My first hone job.

[Aloxite]

I did my first hone job on a straight. Initially I tried to do the little KID razor but the slight crown was stumping me. I just couldn't get the tip beveled right. It didn't look like the previous owner did either. So I switched to the J. A. Henkels. The edge is nice and straight on that one.

I started by lapping the stones with a piece of Norton 400 grit wet/dry using an old mirror as a base. I used a King 1k to set the bevel followed by a King 6k. The finisher was a Chinese 12K. First used with with a slurry and then with water only. Finally I stropped with a my vintage liner and leather strop. I didn't use any tape on the spine.

Overall it was pretty easy, mainly owing to the hollow grind and the straightness of the edge. I've managed a pretty damn smooth shave with it. I'm going to make a balsa strop or two and pick up some abrasives and see about getting the edge a bit smoother. I'm also going to dig out the old microscope that is somewhere in the basement and see if I can get a decent look at the edge so I really know when I have polished out the hone marks from the previous grit stone.

Anyway, it may not be the best edge ever but it certainly will work. Here are a couple of pics from when I received the razors and strop. I've restored the strop a bit since then.

 

[Wid]

Nice to hear, any idea as to how many strokes with each progression?

 

[Aloxite]

I really didn't keep track. The King 1K I just worked until I had a good bevel. The King 6K I worked until the razor kind of sucked itself into the stone. The C12K I did about 50 strokes with th slurry and 50 with water. I don't know if I did enough with it.

 

[Disburden]

This is what I do when I am resetting a bevel and then sharpening through until a polish.

Naniwa 1K: I use this until I have an even bevel, the razor must shave very well on my leg or arm all the way across the edge. If one side of the blade does better than the other than I go back to the hone also. I use the 1K until hair is popping on my legs above skin level.

norton 4: I usually do about 30 strokes and then shave hair again. Usually popping hair is easier and quieter. I may check a microscope to see if the bevel polish has changed all the way down the edge.

norton8: Repeat like 4K but use less strokes, the 8K side overhones easily.

Naniwa 12K: About 30 strokes, very lightly, with water.

Escher with slurry: I tend to use a lot of strokes and then dilute to water and do about 10 more.

Hope this helps when it comes to moving on through a progression.

 

[Wid]

Thank you.

 

[sffone]

It sounds as if you're definitely on the right track. It's great that you're beginning to hone your own razors. You'll quickly find that there are all kinds of ways and approaches to keeping a razor well honed. Something I'm going to try real soon is keeping my razors sharp with just a barber's hone, exclusively. I should be able to keep them shaving-sharp indefinitely, just as the barbers did years ago. If it doesn't work out, I can always go back to the ol' Nortons and coticles.

 

[Aloxite]

I'm having a slight conundrum because I'm not quite sure if I was getting some irritation from my poor honing or from my poor shaving technique. I endeavoured to solve this by purchasing a shave ready Dubl Duck. I also bought a 20x-200x 2mp digital microscope so I can get a better look at my edges. But that is on the slow boat and probably won't be here for three weeks.

 

[sffone]

If the razor is cutting the whiskers OK and not pulling, then I think your honing is satisfactory. However, the edge may need a tad more polishing to smooth it out a bit. Perhaps try a little paste or a little more time on the 12k. I think the real culprit is your technique. Try shaving only WTG, making sure to keep the blade at a small angle so that you're cutting hair and not scraping it off. The back of the blade should be just slightly off the surface of your face. Hang in there, because it all will get easier in time. Good luck.

 

[Aloxite]

I took it back to the 6k King last night and then worked it on the C12k for awhile. This mornings shave was better than the others but I still don't think it's up to par. I may just go back to the 1K again. I'm thinking that maybe I didn't get the roughness out of the edge the first time. The bevel is very thin but I'm assuming that it is appropriate for a hollow grind.

The hollow grind may be another factor in the poor shaves I've been getting. I've been reading that wedges are easier for a newbie to master. The Wosty that I was getting nice shaves with is a wedge. But I got a tiny ding in it. I might just send it to someone to do correctly. But I don't know if I'm willing to give up quit yet. I do have the Dubl Duck coming soon. Hopefully that will give me enough time to get my honing skills up to par.

Anyway I think I'd rather buy shave ready straights for $35-40 then pay $20 to get one I own honed. Might as well build the collection.