Following str8fencer's advice to post in the honing topic, I copy-pasted my question part from my original introduction post here: http://straightrazorpalace.com/membe...therlands.html
Sorry for the double post!


I own a 10x4 cm coticule, a 20x6 cm BBW and a 10x5 cm C12K. Strikingly, the BBW gives me the best and fastest results, I cannot seem to match that with the coticule. I really like my BBW and want to learn how to use it properly in one-stone honing and I have a pool of patience. My edges are agreeable, but lack slightly in sharpness.

Robbin, who is also a member at SRP under a nickname unknown to me, has helped me greatly by sending one of his straights. I shaved with it and found it had that little extra sharpness that keeps eluding me. Next, I dulled it, sharpened it on my BBW as inspired by Bart's "Honing on the BBW" video and shaved once more prior to returning it to Robbin. Although I was quite pleased, his heavy beard experienced some tugging. He said he would take it back to his 8000 grit Naniwa SS and see if that would solve it. So far, he has not yet had the time to do so, but I will post his findings when he does.

Edge testing
I have found the HHT to be very reliable with my own as well as my girlfriend's hair and can start growing back my arm hair now that I mastered the TPT enough to tell if an edge will shave arm hair and when it gets close to shave-readiness, as well as the difference before and after stropping. Despite the HHT controversy, I will adopt Bart's HHT rating system here.

Robbin's edge popped hairs right upon touching with very little tug (HHT 4-5, I never get 5, even with Feather blades), my best try was pretty close to that with a little extra tug on the hair (HHT 4). Off the hone, my edges vary between HHT 1 and 2-3, while instruction videos show a solid HHT 3. Sometimes I get lucky with a small part of my warped edge and get that HHT 3, but the other parts of the edge stay behind. I could not tell how the good part of the edge became that good, whether it better contacted the hone or endured less pressure or something else entirely.

My honing technique
Honing is done with slowly diluting the slurry as soon as the razor will shave arm hair, although I found I could reach a near-shaveready edge on rather thick slurry. I should note that I use the C12K as a slurry stone, lacking a dedicated BBW slurry stone. On the HHT 1 level I switch to very dilute slurry, almost clear water, but find myself unable to improve the edge. Finishing on very dilute slurry on my BBW, water on my coticule or C12K does not seem to improve my edges, as far as I can tell.

The haziness of the bevel was a bit confusing on my last try. The part where the bevel was widest (nearly 2 mm) on my warped blade stayed hazy, while other parts became quite shiny. My logic tells me a shiny bevel indicates a more even edge, since the scratches on the bevel are also found on the edge. The TPT confirms that: I feel fine teeth with hazy bevels that turn into very fine teeth on shiny bevels. Stropping removes the latter very fine teeth, but cannot compensate for the haze bevel's fine teeth.

The question
What would you advise me to focus on when improving my edges? In my unexperienced opinion, I do not dilute too quickly and I try to keep an even touch. I have great difficulty applying very light pressure and when I do, I slip up at times, keeping the razor at an angle which makes it touch the hone's (chamfered) edge. I read that can set me back a number of strokes, but I don't know how many.


Thank you very much for digesting the rather long text and for all the advice that you can give me!


Regards,

Laurens