Attempted to Hone Razor and the Razor is More Dull

Hello all,

I purchased a Thiers-Issard Carbonsong Steel Razor along with a Dovo strop from the Art of Shaving back in September '12. I believe the razor was shave-ready, as it was horrifyingly sharp the very first time :D I managed to never maim myself by taking my time and only sustained a few minor nicks and cuts through the months. I think I have the shaving aspect down now.

I made sure to strop before every shave (no paste though). Sadly, recently the time has come upon me where I could feel the razor was beginning to pull instead of slicing the whiskers cleanly. I decided to attempt to hone the razor, and purchased the Norton 220/1000 4K/8K Waterstone kit. I then watched Lynn's Circle Honing Method video on YouTube about four times over, wrote down the steps on a notecard, and set to work.

I am fairly certain I have made the razor more dull, as it more so combs my arm hairs rather than cuts them. I am admittedly 100% new to honing and virtually clueless of how to go about starting. I am not all too familiar with bevels and heel/toe evenness etc. I have done some online research but it's not quite the same as being able to translate it directly to the hones. I think I am going to send the razor to Lynn to have it honed, as there are no honemeisters near me, but I may try again in the interim period of me waiting to hear back from him, and ultimately I would like to be able to produce a shave-ready razor; else I be dependent on others for what has become one of my favorite past-times for the rest of my life.

A few specific questions I have are:

• Does it matter if I use strop paste or not, if I strop before every shave? I make sure to regularly rub the strop with my palms to get the oils from my hands on it.
• How the hell do you set a bevel? Is there a picture of what a bevel should look like? Do I need a magnifying glass? I plan to take note of how it looks if/when Lynn sends it back (assuming I send it).
• I know Lynn has stated you can achieve a shave ready razor off of the 8K, so how much would you all suggest getting a finishing stone? Does it make a huge difference?

Any help, thoughts, questions, comments at all would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Firstly the Carbonsongs are by no means a "Song" to hone :)

Secondly when it comes to the Norton Honing system this is the goto thread full of info

http://straightrazorpalace.com/honin...on-2012-a.html

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Originally Posted by gssixgun

Firstly the Carbonsongs are by no means a "Song" to hone :)

Secondly when it comes to the Norton Honing system this is the goto thread full of info

http://straightrazorpalace.com/honin...on-2012-a.html

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Glen,what makes them hard to hone? Just curious

Thank you Glen, I will start pouring over it!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pixelfixed

Glen,what makes them hard to hone? Just curious

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The steel is a bit harder (According to them and their tests) and IMO it is a little more abrasion resistant.. It tends to create a situation that is prone to chippy edges, basically if you push the edge it chips and if you don't push the edge it takes forever to hone :)

I've honed 2 Ti before, I got them brand new aren't shave ready. they're steel a bit harder, need a bit patience.
imo using tape I feel it hone a bit faster.

like glen said, if you push the edge it'll chip,
I finished the edge with chromoxide after 8k and the result were good

You can't go wrong with the Ja Norton threads and videos study them hard. I would not worry about a finishing stone until you are able to get a great shave off of your 8k. What I did, and it really helped, was found a few videos I could easily follow and hone along with them. I would watch one step at a time, pause the video and repeat what I had just seen on the video. When Lynn or Gssixgun moved to another step, such as going to another stone I would watch that part and pause it again and repeat what I saw. I did this several times and it really helped me. It also takes a lot of time to learn to hone and get an edge that shaves well consistently. I went through times where I thought I was really progressing and then hit a plateau where it seemed I was not progressing. Finally I started to see more improvement and am now getting very nice edges. Still have a lot to learn though. Stick with it and it will come. You may also want to put your location so it shows up in your profile and under your name so you can connect with people in your area. Try and find a honing mentor near you and maybe you can get together and learn.