help needed honing.

[stoop]

My usual recommendation is to get the Poor Man strop kit at whipped dog. Very cheap, a nice piece of leather, and a pasted basla strop included as well. Can't recommend it enough.

 

[Slash McCoy]

ordered some film, glad the sizes almost match the size of my granite, sheets are 3"x 8" and my granite is 4" x 8".
ordered 3 micron and 1 micron
will this set me up? will I need smaller than 1 micron ?
I am assuming I will NOT have to set a bevel , just hone.
how about Stropping? still needed after messing with the 1 micron?
thanks

Why not just get full size sheets? Thats kinda small. May as well be using rocks. I like to cut a full sheet into thirds, lengthwise.

No, you don't really need to go any finer than 1u. 3u is approximately equivelant to an 8k Norton. 1u is about like a 12k Naniwa.

 

[Kentos]

Always strop after a honing. At worse it does nothing, at best it further refines the edge.

 

[lishijia]

Always strop after a honing. At worse it does nothing, at best it further refines the edge.

Assuming one's technique is good ... sadly, as some newcomers find out, poor technique can, in fact, do something worse than "nothing".

EDIT: changed "many" to "some". I was one of the "some", thankfully only once.

 

[jkcerda]

Assuming one's technique is good ... sadly, as some newcomers find out, poor technique can, in fact, do something worse than "nothing".

EDIT: changed "many" to "some". I was one of the "some", thankfully only once.

I have read that as well.

My usual recommendation is to get the Poor Man strop kit at whipped dog. Very cheap, a nice piece of leather, and a pasted basla strop included as well. Can't recommend it enough.

would the paddle strop be easier to use?

 

[stoop]

No idea but I doubt it. I really like my hanging strops. Very easy to use.

 

[lishijia]

would the paddle strop be easier to use?

I thought the same and my first few days I used a homemade paddle strop. In retrospect, I don't think I was really doing very much (moving far too slow) with the paddle, because the edge quickly got tuggy on me. The hanging strop was far easier to use, even though I did (a) round the edge once and (b) nicked the strop (more than once). The rounded edge was very minor and a balsa strop with some diamond paste brought it right back. Don't be afraid of the hanging strop, just have a game plan if you happen to dull the edge a bit in the first few days.

 

[Slash McCoy]

I have read that as well.

would the paddle strop be easier to use?

Paddle strops work better for pasted stropping. For normal stropping, I think the very slight sag of a tight hanging leather strop gives much better results. Go with a hanging strop for your routine preshave stropping.