromed/diamond strops. They appear to me an inferior shortcut. Plus leather flexes, and the direction of travel is wrong. As nobody has ever claimed there's nothing wrong with just using stones, I'd rather stick to stones.

The C12k is uh. 10 bucks. 20 if you want it lapped. Japanese synthetics might cost a good deal more though, yeah.

Originally Posted by DFriedl

Sorry, I completely missed the whole first paragraph. It seems you may be unsure of a few basic things. Considering that, are you sure that you put a shave ready edge on the razor in the first place? Do you have a shave ready edge to compare it to?

It shaved better than any DE and (once I got the lather mixed up right) it definitely outperformed the Feather AC with any blade (fresh or through a few uses) for a while there. I had Lynn hone it ages ago, but having no clue how to shave (it was painful AFTER I got it back from Lynn, obviously I did something wrong) and having damaged the blade hitting the faucet I had used the 4k to completely redo the edge. Eventually I put it away.

It's been a couple years, I just recently brought it out and gave it a few passes on the 8k and on the C12k and became determined to make the damn thing work for me. As such, at the moment I have no idea what I'm doing--a defect that requires as much attention as the dulling edge of my razor.

Originally Posted by Disburden

The amount of pulling you are describing needs to be solved with sharpening level of honing (4Kish level).

Interesting. So blade maintenance is not particularly obvious until it's time to start from zero again?