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GRRR..Honing for the first time...

I've been at it for over an hour...!!!:cursing:

I bought an old no name razor at a pawn shop for 10 bucks for the purpose of learning how to hone (decent shape, but dull, of course...doesn't grab a wet thumbnail). I recently got a Norton Starter Set (220/1000, 4k/8k, flattening stone)....stones all lapped...good to go..then I noticed the razor had an ever so slight "smile"...I went to work on the 220..this razor is pretty dull...switched to the 1000 to see if the edge was straight, so I did 1 lap and the slurry ran more on the top, so I figured that I need to go back to 220....after a long time of this, I finally got the edge pretty darn straight...DONE WITH THE 220!!! THEN....

I tried to do a method I saw on youtube for going from setting bevel to shave ready using only the 4k/8k with an artificial Nagura for slurry (taped the spine too).hmmm...a little sharp, still a LONG WAY from even popping arm hair...what gives? too much pressure? bad slurry? bad form?
 

Luc

"To Wiki or Not To Wiki, That's The Question".
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You went from 220 to 4000? How many laps did you do on all the stones?

I would do laps on the 1000 before going to 4000, it will be better for sure. Do you have a microscope? It might help you see the quality of the edge post-honing.
 
220 to 1k is quite a jump indeed!

I set the bevel on a 1k King, then a 1k Nani SS. Then I go 4k Norton.
 
You went from 220 to 4000? How many laps did you do on all the stones?

I would do laps on the 1000 before going to 4000, it will be better for sure. Do you have a microscope? It might help you see the quality of the edge post-honing.

Forgot to mention that...I did about 50 laps on the 1000 before trying the 4k/8k method...
 
...then I noticed the razor had an ever so slight "smile"...I went to work on the 220..this razor is pretty dull...switched to the 1000 to see if the edge was straight, so I did 1 lap and the slurry ran more on the top, so I figured that I need to go back to 220....after a long time of this, I finally got the edge pretty darn straight...DONE WITH THE 220!!! THEN....
A smiling razor is a good thing to a lot of folks.
 
Should have left the smile in and just started on the 1K to set the bevel. The 220 will quickly get you in deep trouble when just starting out.
 
Should have left the smile in and just started on the 1K to set the bevel. The 220 will quickly get you in deep trouble when just starting out.

well...half of it was smiling and the other half was flat...you had to look really closely in order to see it
 
It will take time and patience, especially if you're starting off on a blade with an uneven edge. Just keep at it, things will start to click.

It took me weeks to get good/even/straight razors sharp enough to shave, and months to get bad razors sharp enough to cut armhair...longer to get them shaving a face. I still struggle with some bad ones about 10 months later.

Lots of razors have a difficult personality and honing them will take time to learn their quirks.

Others are straight as an arrow and they hone up super easy.
 
You took out more steel than necessary removing that smile. Relatedly, I've hardly seen a razor (maybe one or two, even with several new razors) that really had a completely straight edge. If you learn to use an x-stroke, you will save yourself a lot of annoyance and your razors will be spared a lot of wear. I say this having learned the hard way.
 
It took me a few nights of a couple hours before I had my first shave ready edge, and even that I finally took it to paste to finish... I'm not setting any records these days but can take one from little chips to shave ready in an hour or less.

Keep at it. Don't get stuck into thinking 50 is enough laps, you might need 200, or maybe 20... Don't leave your 1k stone until it shaves arm hair. I do a few sets of half strokes on my 1200 until the feedback feels and sounds smooth (2-5 sets of 20), then I do some X-strokes until it shaves arm hair (20-50). After that you're just removing scratches and polishing bevel faces.

Keep in mind those numbers of strokes and time spent depends on the razor. I had one this weekend that took 2 sets of half strokes and 20 x-strokes on the 1200 and was happening! and others took close to an hour... Go for your standard tests and don't worry about stroke counts.
 
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It took me a few nights of a couple hours before I had my first shave ready edge, and even that I finally took it to paste to finish... I'm not setting any records these days but can take one from little chips to shave ready in an hour or less.

Keep at it. Don't get stuck into thinking 50 is enough laps, you might need 200, or maybe 20... Don't leave your 1k stone until it shaves arm hair. I do a few sets of half strokes on my 1200 until the feedback feels and sounds smooth (2-5 sets of 20), then I do some X-strokes until it shaves arm hair (20-50). After that you're just removing scratches and polishing bevel faces.

Keep in mind those numbers of strokes and time spent depends on the razor. I had one this weekend that took 2 sets of half strokes and 20 x-strokes on the 1200 and was happening! and others took close to an hour... Go for your standard tests and don't worry about stroke counts.

Sounds good. That makes a lot of sense. I was getting wrapped around the axle thinking that I should have been shave-ready within 20 minutes. Thanks!
 
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