Thread: Honing advise

I have been honing for a couple of months and am beginning to get pretty good edges on my razors. Yesterday I honed a Clause razor by setting a nice even bevel using a Nan 1000. I could easily shave arm hair after the 1000. Next, with a Norton 4K I did 20 light circles on each side and 10 X strokes each side. I moved to the 8K and did the same. Razor shaved ard hair smoothly. I finished with 10x strokes on Nan 12K and then 5 X strokes on crom-ox balsa. I then stropped 30X100 on web/leather.

I got a close shave without irritation but noticed that the edge drags slightly while cutting the hair. This does not happen with a professionally honed razor.

My question is, should I take the blade back to the 8k and do more work or go back to the 12k and finish more?

I would appreciate suggestions

John

Try 10 on the chrox first, if no improvement, then drop to your 8k for 10, 15 on 12k, 15 on chrox, restrop 50 linen, 75 leather. Hope that does the trick. The regimen I use is simple repeatable, and if I need to tweak I know exactly how much work I've already done. 1k bevel set, 30 on 2k, 25 5k, 20 8k, 15 12k 10 or 12 chrox, 50 linen, 75 or 80 leather. Keep in mind pressure as well, I torque mod pressure to the edge during bevel settin, less on the 2k, slight pressure on the 5k b/c you are still sharpening, then no pressure on 8k and 12k.

As you go from stone to stone, remember that the jump from 1K to 4K is incrementally larger than the jump from 4K to 8K, and the jump from 8K to 12K is even smaller. I think you might have underestimated the work needed to go successfully from 1K to 4K. I would go back to 4K, do more laps than the 30 total you quoted, then go back up the progression. You might try more also with 8K. From there and on you are well into the polishing stages and fewer laps are required. I'd try two sets of 30 circles on the 4K, 20 x-strokes and then move up.

jmac123,

What tests are you doing between hones? In the beginning I did all the tests after each hone just to get familiar with them and to learn to judge the results. Before going to a strop or paste I do a test shave.

Jonathan

For less than five bucks you can get an illuminated magnifier (be aware that they mostly lie about their power, and the zoom ones, being more complex, are lower quality). It's a great purchase. The only objective of a higher-grit stone is to remove the marks from the lower grit stone (both on the bevel, and the results of what they do when they emerge at the cutting point, which is where they ruin sharpness), and with a magnifier you can see this happening and know when to quit and move up. If you move along too quickly, you're just polishing the surface, and missing the deeper scratches that the previous stone should have taken out. Be aware that spinning the magnifier so that the light catches scratches differently reveals a LOT more than just using it with the light in one location!

Then, since you own the magnifier, use it as you strop, and when you go back to honing, take just a stroke or two on the hone, then immediately take a look look, and you'll see what stropping and wear has done to the edge, and what you'll have to accomplish to get back to sharp. Pay extremely close attention to the very edge, and notice how the initial strokes of re-honing don't reach all the way up there yet, because the bevel becomes slightly curved at the tip, so just a stroke or two doesn't do the job because it's honing behind the cutting edge.

This was the most important thing I did in learning how to sharpen, and extending that idea helped me understand a lot about stropping, sharpness and smoothness, and develop a model of what was going on and how I could get what I wanted without wasting time. A lot of what you read about honing is myth, so figure it out for yourself by using your eyes and your head.