Thread: Why is this razor magic?

Originally Posted by bonitomio

From your experience could you draw any general conclusions about "parings" of certain steels/grinds with various types of hones, if such a thing exists?
I have read more than a few times of how members (for example) had success with a certain problem razor from changing from a barbers hone to a coticule or vise versa.
This is straying into the higher levels of understanding that only comes with many, many hours of use and refinement with various hone and razor combinations.
I don´t know to what degree these "parings" depend on the particular honemeister or not, but this question wont go away.
I am sure many would appreciate your insights into this, especially me

I have found that the hardness of the steel, even between razors from the same manufacturer varies, some more than others. In general if the razor is creating slurry while honing the binder in the hone is too soft for the steel in the razor. If the hone is building up a black residue that can't be wiped off easily or the hone produces a high pitch sound the binder in the hone is too tough to release the worn grit w/ pressure from the steel. The principle is that the hone should hold onto the grit while the grit is sharp and release it when the grit gets dull. The other part is how hard is the grit.

This is a very advanced concept and it doesn't mean that the hone you/we are using isn't sufficient to sharpen the blade. I have an extensive background as a Tool and Die Maker and have ground a lot of metals in this trade. Some extra reading that may be interesting would be to research grinding wheels for surface grinders. for starters they come in different grit sizes, different grit hardness and different binder toughness to grind different steels. These concepts can be transferred to hones and honing but I/we do not know all of the specific characteristics of the steel or hones we are using in honing our vintage razors. I would suggest observing all that is happening while honing with all of your senses, work whithin your means and budget and most of all, to have fun.