I have been honing for about two months now, practicing on beaters from eBay. It's been very rewarding, but very frustrating as well. These beaters had less than perfect grinds and a multitude of problems likely based upon poor honing by previous users. Some had the toe rolled and I could not get a bevel there. I did not want to roll the toe, because I use it for outlining my beard. I wanted it sharp and I did not want to roll every time I honed or touched up. So I did super hard and fast half strokes to get there. And I got a nice blue/red patina on the steel. I knew immediately I had heated the steel above 900°F and destroyed the temper. And now there was no way to get and hold an edge on that blade.
But by working with less than great blades, removing chips, and making mistakes, I learned to keep the blade flat, ride with the undercut of water and work without much pressure. And I got better at lapping the stones.
And finally, I got a good blade from eBay. Winning with a low bid, I got a Kinfolks Blue Steel Special. It was in pristine condition. While not shave ready, there was no spine wear and the scales indicated little use. I had heard that there were some great American razors out there and Kinfolks was listed as one. Starting with no work, it would not slit the cherry tomato. I marked the blade with a sharpie and it took only two x-strokes on my Naniwa 1000 to completely remove the ink. It took about 20 x-strokes to create a bevel. I felt like I was watching the Doc226 video. My strokes were very low pressure and effortless. I was then able to slice the cherry from heel to toe with ease. Finally, a good bevel from heel to toe! Now I look forward to taking this razor out to 12k and then smoothing it with my Oozuku.
I have some well respected razors that I bought new, such as Ralf Aust, Le Grelot and Wacker. This effort tells me that I will be able to hone or touch them up when needed. This also confirms the great advice I have gotten on this forum and thanks to all of you for that. BTW, the other razor in the photo is a Japanese Rosette with a 2-1/4 inch blade.
But by working with less than great blades, removing chips, and making mistakes, I learned to keep the blade flat, ride with the undercut of water and work without much pressure. And I got better at lapping the stones.
And finally, I got a good blade from eBay. Winning with a low bid, I got a Kinfolks Blue Steel Special. It was in pristine condition. While not shave ready, there was no spine wear and the scales indicated little use. I had heard that there were some great American razors out there and Kinfolks was listed as one. Starting with no work, it would not slit the cherry tomato. I marked the blade with a sharpie and it took only two x-strokes on my Naniwa 1000 to completely remove the ink. It took about 20 x-strokes to create a bevel. I felt like I was watching the Doc226 video. My strokes were very low pressure and effortless. I was then able to slice the cherry from heel to toe with ease. Finally, a good bevel from heel to toe! Now I look forward to taking this razor out to 12k and then smoothing it with my Oozuku.
I have some well respected razors that I bought new, such as Ralf Aust, Le Grelot and Wacker. This effort tells me that I will be able to hone or touch them up when needed. This also confirms the great advice I have gotten on this forum and thanks to all of you for that. BTW, the other razor in the photo is a Japanese Rosette with a 2-1/4 inch blade.