Lapping film disaster

[Tyrconnell]

My razor was sharpened by a honemeister not so long ago. I've been keeping it pretty sharp using the poor mans stopping kit from Larry. Long term I don't want to be dependant on a honemeister so I bought some lapping film a while back. I read up to page 7 or so on the "Lapping Film - try it" thread. After that the ratio of "information on how to use lapping film" to "experts talking about the results" seem to be dropping-off. I've been putting this off for a while but I'm at home today so I decided to give it a go. The result is an unmitigated disaster. Since I was only looking to touch it up I did
3 micron 60 passes in one direction and then 60 passes in the other direction
1 micron 60 passes in one direction and then 60 passes in the other direction
1 micron with wet paper underneath 40 passes in one direction and then 40 passes in the other direction
40 laps on the leather strop for good measure

I did watch the video in that thread on how to do this and copied it as closely as I could. The thread is filled with people (experts) saying that the film makes it easy but I didn't find that to be the case. In any event the results were massively disappointing. My razor is useless now. I shaved twice and still looked like I hadn't shaved . I'll have to take it back to the honemeister for him to return it to sharpness. I had to revert to my DE to get a shave that looked like I'd actually shaved. Hugely disappointed. Any noobs out there take note - this is not at all as easy as people say it is.

Honestly I don't know what to do with the lapping film. At this point I doubt I could make the razor any worse but I also have no clue how to make it any better.

 

[BakerAndBadger]

Hi,

Try taking it back to a lower grit film. It may be that you need to get the edge back more than you realised.
I've never used film so I can't be of any more use to you!

 

[Mike H]

Honing in general requires a learning curve, but lapping film has the shortest curve.

 

[jpcwon]

This sounds just like my first honing experience! (except mine was with a Norton instead of film). In my case it was ultimately because the bevel needed to be reset & I didn't realize it. Perhaps this is the case with your experience?

 

[Mike H]

 

[Mike H]

 

[paco664]

odds are your razor was honed with tape...... put one layer of electrical tape on the spine and re-do your honing....

pay close attention to pressure... starting with fair pressure and ending with very little.....

strop... enjoy....

*(come back and call me a idiot or a genius..)

 

[ladykate]

odds are your razor was honed with tape...... put one layer of electrical tape on the spine and re-do your honing....
pay close attention to pressure... starting with fair pressure and ending with very little.....

Assuming you kept the spine flat on the film, then the above might be it. New people often think they must raise the spine off the surface as when honing a knife. That will ruin the edge. To protect the spine, some honies will put tape on it. That works but when you want to tune it up, you will need to put tape on it again. Then keep the spine on the honing surface. Finally, don't do all passes on one side and then do all passes on the other. Do them in smaller sets. For tuning, I will often do 10 laps on each side, then 5, then 3 then 1 (the last single pass is repeated 10 times or so).

 

[Wid]

From previous posts it looks like there was no tape used on the razor. It very well may be touted by some that lapping film is an easy way to learn to hone but imo it still need as much skill as any other set of synthetic hones.

If this is your only razor send it out to be honed again. It wouldn't hurt to have a back up while one is out being honed.

 

[paco664]

From previous posts it looks like there was no tape used on the razor. It very well may be touted by some that lapping film is an easy way to learn to hone but imo it still need as much skill as any other set of synthetic hones.

If this is your only razor send it out to be honed again. It wouldn't hurt to have a back up while one is out being honed.

^--- first class SRAD enabler right there boys....

 

[Obiwan]

....but he's got a point, lol.

 

[Seraphim]

My razor was sharpened by a honemeister not so long ago. I've been keeping it pretty sharp using the poor mans stopping kit from Larry. Long term I don't want to be dependant on a honemeister so I bought some lapping film a while back. I read up to page 7 or so on the "Lapping Film - try it" thread. After that the ratio of "information on how to use lapping film" to "experts talking about the results" seem to be dropping-off. I've been putting this off for a while but I'm at home today so I decided to give it a go. The result is an unmitigated disaster. Since I was only looking to touch it up I did
3 micron 60 passes in one direction and then 60 passes in the other direction
1 micron 60 passes in one direction and then 60 passes in the other direction
1 micron with wet paper underneath 40 passes in one direction and then 40 passes in the other direction
40 laps on the leather strop for good measure

I did watch the video in that thread on how to do this and copied it as closely as I could. The thread is filled with people (experts) saying that the film makes it easy but I didn't find that to be the case. In any event the results were massively disappointing. My razor is useless now. I shaved twice and still looked like I hadn't shaved . I'll have to take it back to the honemeister for him to return it to sharpness. I had to revert to my DE to get a shave that looked like I'd actually shaved. Hugely disappointed. Any noobs out there take note - this is not at all as easy as people say it is.

Honestly I don't know what to do with the lapping film. At this point I doubt I could make the razor any worse but I also have no clue how to make it any better.

Your single direction only may be an issue?

Usually people alternate between sides when honing, as this prevents the buildup of a possible burr along the edge.

Perhaps this may be the problem?

 

[Tyrconnell]

@BakerAndBadge: if I didn't need to take it back before - I reckon I need to take it back a bit now :-/

@paco664 - definitely not honed with tape - I saw the honemeister sharpen it (or at least finish it) in front of my eyes. This guy is 70+. A barber from the oooollld-school (there ain't no school like it)

@ladykate - I wasn't conciously holding the spine off the paper. I can't remember exactly what I did. Possibly I did.

@Wid - definitely it isn't as easy as I thought it was going to be

@Seraphim - you may easily be right

I watched the video again and one thing he was doing that I didn't do the first time was presse it gently onto the sheet to evenly apply pressure evenly. I'd say that was the main thing I was doing wrong (amongst others). Also this time I went east-west instead of north-south. And instead of going all one direction and then all the other direction I did laps as Seraphin suggested (on a side-note - I needed to use some weights to hold my paper in-place - no matter how much water I used it didn't seem to adhere to the glass as people suggested - does anybody else find that?)

At any rate - thank you all for your advice. THis time I went very slowly and did
15 micron 90 laps
9 micron 90 laps
3 micron 60 laps
1 micron 60 laps
1 micron with wet paper underneath 40 laps

I'll let you know how the shave test goes tomorrow - if nothing else the blade now looks beautiful after all the polishing :-D

 

[Seraphim]

My razor was sharpened by a honemeister not so long ago. I've been keeping it pretty sharp using the poor mans stopping kit from Larry. Long term I don't want to be dependant on a honemeister so I bought some lapping film a while back. I read up to page 7 or so on the "Lapping Film - try it" thread. After that the ratio of "information on how to use lapping film" to "experts talking about the results" seem to be dropping-off. I've been putting this off for a while but I'm at home today so I decided to give it a go. The result is an unmitigated disaster. Since I was only looking to touch it up I did
3 micron 60 passes in one direction and then 60 passes in the other direction
1 micron 60 passes in one direction and then 60 passes in the other direction
1 micron with wet paper underneath 40 passes in one direction and then 40 passes in the other direction
40 laps on the leather strop for good measure

I did watch the video in that thread on how to do this and copied it as closely as I could. The thread is filled with people (experts) saying that the film makes it easy but I didn't find that to be the case. In any event the results were massively disappointing. My razor is useless now. I shaved twice and still looked like I hadn't shaved . I'll have to take it back to the honemeister for him to return it to sharpness. I had to revert to my DE to get a shave that looked like I'd actually shaved. Hugely disappointed. Any noobs out there take note - this is not at all as easy as people say it is.

Honestly I don't know what to do with the lapping film. At this point I doubt I could make the razor any worse but I also have no clue how to make it any better.

Aha!


Problem #2-- R.T.F.M. Read The F'ing Manual! Who knows what pearls of wisdome you are missing out on from pages 8-32?????

I hope try #2 goes better.

 

[Firewalker]

@BakerAndBadge: if I didn't need to take it back before - I reckon I need to take it back a bit now :-/

@paco664 - definitely not honed with tape - I saw the honemeister sharpen it (or at least finish it) in front of my eyes. This guy is 70+. A barber from the oooollld-school (there ain't no school like it)

@ladykate - I wasn't conciously holding the spine off the paper. I can't remember exactly what I did. Possibly I did.

@Wid - definitely it isn't as easy as I thought it was going to be

@Seraphim - you may easily be right

I watched the video again and one thing he was doing that I didn't do the first time was presse it gently onto the sheet to evenly apply pressure evenly. I'd say that was the main thing I was doing wrong (amongst others). Also this time I went east-west instead of north-south. And instead of going all one direction and then all the other direction I did laps as Seraphin suggested (on a side-note - I needed to use some weights to hold my paper in-place - no matter how much water I used it didn't seem to adhere to the glass as people suggested - does anybody else find that?)

At any rate - thank you all for your advice. THis time I went very slowly and did
15 micron 90 laps
9 micron 90 laps
3 micron 60 laps
1 micron 60 laps
1 micron with wet paper underneath 40 laps

I'll let you know how the shave test goes tomorrow - if nothing else the blade now looks beautiful after all the polishing :-D

Hold up there cow-poke!!

Did you say "paper" or do you have film? The film is a shiny plastic on the back, the paper has a woven look on the back. If it was indeed the paper and not the plastic film, you have to strop the razor, going tip to heal will round off the blade. I just did that last week.

It takes a lot more time but the paper is usable if you strop the blade on it but I was never able to get water to hold it down either, I had to use spray adhesive.

Good luck!

 

[sychodelix]

It takes a lot more time but the paper is usable if you strop the blade on it but I was never able to get water to hold it down either, I had to use spray adhesive.

+1 on spray adhesive, although if you don't have it, normal glue sticks work pretty darn well too. I've used it with wet/dry sandpaper with good results.

 

[cb91710]

odds are your razor was honed with tape...... put one layer of electrical tape on the spine and re-do your honing....

pay close attention to pressure... starting with fair pressure and ending with very little.....

Also, now so many laps in one direction then the other.

Especially in the final stages, back and forth should be alternating just like stropping.

By running 40 laps one way, then 40 laps the other, you could be raising a burr.
Stropping may break the burr off, but will not leave a good edge.

 

[Tyrconnell]

This morning the shave has moved from totally-unacceptable to barely-acceptable-on-a-weekend. I'm going to have to have another go-around at this.

 

[Disburden]

Your single direction only may be an issue?

Usually people alternate between sides when honing, as this prevents the buildup of a possible burr along the edge.

Perhaps this may be the problem?

Yes i think so too.
use x strokes...what is all this back and forth stuff?
All old barber manuals say use x strokes to not damage the edge.

 

[Sergio Campos]

Your story looks like mine, did way too many laps with disappointing results. By reading some more (graduate school technique: if it doesn't work, read another book) I figured I took it too seriously the no pressure suggestion. I applied pressure and got better results. Not a lot of pressure, but some is required, I think. I read on an article on coticule.be that mild pressure can be measured at a scale. If you zero it with your razor, mild pressure is about 300g. That gave me an idea of how much pressure is considered medium.

Remember, better results, not very good yet (got more books to read). I am a total newbie on honing (and straight razor shaving), so don't blame me afterwards...

Sergio.