Wow! Thanks Glen. This is very very cool of you. Above and beyond. I'm excited to see the video! This is what makes this the "best wet shave board on the planet". (Sorry to steal your line Jeff).
Just so long as we're all having fun The vid is uploading right now as as I sit at work, I brought it in on a thumb drive hehehehe Plus it was kinda fate, I had the Boker on the bench and I was shooting Honing videos for a project Lynn and I are doing BTW here are the sotd details from today,
I found the video. "One Stone Honing", right? I'll watch it on my lunch break since they limit our bandwidth here at work. Thanks again!
Glen, I just watched the video. Thanks for making that! Is there a decent way to get a slurry without a nagura stone?
Wrap some 320 grit Wet-or-dry sandpaper around something solid and sorta that same shape I don't see any reason that won't work in a pinch... Also a small Arkansas stone works great, those $3 knife sharpeners at Wal-mart and Army Surplus stores are low quality Arkansas stones...
:sihns011 That is going to help so much when I finally get off my butt and order my stones. Thanks Glen!
Feeling a bit frustrated. It seems to me I'm following the instructions in the video exactly. I lapped my stone, used a small stone about the size of the nagura to make a slurry, one layer of tape, small circles followed by X patterns, check and repeat. Nothing. I feel like I'm getting no where. I'm putting it down for the night and I'll come back to it another night.
Not to be a nag, but all the hones and techniques in the world are worthless if the entire edge is not making contact with the stone. Color the edge with black marker to make sure that it is removed all along the edge. Barbers hones and vintage razor hones are all 1 to 1½" (or, in any case, less than 2") wide specifically to avoid this problem. My biggest objection to all the 3" wide bench hones is that they were not designed for razors and are too wide. We use them because they are good hones and the mostly widely available and standardized but the simple fact is that they require more skill to use. Sure, the razor looks flat and the stone is lapped but if the razor is even slightly warped all your efforts are useless. If the black marker reveals that the edge is not flat, you will have to work closer to the side of the hone and "roll" your stroke to make sure each part of the blade is in contact, or get a narrower hone or have your Norton cut in half lengthwise, like I did.
Finally had time to watch Glen's video. GREAT JOB! Nice to put a face to a true master with str8s. I was a bit surprised to see you sportin' a beard, Glen
LOL most people are, believe it or not that is what started me on straights almost 30 years ago.. My barber when I grew it very patiently explained that to keep straight beard lines, you need to use a straight razor.. He gave me my first straight razor shave, and helped me pick out my first two razors, and my first stone... That is also the reason I can only hone a max of 8 razors in one day I run outta skin to test shave on, but if I were to shave it, I would be looking for a new wife :happy102 :happy102
The Chi guy is dead on here, at 4 min into that Video you will see me do this, using the black marker like he is telling you is the easiest way to see the bevel, I don't use a marker, but that is exactly what I was doing by looking at it under the light to see the hone mark along the edge to make sure I was getting a smooth even bevel... You can normally see an uneven bevel quite easily, and also the TNT will give them away, with a grab-slide-grab when you do the test... Myself, I do not subscribe to the thin hone is easier to fix them theory, but some people do...I still have a set of cut-down Norton's I made 2 years ago just to hone smiling blades and warped blades, as I wanted to try out the theory, I never saw any advantage or disadvantage to either size, but that is JMHO... HA !!!! I just noticed my new tag next to my Tiger, way cool ...
Getting back to the point of this thread, the OP is reporting that he is spending many useless hours on the hone and the razor is not getting sharp. This is a huge red flag because, it the stone is flat and the razor is flat, honing is one of the simplest things in the world. This is why I'm pretty sure that the razor is warped. If he does the black marker test and determines that the razor is warped, then I will leave it to you to explain how he should hone it on his 3" wide Norton.
Thanks guys. I will try the marker thing today. It looks like it's displacing water evenly, but I still suspect that Chimensch may be right.
Still having a heck of a time. I tried the marker. It revealed that the heel on one side and the toe on the other side were uneven. I tried some more circles with some significant pressure and some rolling X's. It just started popping, but not consistently across the blade. So I tried it again, same thing (popping, but not conisistent). So I did it again. Dull. I really don't know what's up.
John the offer still stands, I will pm you my address if you want to send it out and I will pull out the sledge hammer and beat it into submission happy102 I am actually interested to see what the heck is going on with this razor now...
