Thread: Problem with stropping and hair test

You have 1 hone? ok, here is what I would do.
First, stop stropping on the coarse side.

Second, stop applying oil to the smooth side of the strop.

Third, clean that hone with water and a nylon scrubbing pad. The goal is to remove any "stuff" that may be embedded in the hone.

Fourth, use water on the hone when your honing. This will help keep the hone from clogging up.

Fifth, make a short video of you honing and put it in this thread, just like the stropping video.

Sixth, perform 200 round trip laps on the hone. Then strop for 50 round trip laps. Then test shave. It should be better than before. I suspect that you razor is not honed enough.

Seventh, forget the hanging hair test. Let the shave test be your guide.
Repeat the honing using 100 laps each time until the razor shaves you very well. If that hone is actually 12,000 grit and a slow cutting stone and the razor has never been honed professionally then it will take a lot of laps on the hone. This razor can be made shaving sharp on that hone but it may take a lot of honing and shave testing.

I am trying to keep this as simple as possible so I will not talk about generating and using a slurry or various honing strokes. I just want to give you a procedure that will deliver results.

Hope this helps,