Thread: Not quite shave ready but close. What's wrong?

I think you are doing fine. You are making forward strides. We all have done the things that you are to a greater or lesser degree. Just continue to breathe. This will all come together faster than you think. You have learned much about grits , spines and angles oh and pressure. You WILL become proficient with this skill,
I would advise taking up the members who offered help.
Every master was once an apprentice.
You have learned much, when you look for another razor you will know what to look for in terms of potential work to be done, and it will be much easier now that you have walked this mile.
Good job and keep up the hard work, I like your positive attitude also. Let a master give you a hand just this once and then you will have a huge advantage for future projects.

I think you are right on. I'm going to send it out to a pro who's extended an appreciated helping hand. I wish I had another straight so I could send that one to Euclid who's also offered. Seeing an experienced honemeister's work is something I'm looking forward to. Thankfully there are some members who feel my pain and have offered help and tips. Thanks very much guys!!

I'm pretty familiar with grits and refining from my real work (do a lot of fine spray finishing) so I work through the grits and buff/polish until I have a fine shine. That transfers over. But sharpening has a little more to it than just scratch free (to the naked eye) shine obviously. Still getting there! It's helped to break it down. It really isn't rocket science but at the same time, it's not automatic knowledge either. It obviously takes some finesse to get what we're all after.

I'm enjoying the learning curve thanks to the pointers and encouragement.

Yea, .03 is not bad, easily could have been honed with an X stroke.

Just go slow and focus on lightly shifting the honing point.

I honed a brand new TI for a guy last night that was easily that much out in the center of the spine.

Came out real nice, the bevel was a bit narrow in the center, on one side but shaved a dream.

Once you get sharp down, then you have to concentrate on smooth, comfort. You can do sharp easy on diamonds, but you would not want to shave on it, and that is where a good stone progression comes into play.

You really should invest in a 4/8k Norton, make life easy. It is all you need.

By the way. A shiny bevel means nothing. I just finished honing one of my favorite razors. I can plainly see scratches on the bevel with no magnification, but guess what though. It feels great on the face and super smooth and close shave. I have had some where they were mirror bevels but shaved like crap on a turd. Like they teach you in school, don't judge something by the way it looks. It might look like a bugatti but could actually be a mercury (by the way that actually happened)

Just picked up a Norton 4000/8000 and I'm actually getting a worse edge post sharpening than my arkies were giving. With the Surgical Black Arkie, I could cut arm hairs post sharpening. With this, it just combs over them. After stroping (felt) I can cut hairs but not shave. After the leather strop, I can almost shave. Not quite though.

After you get done honing it, strop 3 times on each side on the stone.. It is probably rolled a scosh.

The interesting thing is that when I strop I can hear the edge singing on one side after the Norton. I never got that with the Arkies. This seems like it'd have to be a technique thing (i.e. user error) but it's happened two or three times with the 4000/8000 and never that I've noticed with my arkies.

Tried it again with my arkie and it was cutting arm hairs right off the stone. Then I went to felt (no compound) glued to a dead flat jointed board and it was cutting even better (arm hairs). Then I went to the leather strop on a flat board with an x pattern and it's a touch better still but not getting there and still not getting me a close shave. A cheap disposable against the grain does worlds better. I can shave chest or arm hair all day but not facial hair. I do admit that I have pretty tough facial hair.

I do not have chromium oxide (just the dry felt) for what it's worth. Maybe that's my problem.

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.

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.

Make sure your also taping the spine while you are learning how to hone. That way you don't unnessecarily waste metal. Also if when your stropping it starts to go backward that means you need to work on the technique. If your doing it right there is no over stropping.

A sharp razor should have no trouble taking out thick hair or thin hair. Now if you have thick hair it might be harder to get a comfortable shave than if you had thinner hair but you would still get a clean shaven face if it were honed well. I am betting that you are not focusing on setting the bevel as much as you should. You should be able to clean shave your arm hair after the 1k stone. Every grit after that is just refinement and smoothing out the edge to make it more comfortable on your face.

I honestly think that you are moving to fast not knowing how it is to get a proper shave first before honing but that being said you are on the right track. It just takes time and patience and practice. Just make sure you keeping even pressure on the whole stroke and keeping the spine on the stone. You'll get there eventually.

Ill pm you about your other razor though.