Thread: New to honing - and confused!

Originally Posted by rubicon308

Now I'm thinking about carrying a flat piece of glass or something around with me when I go straight razor hunting at antique shops. Lol.

Actually a six dollar piece of tile from home depot is a good idea, but like sheffield said, you may still be able to shave with it, don,t give up. Try adding 2 or 3, heck even 4 layers of tape and see if that helps,you will most certainly have to reset the bevel to adjust for the lift of the spine, if it does chances are over time the bevel may even up.

If the blade is just warped -- when you lie it on glass, the center is off the glass, and the toe and heel is on the glass -- you can hone it.

For the convex side (middle hits the glass, ends are above the glass) use "rolling" strokes.

For the concave side (middle is above the glass, ends are on the glass) use X-strokes that take the edge over the corner of the hone.

This is the kind of work that makes people yell "Honemeister, please!"

They shave fine once they're sharp.

. Charles

PS -- if the blade is twisted or otherwise mis-shapen, that's a different problem.

Thanks to the original poster. Thanks for the replies. I may be in the first category of BEVEL SET.

You should be able to pop arm hairs after bevel set yes? How much pressure? Very little...or with some pressure. I seem to need some pressure to cut arm hairs.

I "thought" I was bevel set but after I finished on the 8k (which there are many here that say if you can't get a comfortable shave of this then there is no need to proceed, so I am staying with this method) it was terrible. horrible. I thought I was shaving with a plow.

There is one thing I noticed with the unaided eye, is some scratches on the bevel near the edge. I can see them with no magnification. Work on bevel set?

Jeb

After setting the bevel, you shouldn't need pressure to pop hairs - I assume you mean you're stroking the edge along in contact with your skin? It should grab and cut hairs above skin level, so pressure doesn't really come into it.

When I started honing, (only in February, so I'm still a newb), I thought that my arm hair was just too fine to cut except right at skin level. I only got to the stage where a fresh bevel off the 1k would cut arm hair 1/4" above the skin a few months ago, but you should aim for this before going on to higher grits. You'll probably get tugging/skipping/burning when you shave if you haven't set the bevel to this point initially - I speak from experience!

It's a slow process, this learning to hone.

Yeah, what Charles said, you can still hone it. If you like it, you can hone it. It took me AGES to learn how to hone a warped blade first (still only) time I cam across one. I was THAT close to sending it out, but I persevered and I'm glad I did. My theory was that if I had to rack the blade to have each part touch the hone, then one side was getting way more attention that the other (i.e one side would appear to lie flat, the other wouldn't), so I honed it by lifting the heel as I honed on one side to allow contact across the length, but tripled the strokes on that side.

Are you using pyramids? They are really handy for beginners, otherwise you just get ion to a mode where you have NO idea what you did five minutes ago or even why you did it. The numbers thing in the beginning of honing controls your desire to think you know exactly what you're doing, which I didn't.

I shave leg hairs as a test. That's almost the only test I do. Sometimes I do the Thumb Pad Test. I expect to be able to shave MOST of the leg hairs in a patch (but not all) before I move on to a pyramid of 4/8 after circles on the 4. At the very end I do about 20 on a 16k.

I must say that I am still pretty much learning honing, though I will say I'm self sufficient...

Rubicon,
Where the heck are you from? Your single-most easy answer is to find a honing mentor. There may not be one within driving distance, but there may be one just a few miles away too. You could learn more in one sit-down with a mentor than with months of playing around on here. They don't have to be a "badged" mentor to learn from, just someone who is proficient at honing...

Put your location up in your info, heck, if you are scared of identity theft, use a town close to where you live or at least a region.

Originally Posted by rubicon308

Sonofabuck! I tried what you suggested, Tiddle, and sure as s**t, the blade is warped. I was totally stoked about this razor too... I have to lift the scales up and down to allow the heel, middle, and toe of the blade to lay flat againt glass. It's a bit bowed, for sure. I can't believe it. At least on the bright side, my honing wasn't the culprit?

Time to learn the Rolling X-Stroke!!

I have a Boker that I got off fleabay that's bowed like that too, and I was able to get the entire blade sharp by doing the rolling x-stroke; it really does work well!

Better yet, do what shooter suggests & sit down with someone; that's a great idea!

Just wanted to let you guys know I've read and appreciate your posts, I just haven't had much time this past week to play with my razors!

My guess is that the razor can be honed just the way it is. Unless there is a big warp or frown, a nice even x-stroke will cover the whole edge.

As a new honer, it's very easy not to cover a whole edge while honing. The Magic marker test will help immensely with this problem. Just put some magic marker on the bevel and do one stroke up and down. Then keep playing around until you can get the magic marker to disappear from toe to heel. Then if there are bits of marker towards the edge you work on 1k till those are gone.

You can try adding a layer of tape, but be warned: Adding a layer of tape is a lot easier than taking one away!

You don't need the whole bevel to be narrow and straight. Just the leading edge should be straight and even. You never know what was done to the bevel to make it the way it is, but as long as you can get a straight and smooth cutting edge, you will be okay.

If you would rather not continue honing this one, you can send it to me and I'll take a look at it. I'd be happy to hone it for you and send it back (no charge, I'm not a pro).

Michael

Originally Posted by mjsorkin

You can try adding a layer of tape, but be warned: Adding a layer of tape is a lot easier than taking one away!

It has been my experience through quite a few tests that the Taped bevel can be changed to a Non-taped bevel with about 20 laps on a Norton 4k stone or equivalent it is rather tiny..

Also if you have a difficult bevel set and want to save the spine, use the tape to set the bevel, once it is well and truely set, then remove the tape and use typical pressure strokes on the 1k for about 20 laps then continue with your normal honing regimen and you will end up with a nice looking spine and a nice even bevel... (This is exactly what I do when I get requests for "no tape")


All above info is for 1 layer of tape it changes for multiple layers...