Agree the bevel set is where all the magic happens. I have no progressions. Just set the bevel and polish on my finisher, then clean linen and leather. Has worked a charm for me for decades. YMMV and all that. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Just tried a new esher, on a real thin solingen razor, dulled on glas, no bevel set, and 10 minutes later sharp!
Gentlemen, I just have to say - this thread is the reason that this is my favourite forum. You have all been incredibly helpful.
The hone progression is working well. I have taken a few razors through to finish. I am finding though that I need a couple of cycles with strop pastes for stainless steel. Lapping film is not working out - a topic for another thread. Gentlemen - thank you once again.
Nice to hear! About the pasted strop, there are several ways to get to shaveready, and there are plenty different forms of shaveready,... i We all have our preferences. Stainless in general demands a tad longer on the stones, but you will find your prefered way and prefered edge!
My challenge is that for 20 years I shaved with razors honed by someone who is sadly no longer with us. Not sure what he used and how he finished my razors but I would love to replicate that. I suspect it would have been European natural stones or Arkansas. Now that you gentlemen have got me up and running, my next project will be to explore some other approaches / types of stones.
Chromium Oxide is good enough. I have diamond paste and CBN as well, but very seldom use them. 1K, 4 or 5K, 8K and 12K are the usual grits to use. I have only used the Naniwa hones and coticules and Japanese natural stones, JNATs. I have used lapping films and gotten great results as well. The film is in microns, with the higher microns being the coarser grit. With some poor edges, I've had to start at 15 microns to set or start a bevel and go 12, 9,5, 3, 1, 0.5 and lower to finish. Most times you will not start at making a bevel though and may just need the chromium oxide or a 12K or 20K hone, if you start with a shave ready blade.
Thanks, those micron ratings are a great reference for the lapping films. With my TI razors I haven't needed to go below 12K and a custom that I haven't needed to go below the CrOx.
