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+1

I'm no honemeister but I've never used stropping strokes on a hone and I get pretty consistent results most of the time.

-john

You can look, shave, do the thumb pad test, the nail test etc.

You can read all about these in the Wiki.

I like to look and test the edge by seeing how "willingly" it shaves my arm hair -...

You have to be sure the bevel is set on the 1k before proceeding to higher grits - if the bevel isn't perfect the final result will be disappointing.

The razor should effortlessly shave arm hair -...

+1 on this.

Make sure the bevel is set on the 1K or whatever you're using to set the bevel. I like to look at the edge with a 40x loupe and see how well it shaves arm hair all along the length of...