Additional honing/polishing

[Grenage]

Existing kit:

Dovo 3" leather strop
1, 4, 8k waterstones
12k Chinese waterstone

Many years ago I shaved with a Dovo 5/8 which was sent off to be honed and I stropped it on my 3" leather. I eventually stopped using it, I think because it got a little dull.

Skip forward 17 years and I decided to take it up again and get some stones. I destroyed the blade and gave up.

I bought some cheap vintage blades on eBay to practice and I've gotten one of them to a good state. I had been using straight up and down motions after watching a video, but it all came together after switching to x-strokes.

The shave is reasonable, but I haven't gone beyond the 8k yet as my 12k is only 1.5" and I was worried about wrecking the edge.

My questions after a much longer ramble than planned:

Should I still be using x-strokes when stopping on a 3" leather?
Do I need a canvas strop?
Is it worth going from the 8 to the 12k or will the difference be minimal?

Cheers guys, and happy new year.

 

[rbscebu]

My advice would be to give the 12k a try using very light X strokes. With a 3" wide strop you don't need X strokes, just straight up and down. Remember with the strop, hold it reasonably tight and no pressure on the blade. You want almost no noticable deflection in the strop when stropping. You don't need a canvas/linen/denim strop.

 

[Grenage]

Excellent, thank you. I do keep the strop taught so at least that's ok. I'll give the 12 a go!

 

[rbscebu]

Excellent, thank you. I do keep the strop taught so at least that's ok. I'll give the 12 a go!

Just 20 or 30 very light X stroke laps on the 12k. Then shave and see if you notice an improvement. Repeat for each shave until you notice no further improvement.

Once there is no further improvement, you can consider diamond pasted balsa strops to make a good edge even better.

How To Use a Pasted Balsa Strop

lol camo

www.badgerandblade.com

 

[Grenage]

That PDF guide is pretty comprehensive; thank you.

 

[Slash McCoy]

X-stroking on your strop is a good idea. The x doesn't have to be exaggerated. Just a half inch ot an inch of sideways travel is plenty. It sort of compensates for surface irregularities and cupping or humping of the strop. You will maybe improve your stropping performance, maybe not, but it never hurts.

Yeah that's a pretty small C12k alright. But if you are honing in hand you should be okay. These are also sometimes called PHIGs, or People's Hone of Indeterminate Grit. There is a lot of variation but generally they are thought of as pretty slow stones. Some will give you a fin edge if you aren't careful. Being slow, your lap count could go pretty high. If it is well lapped and then burnished by honing a kitchen knife or two, it will give you pretty good feedback to let you know when you are done. You should feel stiction increase and then plateau. At that point, there are a couple of drills I do to beat fin edge and maximize sharpness. First, some pull strokes, about a half dozen laps. Then some very short x strokes, the lightest pressure you can manage, and there really is no max number if your pressure is light enough and you are honing in hand, but twice the number of pull stroke laps is usually about right. Here's a couple of threads for you:
The Pull Stroke Explained | Badger & Blade
Is My Razor Sharp? The Treetopping Test | Badger & Blade

 

[Grenage]

Thanks Slash,

I don't have a lot of hair left on my forearms at this point, but I don't think the blade could treetop my arm hair - I'll have to play around at the weekend. The pull strokes look good too; I guess they do make sense when you think about it.

 

[Slash McCoy]

Thanks Slash,

I don't have a lot of hair left on my forearms at this point, but I don't think the blade could treetop my arm hair - I'll have to play around at the weekend. The pull strokes look good too; I guess they do make sense when you think about it.

Try belly or chest or leg? The goal being to lop off just the tips of hairs.

 

[Grenage]

Good call; I've long legs so there should be a fair amount of testing in them.

 

[Grenage]

Just wanted to pop in and say thanks for your advice.

I wasn't totally happy with the last shave so I took the razor (and one other) back to the 1k and worked up - finishing on the ~12k. I did some pulls and straight movements but mostly just X strokes.

Best shave ever, it's like night and day. A very enjoyable shave!

The shaver I was using tree-topped hair reasonably well and the edge looked very smooth and polished under a loupe. The second razor's edge didn't look that great and couldn't top hair at all.

They both received the same treatment so I don't know if it's just not great steel. Funny as that's the fancy-looking one with writing across the blade. The smooth shaver looks relatively dull and manky.