I am not a pro, my edges are not reliable nor good. Sometimes they shave better, sometimes worse. I am a beginner, I learn very slowly and I am incosistent. This is not a "do this and you're golden" or "if you follow mine and only mine advice you'll get a great edge" type of comment. Just sharing my personal experience hoping you might find it useful.
I struggled with setting a bevel - the striations looked like they reached all the way to the edge, good sharpie test result, I didn't see any reflections looking straight down, but it still would not shave or cut any hair, only with pressure on the skin. I guess I was in the same spot as you are just a few weeks ago. But then it clicked for me and all of a sudden I could shave off the 1k with a gold dollar.
My problem was using too much pressure and tourque. After I used just enough pressure to make sure that the razor is in good contact with the stone and not a touch more, the stone did all the work for me and set a decent bevel. Then I added just a touch more torque, generated by moving my index and thumb (I hold the razor's tang in between them), in opposite direction, like rolling a cigarette or a pen. Just so little was enough to make the stone work the way I wanted it and I got a decent shaving bevel under 20 laps after 200 laps of getting close but never there, because I was pressing too hard and was potentionally lifting the edge from the stone by flexing the razor.
Another big thing was how just that little bit of pressure is distributed. I used to put more of it on the heel. Now I try to focus it right in the middle. And roll it if neccessary - every razor is different and needs a "custom" stroke. You will get the feel for it, I just started to feel it and I am progressing faster already.
When I struggled on 1k to cut hair, I moved to 5k and pretty soon could tree top hair. I was still using too much pressure so when I finnished the edge on 12k or 0.5um or 0.1um paste, it wasn't a good shave. What was a good shave was making sure I got as good a bevel as I could on 1k and then finnished on 8k. I didn't even have to go higher than that, even if I prefer the sharpest blades like KAI or Feather. The 8k got pretty freaking close to that after a decent bevel set.
I struggled with setting a bevel - the striations looked like they reached all the way to the edge, good sharpie test result, I didn't see any reflections looking straight down, but it still would not shave or cut any hair, only with pressure on the skin. I guess I was in the same spot as you are just a few weeks ago. But then it clicked for me and all of a sudden I could shave off the 1k with a gold dollar.
My problem was using too much pressure and tourque. After I used just enough pressure to make sure that the razor is in good contact with the stone and not a touch more, the stone did all the work for me and set a decent bevel. Then I added just a touch more torque, generated by moving my index and thumb (I hold the razor's tang in between them), in opposite direction, like rolling a cigarette or a pen. Just so little was enough to make the stone work the way I wanted it and I got a decent shaving bevel under 20 laps after 200 laps of getting close but never there, because I was pressing too hard and was potentionally lifting the edge from the stone by flexing the razor.
Another big thing was how just that little bit of pressure is distributed. I used to put more of it on the heel. Now I try to focus it right in the middle. And roll it if neccessary - every razor is different and needs a "custom" stroke. You will get the feel for it, I just started to feel it and I am progressing faster already.
When I struggled on 1k to cut hair, I moved to 5k and pretty soon could tree top hair. I was still using too much pressure so when I finnished the edge on 12k or 0.5um or 0.1um paste, it wasn't a good shave. What was a good shave was making sure I got as good a bevel as I could on 1k and then finnished on 8k. I didn't even have to go higher than that, even if I prefer the sharpest blades like KAI or Feather. The 8k got pretty freaking close to that after a decent bevel set.
