I finally honed an ebay special from dull to shave ready! There are lots of people I have to thank for this and rather than forget or slight anyone let me just thank everyone. There are three things that stand out, one is the trick of running the edge against a beer bottle before setting the bevel so I could get an honest idea of where I was at. Second is staying on one stone until I had gotten to a certain level of sharpness before moving to next instead of just counting strokes. Third, if you can't shave off an 8k norton then you didn't do something right. Next stage will be finishing on my C12k, but if I had too, I could live with the edge I have now. Is it as sharp and smooth as it could be? Of course not, but it is not uncomfortable. Sorry if I sound like a giddy schoolgirl but I will never be able to hone my very first razor for the very first time again.
I finally did it!
- Thread starter Shaman
- Start date
Congratulations from B&B's collective insomniacs.
Many congratulations, and I can understand the giddiness. I felt proud when I was able to refresh a razor that wouldn't strop anymore (a few laps on a Shapton 16K did it).
More than that is further up the learning curve for me.
Further reasons for you to be cheerful about this: You've gotten a grasp of a delicate, uncommon skill, and one that'll make you more independent (no more having to send blades away to honemeisters) and, if only in a tiny way, reduces your carbon footprint (nothing to send away and add to frieght)AND, best and more pleasurable of all, you'll be able to get the exact edge you want. Sure, having a blade done by a pro will show you what sharp can be, but maybe you want it a little more or less sharp. Well, now you can get it exactly the way you want it.
In this day and age, to be able to get anything exactly as you please is a rare and wonderful thing. Revel in it. I hope to get there one day myself.
Congrats! One day I'm going to try honing on my own, but not yet.
Did you use a pocket microscop to gauge your progress?
- Thread starter
- #7
I used a 10x triplet I had on hand. Am considering buying a handheld scope off amazon before doing my next razor.
Nice!! I'll get there someday...
That's great!!
Makes it worth it when you get results. Good work!
