I need some advice regarding honing. Sometimes I feel that it is almost impossible to get a razor sharp enough. I use the following set up of stones: 800K 1200K 3000K 6000K 8000K 10.000K And finally stropping on Balsa wood + leather strop. All stones always flattened on a glass plate with wet sand paper. I have tried out with different pressures ( never hard ) but still some razors never get sharp enough. Tips and tricks would be appreciated! Thanks in advance. Skickat från min iPhone med Tapatalk
If you are starting with an 8k stone, more than likely your bevel isn't set correctly. Invest in good bevel setters. A 320 grit stone for really damaged edges, then a 1000, and 3000 to set the bevels. The bevels are where most of the work is at. If you want super sharp, and smooth, get a well known brand at around 15k+. Major rule in honing, the higher the grit, the less pressure is used. In the final stages, only the weight of the blade is all the pressure that is used.
That could be the problem, I check with magnifying glass and I think it is almost impossible to get an even “grind” along the edge. Have also tried to put the stones on the side and honed with X moves with some better results. Have to try with some more pressure.... Skickat från min iPhone med Tapatalk
6/8 Rader Razor Just finished honing on the 8, 12 and 15 K stones. She'll get her first shave tomorrow morning.
6/8 CekaWorks Had quite a few problems honing this one. This is the third attempt. Decided to start from the beginning. Dragged the edge across the side of the stone a few time. Then started grinding out the old bevel using clock wise circular rotations on the 400 grit stone. Took my time. Lost count of the number of back and forth from one side to the next. When satisfied of the edge developing, moved to the 1K grit and started the honing. Kept an eye on the edge using the marker test. Everything was looking good so the next steps were the 3K, 8K, 12K and 15k stones. The honing and stropping on linen, rough leather and smooth leather developed an very sharp edge. But, this is the third time honing this razor. The first two were just as sharp. Unfortunately, it did not shave well. I apologize for not recalling who the helpful member is but, they provided a really great piece of advice. I hope you read this, Thank you for your advice. It was a tremendous help! The push test; Using packing peanuts to test the edge. I did just that. Checking for pressure needed to "PUSH" the edge into cutting the foam allowed me to estimate if the edge was sharp enough to move from the 15K to the strop. Then from linen to rough and rough to smooth leather. After enough laps on the smooth leather, the razor barely needed a touch before slicing through the foam. Now for the morning shave to see if this latest work proves successful. Good day everyone.
Pre 1935 6/8 Gottlieb Hammesfahr Solingen Foche Nice Blade. Has a good weight and shape. Will see how she shaves after it takes a few hundred laps on the strop.
Touched up my Dovo Bismarck, one of the good ones. Dovo can make a great razor if they want to, and like all modern European razors, the factory scales are … not so good. My version weighs 39g and handles like an M.K. 32.
Joseph Rodgers & the still unknown mark A miss mash of stones for these two... Suehiro for the 1k, Naniwa for the 4k, Shapton for the 8k and a finish with the Thuringian. The Rodgers is a full wedge, and could probably use a regrind, but nothing a little (or a lot of ) tape can’t handle. Happy honing. Tom
Two very nicely behaved old English blades... Geo. Wostenholm and a Joseph Rodgers Same progression: bevel crafted on the Suehiro 1k & Naniwa 4k (pictured), refined on the Shapton 8k, and finished on the Thuringian. Happy honing. Tom
Simmons Hardware Co. Royal King Cutter This is one of @John Beeman 's razors. It was part of a swap, to be returned to him. I restored this one, but left it with a little patina. The edge was butter knife dull, so I took it to the Norton 320 grit stone. A long time later, the Pre-bevel popped up. This felt like it was very very hard metal. Next to the Norton 1K. After it was finished there, I I looked under the Lighter Jewelers Loupe. Crap!!!!!!. Chipping everywhere, some substantial. New tape, and a healthy killing of the edge, and I restarted, with even lighter pressure. Double Crap!!!! More chipping, But not as much as before. Twice more, I killed the edge, because of chipping. Finally, with a light touch, I got past the 1k. It was very very slow going though the rest. I used my Welsh Slate Stones and several Naguras(for slurry), to finish the razor. In the end, I tested the scratch patterns of two Escher Thuringian Hones. The one with the handle puts a nice finish on it, but the other one(on the bottom) takes it to a much higher level. It took a very very sharp edge, after some time on the strop.
Griffon "Tonsorial Artist" Another of @John Beeman 's razors, to be sent back. This was restored, and a small nick was removed, early on. I will say, I have a couple of Griffon razors, and they are very high quality. This razor was much easier than the Simmons, I had also honed. This one easily went through the Hones, without a hiccup. Finished on Welsh Slate Stones and Eschers Thuringians. After stropping, it is scary sharp.
Took the recent modified & rescaled Geo. Rodgers to the hones... Suehiro 1k & Naniwa 4k Hayabusa for the bevel set and refinement - and it went down swinging... wonky razor Then put it away for the night and came back with this really pretty natural combo Coticule... multiple rounds of slurry, then played under some running water, and finally some cycles of 2-3 laps, rinse & repeat. Happy honing. Tom
The new Tanifuji was up this afternoon, the edge looked excellent so I chose a Shapton Glass 3k HR and a Shapton Glass 8k HC for the bevel work with one layer of 1 mil Kapton. The bevel set almost instantly and I was getting silent HHT after the 8k and about 20 passes on the Kanoyama. The finisher is a huge Nakayama sunashi suita, just for hoots and giggles. Suita are not usually the best choice for razor finishing, but the sunashi (a suita without su, or holes) layer can be an exception. According to Takeshi. this layer is not always present and sits above the normal lower suita layers. They many times do not look like suita and can be exceptionally hard, fine, and fast as this one is. Anyway if it isn’t the best edge I have a darned good start on it!
Big smile on the stones today... R. Saito SK1 Naniwa 4 & 8k to set and refine the bevel. Light colored hones help me with this one, tracking the swarf. And since my eyes could use some help, the magnifying glasses really work nicely to watch the undercut. Finished with the pictured Okudo, with a round of Mejiro, followed by the Nakayama. Happy honing. Tom
