I have achieved 'The Velvet Squeegee'

[Woodash]

I just honed a razor that gave me the best, most effortless, and most comfortable shave that I ever had; better than any razor I ever used - bar none. It was so smooth, I actually stopped a couple of times in the first few passes just to make sure that it was actually cutting hair. Wow!

Now, I get it. The Light Bulb went off. Unbelievable.
Just wanted to get that off my chest....

 

[gull]

What stones did you use?

 

[Legion]

What stones did you use?

+1

Tell us your secrets man!

 

[Woodash]

The secret (for me) is that...........it's not the hones (or, it's not only the hones). It's learning how to get the best out of your hones and constantly trying to improve your technique.

Seriously, I've been using these same stones with decent results for some time now, but over the last ~weeks, I've been working to improve, improve, improve the edges on a few razors - even in the most minute way - trying everything to get the most out of the finisher. Things came together and I could barely feel the razor on my face.

I used a couple of very nice Jnats, coming right from stone to strop.

 

[Bart]

That's great to hear, Steve. Enjoy your success!

Kind regards,
Bart.

 

[wdwrx]

The Myth of the Velvet Squeegee: Confirmed

 

[jendeindustries]

Congratulations!

I smell a razor pass-around!

 

[professorchaos]

Fantastic!

 

[global_dev]

Nice, though a question about the type of razor. what was the grind?

so you think it was a Jnat that put you over the top? in terms of available resources? or do you think it's that you know how the stones work best for you? and other stones (not JNats) might get YOU to the same quality shave. I am trying to ask around the YMMV portion. I don't want to know about me. I am curious as to your thoughts on your honing stones and your process and how they interact..

 

[Woodash]

Just for some perspective, I should say at the outset that all this is just my experience and is limited to the situation that I described above. I certainly don’t pretend to be any kind of honing expert, but I did figure out a few things for this one razor (actually, a couple more now) and a small collection of hones of a certain type. Most of the time, we get on base; last night I was lucky enough to have hit one out of the park.

...type of razor. what was the grind?

The razor was a 7/8” full hollow Dorko.

...so you think it was a Jnat that put you over the top? in terms of available resources? or do you think it's that you know how the stones work best for you? and other stones (not JNats) might get YOU to the same quality shave.

...your thoughts on your honing stones and your process and how they interact...

As I said previously, it was partly the Jnats themselves that put me over the top, and partly my learning how to use them better. The two cannot be separated. As I continue to improve, I can only now appreciate just how good these particular stones are. I'm sure there are other really great Jnats out there as well as a ton of other great sharpening media with which people get great results. It’s just that these Jnats are what I’ve been working with more or less exclusively with for some time now. The stones were constant, but my use of them was always meandering around looking for a better result.

I spent a lot of time slowly experimenting with all kinds of treatments: water, slurry, diluted slurry, re-made slurry, refreshed slurry, slurry to paste, water, water to dry stone, tomonagura, diamond plate – on and on. I eventually learned a lot about these particular stones, but I also learned a tremendous amount about touch, pressure, different strokes, and in general, what effect all this has in creating or removing various imperfections in a bevel. A lot of this is transferrable, not only to other hones, but also to other types of steel. I do think that it will likely be a long time before I get the results that I got last night on another kind of stone.

Right now, I’m getting very good results honing (using the Jnats) a high C Ti blade, an Inox, and a Sheffield – all with slightly different hardness and stiffer grinds. They both have very different feeling on the hones requiring a slightly different approach, but they now also have as good of an edge as I ever put on a razor. Given a more difficult blade, I can hone reasonably well, but I defer to the pros to get the job done right.

Sorry for the long response.

 

[ouch]

Wasn't that Mel Torme?

 

[Woodash]

Correction: I have achieved 'The Velvet Fog'.