Thread: 12 different particle size diamond pastes!

Originally Posted by ChrisL

I have a decent stereo microscope which I use almost exclusively on 40x magnification. Occasionally I will tilt a razor to view the actual edge, as best I can head on, but virtually all of the time when honing, I'm inspecting the edge from a side view. I'm looking at the bevels.

I'm interested in why you think the edges honing this way would be more rounded then honing edge leading?

Chris L

Mainly b/c you used a material with some give that might let the edge press down into it when it was actually being honed-I'd wonder if it was possible with the paper on glass more then the wood. Since this was actually being honed, not just post honing stroping, even a slight tendency to do this might be exaggerated. I'm not saying that its likely, you did use really stiff materials that would minimize or eliminate that sort of thing. Now that I think about it, I'd guess that there couldn't really even be much pressing into the newspaper, it would prolly tear if there was.

Originally Posted by Pete_S

Mainly b/c you used a material with some give that might let the edge press down into it when it was actually being honed-I'd wonder if it was possible with the paper on glass more then the wood. Since this was actually being honed, not just post honing stroping, even a slight tendency to do this might be exaggerated. I'm not saying that its likely, you did use really stiff materials that would minimize or eliminate that sort of thing. Now that I think about it, I'd guess that there couldn't really even be much pressing into the newspaper, it would prolly tear if there was.

I'm not dismissing your logic. I was wanting a basis for it. The 2x2 pine "hones" are softer than a stone, no doubt. I haven't noticed any rounding on the 2x2s. The oiled newspaper is one layer. It does give a cushioned strop sensation when backhoning over it. I worked on the Tonsorial Gem tonight after asking for additional info from you tonight and brought it up to what all my signs are pointing to as shaving sharp. I will be shaving with it tomorrow. While backhoning/stropping on the 1.5 micron pasted newspaper on glass I watched the edge very closely and made some slow motion passes. Granted, the naked eye wouldn't rule out an upward rebound of the trailing newspaper, but still I didn't see any evidence of that.

Chris L

Very nice shave with the Tonsorial Gem full hollow this morning. I was in a hurry and did a single pass shave. Even with a skimpy prep it was a close comfortable and irritation free shave.

In honing the Tonsorial Gem, I was more concerned about identifying any area of the edge that showed a wire edge than I was about removing all traces of a wire edge before moving to the next grit. My logic in relaxing this that seemed to work was:

The wire edge off the 7 micron which covered approx 75% of the edge automatically decreased on the 3.5 micron passes to approx 30% and was finer in width. The 1.5 micron pasted newspaper over the glass automatically removed the remnants of at that point, the finest and smallest of wire edges.

I will try to find a decent way using my limited digital camera to take a picture of a wire edge as the unaided eye would see it and also under magnification.

I think a key player in this technique is the pasted newspaper on glass. The wood fibers of the newsprint swell a bit, the pasted newspaper surface has a significant draw and all areas of the edge from heel to the absolute tip of the toe are honed. The pasted newspaper just seems to hug the razor so well.


Chris L