Thread: Honing, first try!

So I honed my first blade following step by step instructions in Lynn's video on honing with naniwa stones and all I have to say is very tricky! He makes it look so easy and I'm not even sure if I have the bevel set! I went thru the 1/3/8/12k circle progression. It didn't seem hard but I guess I won't know till I shave tomorrow! I mean I saw everything he was describing but I'm just not sure as I'm not popping hairs so easily. I'm bald on my arm but that could be luck. I'll be amazed if I can shave off of this tomorrow. At least I have a pro honed blade to finish up with if I can't use this one! Wish I had my loupe to compare it to glen's honed blade. ......OK my rant is over thanks for listening!

If you are going to start honing, ya have to start somewhere. This is it! Have fun and dont be disappointed if at first you dont succeed. For the most part it is not hard, but then again it is a skill derived from experience.

Congratulations!

My first few honing jobs were terrible!
Even if your is not quite up to snuff, you'll be glad you started! It'll get a little better each time, and soon enough you'll be honing 5+ razors a night, just because you can.

Enjoy the ride,
It's a long (and potentially expensive is HAD sets in) road.

Well Rad set in 20 razors ago so I guess I need a new addiction! Question is what stone do I drop down to if it's not honed properly? Do I start at resetting the bevel?

That's potentially a huge question.

If the bevel is set, and it's able to cut hair then I would do this:

Start at your highest grit stone (finisher) and do around 40 x-strokes. Strop as per normal and try it out again. If it's still not shaving well, go down to the next stone, then back to your finisher, strop and try again.

Keep doing this until it shaves how you like.

If it doesn't cut hair well at all, your bevel is probably not fully set. Just go back to your bevel setting stone and start again. This time once you think it is fully set, start diluting and doing 'finishing' strokes on the same stone. Try to get the edge as sharp as possible before you start progressing up in grit. Remember, most of your work is done on your bevel setter (1k?).

Hope it helps, and if you have any questions just ask!

Originally Posted by ironsidegnr

That's potentially a huge question.

If the bevel is set, and it's able to cut hair then I would do this:

Start at your highest grit stone (finisher) and do around 40 x-strokes. Strop as per normal and try it out again. If it's still not shaving well, go down to the next stone, then back to your finisher, strop and try again.

Keep doing this until it shaves how you like.

If it doesn't cut hair well at all, your bevel is probably not fully set. Just go back to your bevel setting stone and start again. This time once you think it is fully set, start diluting and doing 'finishing' strokes on the same stone. Try to get the edge as sharp as possible before you start progressing up in grit. Remember, most of your work is done on your bevel setter (1k?).

Hope it helps, and if you have any questions just ask!

Thanks ironside!

Any time!

Let us know how it goes and if you want some help just send me a PM and we can do a Skype honing session thing.

Originally Posted by ironsidegnr

Any time!

Let us know how it goes and if you want some help just send me a PM and we can do a Skype honing session thing.

Cool, thanks a lot again!

Originally Posted by anthogia

At least I have a pro honed blade to finish up with if I can't use this one! Wish I had my loupe to compare it to glen's honed blade. ......OK my rant is over thanks for listening!

That is the key-I still check my edges occasionally against my 1st Lynn-honed Dovo BQ that came with the lifetime honing deal. I'll still send it in to him about once a year just to have that all important reference to shoot for. Happy honing! Aaron

I just honed it again let's see how it shaves in the next couple of hours when I try it. It seems sharp it seems to be taking hairs off my arms so let's see......