Thread: Well, I Gave It A Try....

I think it's pretty much all Zen without a bevel.

Originally Posted by ace

I think it's pretty much all Zen without a bevel.

Haha very true! I figured I might be able to set the bevel with just the 4k side and a bit of slurry, but I'm guessing I didn't do such a good job. My 1k bevel-setter hasn't arrived yet and I was itching to try honing, so I tried to make do with the 4k....Oh well, I guess I'll just start from scratch when my King 1k arrives!!

You don't HAVE to start from scratch. Do your tpt and tnt tests, gauge your current level of sharpness, and go back to your 4k w/slurry and this time do 40 circles down and back and 10 x strokes w/ a good bit of pressure. You don't want to torque the edge into the stone, just add pressure to the entire blade, then go back and do the same thing w/no pressure and test again.

Originally Posted by tiddle

You don't HAVE to start from scratch. Do your tpt and tnt tests, gauge your current level of sharpness, and go back to your 4k w/slurry and this time do 40 circles down and back and 10 x strokes w/ a good bit of pressure. You don't want to torque the edge into the stone, just add pressure to the entire blade, then go back and do the same thing w/no pressure and test again.

Sounds like a plan! I will go back & give it a try today & let you know how I make out. As for the Gold Dollar, I figured it was cheap enough where I wouldn't care if I destroyed it, but I may pick up another razor or two off of ebay to practice with. I have a Dovo that needs honing, but I don't want to do it myself so I may send it out to be honed.

Oh ha ha ha no wonder you couldn't get a bevel set, it's a gold dollar. One of the guys here had to grind down the shoulder to get it to hold an edge, but atleast you can get a feel for pressure vrs. no pressure, and if you torque that gold dollar no biggie, it probably wouldn't have been able to test shave anyway. Remember don't flex the blade, just apply downward pressure; I guess ummm almost like you are trying to sink the whole blade down into the stone keeping it flat...I hope that's understandable, it sounded better in my head atleast

Originally Posted by tiddle

Oh ha ha ha no wonder you couldn't get a bevel set, it's a gold dollar. One of the guys here had to grind down the shoulder to get it to hold an edge, but atleast you can get a feel for pressure vrs. no pressure, and if you torque that gold dollar no biggie, it probably wouldn't have been able to test shave anyway. Remember don't flex the blade, just apply downward pressure; I guess ummm almost like you are trying to sink the whole blade down into the stone keeping it flat...I hope that's understandable, it sounded better in my head atleast

No I completely understand! At first when I was trying to apply pressure, I kept lifting the toe of the blade up as I was pushing down on the heel, so I just need to practice even pressure across the whole blade. It really is a feel that you have to get used to!

The good news is that I wasn't even planning on shaving with the GD...I got it purely for honing practice, that's it. If I trash it, then no harm done. I couldn't imagine trying to learn this with my Dovo; I'd end up killing it!!

Search the term "JaNorton" there is a huge thread in here about using just the Norton 4/8 everyone from rank beginners to Lynn jumped onboard to put together a huge thread of info...

it takes some doing to read through it but I promise it will help