iv been hearing that you need a "better" technique or skill to use a harder stone. yes the natural ones. i thought there was only one technique...."no pressure". am i missing something here? iv also heard that the softer stones are harder to use. since they are soft the material of the stone goes away a lot faster than a hard one....wouldnt that mean that you would need more "skill" or "better technique" to use the softer ones more than the harder ones, since the soft ones have a better chance at rolling the edge?
The biggest fallacy of explaining honing on the Internet is that term "no pressure" More people have trouble honing razors because they believe that, and fear the concept of over-honing..., Let me try and explain... First you have to understand that all razors do not start in the same place "sharpness" wise... They range form the worst of the worst a Bread-knifed e-baby to new Dovo's and TI's that claim shave ready, to some of the older NOS razors that were "hair-tested" In general the worse the razor the lower the grit, the lower the grit the more pressure you need... I break things down in my mind into stages Below 1k = Pre-bevel I will do whatever I need to do, to get the two sides of the bevel to meet = Knife sharp, might pop arm hair with effort.. will pass a TNT 1k-3k = Bevel setting The bevel needs to be refined into an even sharpness, I go from medium pressure to very light pressure in this stage = The Sharpest Knife you have ever touched, Will pop arm hair with ease, will pass TPT 3k-6k = Sharpening this is where it becomes a razor, the pressure on the hone is very light but still enough to refine the bevels = sharp enough to shave, pops arm hair above skin level 6k-10k = Polishing this adds smoothness to the shave it takes out all those pesky scratches in the bevel and makes the bevels look nice, and feel smooth very, very, little sharpening goes on at these levels, there is a very light pressure on the hone just enough to keeps the edge level and even as you hone = Pops the very tips of arm hair and the razor is at a shave ready sharpness... Above 10k = Finishing, this stage is fun and probably unnecessary but we have the ability to do it so why not... There is feather light pressure as you just glide over the stone with the edge = The razor is just smoother.. Note, that not once in here did I ever say "no pressure", you have to be in control of the edge at all times, you need to feel the edge touching the hone and feel any inconsistencies in that edge.... Here is the truth, I have yet to ever have an overhoned edge be sent to me, not one person, out of over 3500 razors that I have honed, has ever sent me an overhoned razor... Even if you overhone it, 3-5 back-hone strokes on the next lower stone fixes that problem... So my advice is quit worrying about pressure and get the whole edge sharp first, after that just refine it and go shave... Now as to different techniques on different stones, not really, the feel/feedback changes between stones so you might change slightly, to feel that better, but the technique is really the same.... Softer or harder stones just feel different as you hone, the way the steel slides over them feels different that's it... You just have to get used to them...One of the softest feeling and acting set of stones I have ever used are the Naniwa SS and trust me you won't notice them wearing away.. I can hone my one day max of 8 razors on them, without ever having to touch a lapping stone... I could probaly go a week and not have to lap for wear, just for glazing and swarf removal... (I can only shave test 8 razors in one day) I hope that helped somewhat...
