Originally Posted by
777funk
Went back to my black arkie and I'm getting my edges a LOT sharper than the 4000/8000 Norton was. It'll shave arms clean right off that stone but a no go for facial hair (shaves but not close and takes a few passes). I've noticed that if I puddle the oil (baby oil), and baby it for the last passes on the black arkie, it'll get the edge very sharp.
I'm beginning to wonder if I just have really tough facial hair for shaving. I know my 5 o clock shadow is darker and tougher than what many guy's 5 o clock shadow looks like. I'm usually showing some wiskers 3-4 hours after being shaved BBS.
That said, I'm not getting much sharper than the stone with the strops. The felt brings it up a notch but my leather strop doesn't take it much farther and if I go too long, actually goes backwards. I've used the strop flat on the table and with light pressure like a sharpening stone to make sure I'm not rolling the edge.