Shave after my first honing attempt
So today I shaved with a razor that I honed myself, and I have to say, I was surprised in several areas.
The first was that the shave was rougher than I expected. I did probably 10 laps per side on the 1k until I could tell that I was just rolling the edge by continuing. Then probably another 10 laps on the 4k until I got the same feedback. Then about 15 laps on the 8k until same feedback, then I lightly straightened out the edge with a few more passes on the 8k. Then 50 passes on CrOx filly strop from Kenrup, 50 passes on linen, 50 on leather. I think I need to work more on the polishing from the 8k stone, and on the polishing on the CrOx strop.
The second area that surprised me is that the shave went so well, all things considered. I had about a week's growth on my face, and I only did a quick single pass shave because I had to get to work, but this shave is easily the best shave I've ever had. My cheeks and chin are damn near BBS, and my neck is much closer than I've ever gotten before. No nicks or cuts throughout the entire shave. Also, I used a different lathering technique than I usually do, and while I got a thicker lather, it dried out about 1/4 of the way through the shave, which has never happened before, and made the shave rougher (I think).
So I have a couple explanations for why the shave was simultaneously so rough and so close. The first possibility is that I just happened to use all the right technique, and got a great shave with a semi-sharp blade. The second possibility, and the one I'm leaning toward, is that the long growth, combined with the questionable lather, made the actually quite well sharpened blade work harder, but that the significant sharpness achieved a closer shave. I'll be trying the same blade again tomorrow to see how the stubble length affected the shave. Also, I figured out how to correct the lather problem, so I should be good there tomorrow also. To replicate the experiment as closely as possible I'll also be going single pass tomorrow.
On the whole, I'm very happy with my first honing attempt. My Norton waterstones are beautiful and very easy to use. Very responsive and give great feedback also. A couple more months of these guys and I'll be looking at a Shapton 16k. Maybe even a 30k.
Thanks everyone for your help and advice. I've learned a LOT from the wiki, various threads and from PM convos with various members that have really helped me a lot. SRP FTW!
Any feedback or comments would be greatly appreciated.