Honing School - Honemeisters & Newbies Unite!

No news is good news right?

 

Success!!!

Bevel set to shavable edge in 30 mins or less!
That is a blink of the eye from where I was...

Was having some discouraging times with the naturals and then I remembered everybody said start on the synths, lol. What a novel idea...

Japanese Frameback, 1 pass joined/killed edge on glass, Naniwa 1k, 1 layer tape, light slurry. Ax2 method, not happy with the result so followed it up with 20 tight circles both sides, 5 j/x (?) strokes to get the smile portion, switch to water 5 straight with moderate pressure and 5 j/x strokes with same pressure, looks good tree topping arm hair, sweet! Moving on 8k Naniwa, slight jump there,lol! 10 straight , 10 j/x with slurry moderate pressure, water only 5 and 5 light pressure. Moving to the 12k change the tape, slurry her up, 5 and 5 with moderate pressure, 5 and 5 with water and light pressure. 100 laps on the leather, BBS 3 pass shave!
Livin’ the dream!
Great Evening, Thanks all!

John

One interesting note, my edge does not pass the HHT but shaves really nice, I am still waiting for my microscope to show up...curious???

 

Oh, sorry. Sharp enough to shave with successfully, but not as sharp and smooth as I’d like. One more try, then it’s off to a pro.

 

Has anyone heard of or tried a Suehiro Gokumyo 20k stone? I heard about this stone a few days ago and have been trying to search for any information I could about it. It's apparently a 20K synthetic finishing stone that boasts as fine an edge as any natural stones and better than a Shapton 30k stone. Maybe the wrong place to post this but I know some of our veteran hone miesters look from time to time .

 

I do not own one .But bought several razors that were finished on one . Edges were fairly smooth and keen.Smoothest finish from a synthetic stone to date.But I think some Natural stones are smoother .

 

I have tried honing on one and i tried several razors honed by others finished on the 20k.
It is a nice artificial stone, nice fine scratch pattern, but the finish is still rather biting compared to most of my naturals, but the bite can be stropped out.
In synthetic i prefer the shave from the naniwa 12 k over the sh20k.

Compared to naturals it comes close to a slight overhone on my "15k" welsh slate, or a dark hard thuringer. The edges lack the sharp and soft capability from a jnat, a good coticule,...

But honing tastes differ! I gave a hht5 coticule honed blade to a guy and he asked me if i could get it sharper, like his shavette. So, rather pissed, i gave it a few edge trailing strokes on the 1k and he started complimenting me on my honing???

 

I have one, it’s a good stone, maybe the best of the synth finishers, but I have not tried the Shapton 30k Pro or Glass. BTW, the Suehiro 20k is 0.5 micron, the 30k Shaptons 0.49 micron. I don’t feel that much difference in the edges from it and a Naniwa 10k or 12k. To me, it isn’t worth $175 more than the Naniwas, but it does have a devoted following among professional razor honers. If you hone a lot, the Suehiro does have an advantage, it is very, very, hard so you won’t have to flatten it nearly as often as the softer Naniwas, it seems almost Arkansas hard. Like the Ark it is a PITA to flatten, it will eat SiC w/d sandpaper with ease, I used loose SiC grit on glass to initially flatten it. Unlike an Ark, it’s also a very fast stone, another trait that appeals to volume honers.

AFAIK, there’s no US vendor, I got mine from Tools From Japan.

http://www.toolsfromjapan.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=335_404_587_588

An edge from a good razor jnat is smoother, but harder to find.

Cheers, Steve

 

The biggest attribute to the Go 20k vs the Shapton GS 30k is that it is more versatile

IE:

Shapton's work best as a complete system when you stack them like 1-2-4-8-16-30 GS
The Go 20k works rather well coming off of anything over 8k

Something to keep in mind, not many razors have the steel to utilize that high a polish on the edge, I rarely recommend either because of that,... Now if you have a majority of say NY made razors in your collection quite a few of the finer-grained Solingen's and Spanish then YES these super high grits are for you

ps: All this importance / Money we place on the last 1% of honing is pretty funny really always keep that in mind

 

Thanks all for the information!

 

Working on a few blades right now. Interesting results to come. Having said that I still disqualify anything I say as a result of being a honing newbie. Take my comments for what they are worth.

 

I Reckon Glen is Bang on there about High Grit Synthetics..Some Pro Hone Guys Use Em a Lot..Most Steel in My Humble Opinion & its Only My Opinion is that Such a High Grit Synthetic Polish Dont Fit Most SR Steel..As Far a I Am Concerned there is Too Much Been Made of a So Called Highly Polished Edge on Straight Razors..As Glen Said there is a Place for Em with Certain Steel..

Thats Me Talkin Mind..

Billy..

 

If I may put my 2 cents in, I agree on these high end synthetic theory’s. They are much different from a hard Jnat, coticule, Escher or any others for that matter. From my personal experiments I’ve had many different edges that I try to replicate. The synthetic edge past the 16k mark is damn well sharp!!! But that’s all it is sadly enough. They are bitey and aggressive type of edges, think of those new surgical steel feather blades and to me that’s what they feel like. Not very enjoyable but damn they can reach an apex! Past the 16k or 20k mark, or even during these grits the edge can become too brittle. You wouldn’t be able to see it but the edge would simply break down before your Done your first pass. If you have the 30k stone (which I don’t) I would love it if someone could check the images once done honing and then re check the images after your first shave. I would be curious if there is some truth to this as this is how I was taught.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I didn’t find the Suehiro 20k edges to be aggressive. They weren’t much different from the Naniwa 12k to my face. Granted, neither of them shave as smooth as a good jnat edge, but the difference is maybe not that large.

Cheers, Steve

 

Well that's given me a lot to think about. I have 1 razor coming that has the 20k edge on it. I'll give it a try and see how it works for me vs a jnat or coti edge.

 

Stones are only one part of the honing!

If i keep honing on water on a jnat and i dont straigthen the edge it is also pretty biting, scarry sharp edge, and even some coticule will, under running water, result in scarry sharp, treacherous edges.

A brittle fin is a result of overhoning, but you dont need a high grit stone to overhone. The easy solution is use tape to increase the edge angle, the difficult solution is to develop a feeling for the steel.

For me, all high grit synthetics are a waste of money compared to natural stones.

 

I have a Gukumyo 20k and I’m very happy with it. I also have a Shapton glass 16k, I find the edges off the G20 slightly smoother but not as sharp as the S16. I guess I’m the odd ball in that I like the edges off my synthetics, I do you paste after them and like my edges very sharp.

 

This...

Is now the top razor in this pic.


The bottom one has some rust issues that I want to see if I can get rid of (if possible) before cleaning it up like the top one. Hoping to put both of them on the stones today.

 

What did you use to clean it up?

 

Sandpaper - 400 up to 2500 grit.

 

Interesting. Looks like you've done a nice job there.

I wondered about using jewllers cutting / polishing compounds, in the hope it might be gentler.