Not Close enough?

[shade73]

So I have 2 straight razors, one given to me by my grandmother who was a barber, and one that I purchased from a knife museum. The one from my grandmother is extremely sharp and seems to cut really well/close, and the one I bought was ridiculously dull. So I spent about 4 sessions honing and I *finally* have it to where it seems like it is ?nearly? sharp enough to shave with. It now shaves the hair off my arm without any pulling as long as I go with the grain. However, when I shave my face with it, it seems as if it leaves quite a bit of stubble after a pass, meaning well above the surface, not even close to skin deep. Does that mean it's not sharp enough, or does that mean I'm not using the proper angle? Should I just strop it more, or is it going to require more honing? It's not nearly as close as my safety or grandmothers razor after the same first pass. Any suggestions?

I was worried about over honing, so since I've gotten it to where it will shave hair off my arm, I have only been doing 1 or 2 passes on the 4000 grit and 5 or so passes on the 8000 grit.

To be honest I'm just happy that I finally got the thing sharp(ish). I really thought I would never get it shave ready using honing stones, since I'd never used them before.

 

[Doc226]

Its not sharp enough.

1-2 passes on 4k and 5 or so on a 8k is not nearly enough. How many is enough? As many as needed.

I would send it out to get it professionally honed, this way you know what a shave ready razor is supposed to feel like.

 

[Doc226]

Oh and welcome.

 

[Wid]

Its not sharp enough.

1-2 passes on 4k and 5 or so on a 8k is not nearly enough. How many is enough? As many as needed.

I would send it out to get it professionally honed, this way you know what a shave ready razor is supposed to feel like.

I agree, no where near enough time on the hones. Did you re-set the bevel before going to the 4k stone?

 

[Drybonz]

I would send it out to get it professionally honed, this way you know what a shave ready razor is supposed to feel like.

This is great advice. This removes the element of never knowing if your razor is as sharp as it should be.

 

[cb91710]

Its not sharp enough.

1-2 passes on 4k and 5 or so on a 8k is not nearly enough. How many is enough? As many as needed.

+1

A steak knife will pop arm hair but not shave.

My last honing session?

30 laps on a DMT 1200 to set the bevel.
60 laps on a Norton 4000
90 laps on a Norton 8000
120 laps on a Naniwa 12000
240 laps on my C-Nat (water, no slurry)
60 laps on CrOX on linen
120 laps on leather

6 shaves on my face and it glides like butter!

 

[SliceOfLife]

I can shave armhair with the grain off 300grit. Off my jnat (estimated finish ~30,000-60,000 grit or thereabouts) I can shave arm hair any way I like and literally not feel the razor on my arm, and have it as smooth as it was when I was six after a single swipe. Arm hair test is pretty much just used when setting a bevel to make sure you have the bevel set at every point on the length of the edge (In other words, to make sure the toe cuts as well as the center of the edge).

Over-honing on 8k pretty much won't happen unless You literally press the edge down into the hone.

 

[cb91710]

I can shave armhair with the grain off 300grit.

Ya, I think I can do a good job of taking off arm hair WITH the 300 grit hone

Over-honing on 8k pretty much won't happen unless You literally press the edge down into the hone.

People are paranoid about "overhoning" because of posts and blogs blaming "overhoning" for their horrible shavers, when the problem is, they simply did not properly set the bevel.
Sure, you can set the bevel on a Norton 4k, but it's a lot easier on a 1k... but until the bevel is set, everything above that is a waste of time.

 

[SliceOfLife]

People are paranoid about "overhoning" because of posts and blogs blaming "overhoning" for their horrible shavers, when the problem is, they simply did not properly set the bevel.
Sure, you can set the bevel on a Norton 4k, but it's a lot easier on a 1k... but until the bevel is set, everything above that is a waste of time.

This. This a thousand times. When I was starting out on SRP, more people than I can count were warning prospective honers of the big scary overhoning boogieman that was going to get them if they did it themselves. I've honed THOUSANDS of razors. I have never... once... not a single... damn... time... over-honed a razor. So either it's paranoia, or everyone else is just absolutely horrible at everything they do.

 

[cb91710]

I think the few cases reported of "overhoning" that actually were a result of honing technique problem (rather than being simply underhoned or an improperly set bevel) have perhaps been when a wire edge has been raised due to doing too many circles on one side, or from using too much pressure.

The two ways to raise a wire edge are excessive honing on one surface, or too much pressure, flexing the blade so the hone is actually cutting slightly behind the edge and not on the edge.
The result, wire edge forms, blade is flipped over, wire edge breaks off, back to square-one with a bevel that is not only not set, but now is chipped and ragged.

I've only a few times done circles, and NEVER more than 5 circles before flipping the blade over... and as with normal honing, zero pressure. The blade and handle provide the pressure at the heel, and I guide the toe only enough to keep the toe in contact and help provide an even push.
First time I honed, I gently laid my fingers on the side of the blade, and I could feel every little imperfection in the surface of the hone as I moved the blade across.