Thread: My first hone result with pictures

This is my first straight a new thier issard 6/8 one of the best they have. It came very sharp and shave ready. I had it for 6 months and been using a suede paddle with diamond paste on one side to keep it sharp. It has been blunt for a few months now and I was still shaving with it getting a very poor shave. I could feel the paste had overhoned the blade and I could feel the blade rolling on my skin instead of cutting. I have been watching many honing videos (Lynn especially) and so I finally did my first hone. All my stones were lapped with an atoma 1200 diamond. I have a chocera 2000, a shapton glass 6000 and a naniwa 12000. I used water spray on all stones to keep them wet. I used 3M black tape on the spine since I have a mirror finish razor.

I use the arm hair test ( root, middle and top)
I first tried 6000 followed by 12000 the blade could not cut hair at all. So I started working on the chocera 2000 to set a new bevel. i did 40 strokes some straight and some in circle followed by 30 strokes on the Shapton 6000 and finally 20 on the naniwa 12000. The blade still was not cutting any better.

So i started again with the 2000 this time applying some pressure and spending at least 10 minutes on the 2000. it grabbed hairs but did not cut them easily. Same thing after the 6000 failed arm patch test. Finally after spending time on the 12000 with very light strokes it would finally cut arm hairs and leave a blank patch but does not cut a hanging hair. I shaved with it and it was not bad, acceptable but certainly not where it should be. Nowhere as good as when the blade was new. A slight pressure was needed to do a close shave and even then it was not that close. I apologize for the pictures quality they were taken all taken after I was done honing with a Lomb 10X loupe and a simple webcam but gives you an idea.

How come my blade didn't cut after the 2000 and even after 6000 only after the 12000 ? I got the shiny bevel all along the edge on both sides.
What mistake could I be making ?
What should I do to to make it better ?

If the bevel was set properly it should easily cut arm hair at the 1k level, I would try doing the circles method on the 2k with slurry at first then plain water. Stay on the 2k until it cuts arm easily, then move up in grit with light pressure

Looking at those edges,would say you are far from moving along from even 1 K yet,I think far to much pressure on the 1 k JMO

Originally Posted by rodb

If the bevel was set properly it should easily cut arm hair at the 1k level, I would try doing the circles method on the 2k with slurry at first then plain water. Stay on the 2k until it cuts arm easily, then move up in grit with light pressure

how can I make a slurry on the 2000 ? I have a brick color nagura stone that came with the chocera 2000 and the 1200 diamond atoma that I use for lapping my stones.

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

Looking at those edges,would say you are far from moving along from even 1 K yet,I think far to much pressure on the 1 k JMO

it's a 2k. The first round I used no pressure but could not get any cutting action from the blade. Second round I only applied pressure like Lynn suggested in his honing video. One thing I found is that it is not that easy to keep the blade plane with the hone using only one hand. I use my second hand to guide it but without pressure. Maybe I am doing too many different movements on the 2k. Is it better to repeat the same X pattern stroke over and over or to alternate with circles ? Maybe i mixed too many.

To cut to the chase your bevel is not there yet. In most of your photos a thin bright line (dark in some lighting) can be seen. You need to remove enough metal to have just one reflective bevel no matter how you turn the razor relative to a light source, the LRT. After the razor passes the LRT it should also pass the basic hair cutting tests, if it does try the procedure in the Beginners, The 1k Shave. This procedure will teach you a lot.

Enjoy the learning curves
Jonathan

PS. Welcome to SRP. As you have seen we like to help, if you include your approximate location in your profile someone near by may volunteer to help you in person. Also you should introduce your self in the Member Introduction sub-forum.

The Nagura or the 1200 diamond should both raise a slurry. I use my 850 diamond hone for this all the time

Originally Posted by sunsweet

how can I make a slurry on the 2000 ? I have a brick color nagura stone that came with the chocera 2000 and the 1200 diamond atoma that I use for lapping my stones.

IMO the most likely explanation is that your honing strokes are a little uneven from lack of practice. Uneven strokes will stop an edge from forming properly, or knock the edge off of a blade in one shot.

In any case, the razor should be cutting hair at skin level effortlessly after your 2k stone. Moving up in grit before that happens is an exercise in frustration.

From what I can see in the pics, it looks like you have some pretty deep and chaotic scratches. Also the blade looks like it was polished more in some of the spots than others. The very edge looks like it's reflecting some light, as mentioned already.

My advice would be to send this one out. Honing takes a Lot of practice before success. Practice on a cheaper razor.

Michael

Originally Posted by Datsots

To cut to the chase your bevel is not there yet. In most of your photos a thin bright line (dark in some lighting) can be seen. You need to remove enough metal to have just one reflective bevel no matter how you turn the razor relative to a light source, the LRT. After the razor passes the LRT it should also pass the basic hair cutting tests, if it does try the procedure in the Beginners, The 1k Shave. This procedure will teach you a lot.

Enjoy the learning curves
Jonathan

PS. Welcome to SRP. As you have seen we like to help, if you include your approximate location in your profile someone near by may volunteer to help you in person. Also you should introduce your self in the Member Introduction sub-forum.

Thanks a lot for the pointers. That really helped me orientate myself. I studied those two threads ( LRT and beginners 1k shave). I understand now what you mean by "needing to have just one reflective bevel". I do see an extremely thin reflective line at the edge indicating that my bevel is not the desired triangle wedge but a parallelogram with the very very minute top side being the edge.

Based on these readings I think I need to be much more careful with every single movement on the honing stone. But it is almost impossible to hold the steel of the razor at the pivot and hope to maintain the edge within micrometers flat at you slide on the stone without pressure ! There is no way a hand can do a 15-20 cm free translation in mid air while also keeping a tolerance on the vertical axis in the micrometers without applying some pressure. It seems the only correct way would be to use the other hand's fingers very lightly on the spine. This is what I did on the 12k but not well on the 2k. I would think that using only one hand is pure foolishness as you are probably resetting your work continuously. It would be comparable to dices crap shoot where you keep doing it and if you are lucky you stopped at a point where you had accumulated a few good numbers in a row.

BTW This razor is a limited edition $400 Thier Issard and my first razor I have ever tried to hone. Speaking of high stakes practice. I am a bit reckless. I had tried to find a cheap razor on ebay for the sake of honing practice but they were either brand new and expensive or in terrible ruined shape. I need to do a flea sale to find something in between.

Which leads me to my only worry. Since honing is removing metal, do you have to worry about having removed too much metal on the blade over time. The more metal has been removed the higher you are on the forged metal profile. For a singing blade are you not risking to ruin the original character of the blade eventually ?

Without trying to be too blunt, I think you have made a huge mistake by trying to hone a "limited edition $400 Thier Issard" razor as your first victim in learning to hone. I would encourage you to just send it out to have it professionally honed and find a more suitable razor to learn honing on.

Bob