Thread: Linen or leather after honing?

Originally Posted by Firefighter2

The razor is coming off of a Norton 8k waterstone. The problem is that I think the canvas is giving me the scratch effect. Maybe the hone isn't fine enough, although many people have stated here that you should be able to get a good finish from a Norton 8k (providing the technique is good.) Also, I usually do 25/60.

Well regarding whether to use linen/leather after the 8k if the leather only feels better I'd stick with that. A lot of this stuff is each individual's perception. I've gotten many a good shave off of the Norton 8k. Smooth enough but my face/whiskers may be different than yours. For instance, I see guys post about shaving bumps and ingrowns ... I've never had one or the other.So it's all different strokes for different folks. Nothing carved in stone ... no pun intended.

Thank you for the advice.

Originally Posted by hi_bud_gl

It depends on quality of your final finishing stone. if it is very fine just go to leather. if not then linen side and leather will do the job.

+1 . Depending on your finishing stone. When using JNats or Escher I always take it to leather ONLY. I never do linen after honing with these stones. After the first shave, I use linen and leather combo on a daily basis.

Experiment and see what works for you

I do both and my usual method after honing is 50 fabric and 100 leather. I do 30/60 fabric and leather before each shave, then 15/30 afterwards.

I never felt like linen helped my edge. Leather only. Obviously YMMV depending on much of the great insight that came out in this post.

Originally Posted by onimaru55

I have seen a few posts about linen degrading very fine edges but if you are light enough in the hand it should not be a problem. To me the purpose of the linen is sacrificial & only meant to catch stuff I don't want embedded in my good leather. I think felt is a good alternative if linen doesn't work for you.

I am on board with the Oz man on part of this, I hone a lot of razors, I can see what is on my white linen "after honing" strop, (in fact if IIRC there is a pic of my last one on here) I don't want that stuff embedded in my leather "after honing" strop.. Honestly though I have never even tried just leather after honing, I would be willing to bet that I couldn't tell the difference though...

I saved this pic Glen. It made the penny drop for me

Oh boy, maybe I should not say this, but....
I do not use either linen or leather on an edge right after honing. I let the edge "rest" until I shave with it. Then it goes on the leather only for the first shave.
The reasoning is that during honing we have pushed the edge into the abrasives a whole lot. This may have slightly deformed the "teeth, points, etc" to such an angle that it may become snagged on linen or leather. So, I let it rest to give the steel a chance to reassert its shape ( if that happens at all).

Just my $.02,

Originally Posted by randydance062449

Oh boy, maybe I should not say this, but....
I do not use either linen or leather on an edge right after honing. I let the edge "rest" until I shave with it. Then it goes on the leather only for the first shave.
The reasoning is that during honing we have pushed the edge into the abrasives a whole lot. This may have slightly deformed the "teeth, points, etc" to such an angle that it may become snagged on linen or leather. So, I let it rest to give the steel a chance to reassert its shape ( if that happens at all).

Just my $.02,

This is the same reason that I'm good all year. I still get presents at Christmas, and it just may be that Santa Claus has been taking care of me all these years

I always hit the linen after honing to clean the edge off completely--especially if I've raised a slurry at all during finishing. I do pay strict attention to pressure if I'm coming off the Nakayama or something like it, though.