A gift from my dad

[Slash McCoy]

Dremels are famous on this forum for doing that. Another thing that they often do is the wheel will slip off the piece, and the rotating collet will contact it. These "dremel dings" end up costing you more time than you save by using a power tool, unless you are just darn good with it right out of the box. Up to you. If you doubt your ability to control a tiny felt wheel rotating at 30,000 RPM then polish by hand. It might take a little longer but it will gitter done.

[drathgeb]

I used 220, 320, 400, 600, 1000, 2000 grit in order. Then used a cloth wheel on the bench grinder. Still some light pitting, but did not want to take off too much metal. Was rubbing with the 220 grit for quite some time. Put a real nice shine on it. Where can I get this diamond polishing compound? Used the gree polishing rouge (CrOx?) on the wheel but would like to hand polish to get a little more detail out of it. Now just waiting for lapping film.

[drathgeb]

Also, I believe there is a slight frown. The center appears to be about 1mm high when the edges are on a flat tile. Is this going to be problematic or fixable?

[drathgeb]

Just got some lap film from Amazon. Is it supposed to be canvas like? Hope I got the right stuff. I also picked up a marble tile from the store. Checked out to be very flat but is 12x12". Should I try to cut this or will that be fine?

[Slash McCoy]

I used 220, 320, 400, 600, 1000, 2000 grit in order. Then used a cloth wheel on the bench grinder. Still some light pitting, but did not want to take off too much metal. Was rubbing with the 220 grit for quite some time. Put a real nice shine on it. Where can I get this diamond polishing compound? Used the gree polishing rouge (CrOx?) on the wheel but would like to hand polish to get a little more detail out of it. Now just waiting for lapping film.

There are lots of sources for diamond paste. Google it, or you can use my source: www.tedpella.com.

Also, I believe there is a slight frown. The center appears to be about 1mm high when the edges are on a flat tile. Is this going to be problematic or fixable?

Easily fixed. Don't worry. That is a small frown.

Just got some lap film from Amazon. Is it supposed to be canvas like? Hope I got the right stuff. I also picked up a marble tile from the store. Checked out to be very flat but is 12x12". Should I try to cut this or will that be fine?

It should be plastic. The back is shiny. The top is dull and has the abrasive matrix.What grades did you get? Post a link to the item on amazon for us.

The 12x12 will be very heavy and awkward to use in hand, which is the best way to use it. For best results, you hold the plate loosely in the left hand, razor in the right, and the razor and honing surface find their own best alignment. This helps to prevent placing emphasis on one part of the blade, helps keep everything nice and symmetrical. It will work if you lay it on a bench or table or counter, but that is not the best way. Home Depot has some tiles for $5 called "bullnose tiles" that are edge tiles, 12" x 4" with a radius on one edge. These are ideal and it is what I use. Yes, if you have something to cut it with, you could cut your tile down. I would cut off a piece 3-1/2" wide. The big leftover piece will be useful at some point, if you ever buy any rocks. You can glue a whole sheet of wet/dry sandpaper to it and use it for lapping stones nice and flat. When you cut it, if you cut it, you should chamfer the cut edge slightly. It should present itself nice and smooth to the blade being honed. BTW, Lowe's will cut a tile for you, for free, I understand.

Hold off on any honing, until you are absolutely satisfied with the finish on the blade. You don't go back and sand or polish, after honing, obviously. At this point, your razor has survived a significant portion of the process. Please be very careful with any rotating polishing wheels, whether on a dremel or a bench grinder or a drill. You can destroy the razor in an instant. I would consider using only hand polishing, with a small piece of an old tshirt. Squirt a little glob, about half the size of a bb, onto each side of the blade, and just rub rub rub with the tshirt bit. It lasts a long time. You should not need to renew it. Start with 3u and progress to 1u and if desired, continue to .25u. I don't know if you would even notice the difference between .25u and .1u and besides, .1u is not often used for stropping. The 3u isn't either but I consider it an essential part of the polishing progression. The 1u and .25u will be very useful for pasting a balsa bench strop so you get lots of use out of it. So just get the smallest size you can get of the 3u, usually 5g. The 1u and .25u maybe get the 18g size or stick with the small. You want the paste, not slurry or suspension. Oil base, water base, either one. Doesn't matter much. I would prefer oil base, I guess. Anyway, just like sanding, each stage MUST FULLY do its work before moving up in the progression. A finer grade will NOT work if the previous grade did not FULLY remove the scratches left by the next previous grade. The progression is only as good as its weakest link. Once you hit one stage halfassed, you are just wasting your time on subsequent stages. Also, it is important to not contaminate a finer grit with a coarser one. So when you go from 3u to 1u, for instance, you must wipe the blade absolutely clean with a couple of changes of cloth, wash your hands thoroughly, and of course use a new cloth for polishing with the 1u. The reason is simple. The job of the finer grade is to remove all the scratches left by the coarser grade, and replace them with its own finer scratches. 1u is supposed to remove the 3u scratches, but a few microscopic diamond crystals from the 3u will just keep putting fresh 3u scratches in the surface! So your finish will not be as perfect as it would otherwise be.

After polishing, and admiring your mirror finish, apply a coat of mineral oil to preserve it while you regroup and catch yout breath. A couple days off from your project will help to keep up your enthusiasm for doing it right. The razor isn't going anywhere, and it will last another hundred years, so no need to rush it anyway. Then make sure you have all the stuff you need before you begin the honing process.

I urge you to not get in a hurry and cut corners. You will appreciate the end result.

[drathgeb]

The link for the lapping stuff on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/37-948-Micron-...s=lapping+film

[Slash McCoy]

The link for the lapping stuff on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/37-948-Micron-...s=lapping+film

That is not lapping film. Film is plastic, with a shiny back and a textured front. I don't know if that polishing paper will work or not. I have never tried it.

[drathgeb]

I used the polishing cloths from amazon instead of the diamond pastes and sprays. I resanded from 150 grit to the 2000 grit. The polishing clothes were then used: 30u, 15u, 9u, 3u, 2u, 1u. I like the way these polished and are like a semi stiff fabric. Seemed to do a great job. Achieved a nice mirror shine.

Now time to figure out the lapping film.

[drathgeb]

Alos just recieved some lapping film from a fellow B&Ber. I now have two sheets each of 12u, 5u, 3u, 1u.
With the day off tomorow I will likely attempt to hone the razor. How many passes should I do per film? Also, should I do x amount of passes on side A then another x passes on side B or should I do side A then B as one pass?
What is the best way to chamfer the edge of a lapping plate?

[Slash McCoy]

Alos just recieved some lapping film from a fellow B&Ber. I now have two sheets each of 12u, 5u, 3u, 1u.
With the day off tomorow I will likely attempt to hone the razor. How many passes should I do per film? Also, should I do x amount of passes on side A then another x passes on side B or should I do side A then B as one pass?
What is the best way to chamfer the edge of a lapping plate?

The number of laps per grade is something that can't be nailed down to a particular number. The only right answer is, "as many as it takes".

For day 1, concentrate on simply setting your bevel. Didn't you say this razor has a slight frown? If so, deal with that first. Since you don't have a stone for your coarse repair work, you will want to use a modified breadknife technique on the film. A normal breadknife will cut up your film. So what you do is this... stand the razor upright on the 12u film. The edge should be on the film. The spine should be straight up. It is as if you were intending to slice straight down into the film. The razor is turned crossways to your film piece. Did I mention... cut your film in 4ths or 3rds crossways, or cut it in half or in thirds longways. I prefer longways. The 9" x 13" ThorLabs films work great in thirds longways, because you get a nice efficient 3" wide piece. I like to use a paper cutter for cutting film. It makes a nice straight cut edge. There are many ways to chamfer the edge of your plate. You can use a file laid down on your workbench, and hold the plate at a 45 degree angle from the verticle, and run it lengthwise down the file. Or you can use coarse wet/dry sandpaper in hand over the edge. Be careful not to scratch up the surface. That done, wet your plate. Your piece of film will stick to the plate once you smooth it out. The water film makes a suction between the two smooth surfaces. Back to the breadknifing... with the edge straight down on the film and a little water splashed on top of the film, and razor turned crossways to the film, sweep it down the plate and then back up again. Back and forth. It is a sweeping motion, not a sawing one. It is as if you were sweeping debris off the film, with the razor as your broom or brush. One round trip is a lap. Try 20 laps. It is important that on the final 10 laps that the razor be maintained precisely upright on the hone, so you wear a perfectly flat strip down what used to be the edge. Examine your edge under a very bright light. A magnifying glass or a loupe will come in very handy here. What you are looking for is the thin shiny flat surface which will reflect back at you when the edge is turned just right in the light. If you still have some frown, the high part will not have the shiny flat strip. Keep working at it until you get a flat running the full length of what used to be the edge. It does not need to be wide! All you need is a very narrow strip, barely wide enough to reflect nicely. The wider it is, the more work you have to do setting the bevel, and the more steel you will have lost. But it MUST run continuously, however thin it may be, for the full length of the edge, with absolutely no gaps.

Once you have completed the breadknifing operation, it is time to set the bevel. Hone only one side of the razor. Lay the blade flat on the film, both spine and edge resting on the film. Work the blade back and forth, up and down the film, but only on the one side. Since you breadknifed the razor it will take quite some work on that 12u film. Go 100 laps on just the one side. The spine must remain in full contact with the film! The spine is your bevel guide. It helps you to keep your bevel perfectly consistent, which is a key ingredient to setting a good bevel. Feel your edge. On the opposite side eventually you will feel a burr. This is a tiny amount of displaced steel from the edge. It tells you that you have a bevel that has crossed the central plane of the razor. (and then some.) After 100 laps if you do not feel a burr, go ahead and do 100 on the other side. And so forth. When you finally detect a burr, keep honing that side until the burr can be felt for the entire length of the razor's edge. Then hone the other side the same amount, and look for the burr to exist on the first side, running the full length of the edge. Once you have raised a burr on both sides, it is time to remove that burr. About 40 regular laps, alternating sides, should do it. At any rate, if a burr is felt at any point on the edge, keep going.

These alternating laps are the usual method of honing. Honing, of course, has the blade edge-leading. Spine is trailing. Remember that the spine always must remain on the hone! When you get to the end, flip the EDGE outward and back down onto the hone, and go back the other way. One round trip is a lap. Both sides got one stroke the full length of the hone. Pressure should be light, because the thin edge is easily deformed. Even a slight deformation, whether permanent or plastic deformation, will interfere and in fact even prevent you from getting a good edge. Also, do not let the shoulder ride up on the film or hone. Doing so will cause the heel of the razor to lift off the hone, and the nose to press down into it. Obviously this will give you a very crappy and inconsistent bevel! Let the heel lead slightly. Vary the amount by which the heel leads, randomly. Pull the razor slightly across the hone as well as stroking lengthwise along it. This helps to make up for any inconsistencies in the film, and also ensures that if the shoulder rides up onto the hone, that at least it doesn't stay there.

Once you have raised the burr and then eliminated it, you have successfully set your bevel. Give it another 20 or 30 VERY VERY light laps, very carefully, to make sure you leave the best surface possible on your bevel. With the bevel set properly, you should have no problem shaving arm hair. Don't try to shave your face, though! Tomorrow we can go through the progression. Progressive honing is a whole nother topic. Be happy to get your bevel set on the first day. Don't rush it! The bevel IS your edge. Without a good bevel, your edge will never shave well. The progression simply smooths the bevel. The bevel is the geometry. The bevel is what makes the edge WORK. So take your time with it. Cutting corners here will doom you to utter failure.

You will have removed a distressingly large amount of steel from your razor-- steel that you can never add back on. That is the bad news. The not-so-bad news is it had to go. The point on the edge with the most wear or damage is where the new edge IS. Everything else had to come down to match it. The extra good news is you should never ever have to do this again, to this razor. Once we run through the progression, all you will ever have to do in the future is maintenance honing with your finisher. That is because we will learn how to hone correctly, with low impact to the razor, being ever mindful of the blade geometry. You will know how to never ever get a frown in that razor again. The bevel will never need setting. You will never round your edge because you will learn how not to do so. But that is all another lesson.

[drathgeb]

I will begin soon. Should I tape the spine while setting the bevel?

[Krodor]

That is a decision you will have to make yourself. If you hone with tape, you will always have to hone with tape (unless you want to reset the bevel). If you use tape, then over time the edge will get worn away and the spine not. This will slowly alter the bevel angle away from optimum.

Benefits to taping: your spine will always look pretty.

(can you tell I'm biased?)

[Slash McCoy]

Don't tape unless you KNOW that the spine is already too thin. The reason is obvious. You are reducing the width of the blade. If you do not also reduce the thickness, proportionally, what are you doing to the bevel angle? I will let you figure that one out yourself. Use your brain. You can do it.

Since this is basically a restoration, if you do not want a bevel flat on the spine, then after honing, simply sand the spine back round(ish) again, and re-polish the spine area. If it matters for some odd reason, it doesn't have to look like you hone your razors from looking at the spine. Duh??? What difference does that make, anyway?

If you are doing only normal maintenance honing and there is some other cosmetic reason for not honing the spine, then you can get away with taping the spine for a few years. Because maintenance honing reduces blade width so slowly, it will take that long to change the bevel angle appreciably. But my philosophy is that a razor is either a work of art, or a tool. Tools, if used normally, normally show normal signs of normal wear. This includes a normal flat honed into the sides of the spine from normal honing. Should I tape my hammers so I don't dent the faces when I hammer on a hard object? Why not? Don't I want my hammers to be pretty? I guess not! That's entirely too metro for me! The straight razor came of age long before electrical tape was invented, which was I believe 1946. The straight razor was not meant to be honed with tape. It was obviously intended that both spine and edge hit the hone, and wear away proportionally, so that the bevel angle for the life of the razor (up to a couple hundred years!) remains more or less in the ballpark of optimum. My razors are tools. If I owned a showpiece, I would of course treat it as such. Since it is, after all, a razor, I would hone it. Very likely if it were new or had never been honed, I would hone it with a taped spine to save any engraving, plating, etc if such were the case. Of course it would NOT be in my normal rotation! Showpiece, or tool. You can't optimize it for both roles. All my razors are tools. I WANT them to look like they are used, loved, maintained, and preserved for future generations to use and cherish.

Like the proverbial hammer above, a razor can serve its purpose for several generations, if cared for properly. One of the wonderful things about straight shaving is that you can get a perfectly fine shave from a razor that is over a hundred years old. We don't throw our razors away! They get smaller, but they keep shaving, and if PROPERLY and NORMALLY honed, they can continue to give just as good a shave when they have reduced to 1/2 or less of their original size. Do you want your razor to only be fit to use for a few years? Or maybe only for the rest of your life? Isn't that being shortsighted? Why not be responsible with this magnificent instrument, and do your part to ensure that it is still giving good shaves long after you are gone? Waste and conspicuous consumption are not the mark of a straight shaver. That's not why we do this thing of ours.

It is very rare to find a razor with too thin a spine. When this occurs, obviously the easy solution is to simply hone it with tape for the next several years. But do you know that your spine is too skinny? Have you properly measured it and properly and correctly calculated the bevel angle, and found it to be, let's say, less than 16 degrees? If not, then do the NATURAL thing and hone NORMALLY, the way the razor was meant to be honed... without tape.

I am of course speaking of ordinary hollowground razors. Tape has its place in honing a full wedge. But I do think that the mark of a good honer is that he only tapes a wedge for the finishing course. The best shave from a wedge is when the secondary bevel is very very small. Try it if you don't believe me. But it is nearly a necessity that the finishing stage be done with tape. First of all, the typical wedge primary bevel is simply too acute. Second, the finishing stage cuts so slowly that it would take forever to properly reduce the scratches left by the previous stage. I currently only own I thing 2 or 3 wedges and if I ever hone them for use, I will of course tape the spine for a secondary finish bevel. The results sold me on taping wedges long ago. For hollowgrounds, unless I calculate the bevel angle and it is first of all too small, and second the shave sucks, then I will tape. I have not yet had this problem set, to my recollection.

Real men don't tape their hollowground razors. Read and heed. I have spoken. Again. And yes, I know someone put you up to asking that question. You seem much too intelligent to have asked it out of honest intellectual curiousity. So the answer is, obviously, NO. Do Not Use Tape On The Spine Of Your Razor. It is unmanly, communist, and wickedly evil. Would Harry Truman have taped the spine of his razors?

[Krodor]

You tend to hit a nerve regarding The Tape Question, can you tell? Some like it, some don't. Wars are fought over less at times. No biggee here though. Folks have their opinions, we all have fun, and in the end we all just get along. Glad you're here, regardless.

[drathgeb]

Slash, I only ask because under your screen name it says "ask me about taping spines". But you may sleep better tonight knowing my razor went tape free. I have finally set the bevel. As best I can tell it is as it should be. After several thousand passes on the film I finally have a nice bald patch on my arm. Time to move on to honing.

[Slash McCoy]

Ah. Good. Did you get a good burr when going for your bevel? If you didn't, there is a good chance that your bevel is not properly set. If you did, and then carefully removed the burr, you are ready to progress. I will re-iterate: without a good bevel, it is useless to continue. If you did not get your bevel set with several thousand laps on 12u film, you will not get it set with tens of thousands of laps on finer film.

I assume you set your bevel on 12u film, and that you have 5u, 3u, and 1u films. Now, each of these films in succession has only one function: to grind away the rougher surface left on the bevel by the previous stage, replacing it with its own somewhat smoother surface. The 5u film removes the 12u scratches, and leaves the smaller 5u scratches. Then the 3u film removes the 5u scratches and leaves its own finer scratches. BUT it cannot do a good, fast, efficient job of removing 12u scratches, and it certainly can't set the bevel if the bevel is not set already. The 1u is good for removing the 3u scratches and leaving a 1u smooth surface on the bevel, but it would be awful for smoothing any remaining 5u or 12u scratches. Each stage must be done fully and completely. Each stage must do its job, and must not be tasked with the job of a previous stage.

When you change film, I suggest that you make sure that your plate is nice and clean, with no particles left from the previous film. A speck of dirt or a hair under your film will seriously impact the quality of your edge.

At this point I suggest you do a search for HHT since the explanation would be rather lengthy. HHT is "Hanging Hair Test", a more or less standardized test of razor sharpness. The razor with its bevel set on 12u film will probably be just HHT1. In the next stage, you will be hoping for maybe HHT2 along the entire edge. At any rate, you must see a considerable improvement in sharpness along the entire edge. One thing you can do at this stage is to lightly run the razor edge across a glass bottle. Yes, this dulls the edge. But you only barely dull it. A good session on the 5u will restore it and when it once again cuts arm hair, you know that this edge is courtesy of the 5u film, and so is finer than the 12u edge. This takes a lot of laps, though. Don't be surprised if it requires 100 laps or more. The secret is to barely, lightly touch the razor to the glass bottle. You only want to noticeably dull the razor, not completely ruin the bevel. When it shaves arm hair again, you have your 5u edge. Give it another 20 or 30 laps to be sure.

Perform the HHT test. Hopefully you are up to an HHT2. The razor should cut a free hanging hair, barely. Change to 3u lapping film. This film is where things start getting exciting, because a good 3u edge will actually be able to shave your face, though not without some issues of closeness and smoothness and irritation. The bottle method is impractical at this stage. It takes too much work to hone up an edge that has been bottled. Try the HHT. You should see a definite improvement, and this improvement should be along the entire edge. When you have it, give it another 20 or 30 light laps, and continue with the next grade.

The 1u film will give you a decent shaving edge. You should have a mild HHT4 at the conclusion of this stage. At least a strong HHT3. Typically this stage requires 60 to 100 very light laps. Moderate pressure can be used for major edge repair, but once the bevel is set or being set, your pressure must be very light. I say the weight of the razor plus one finger. Once again, hone until you detect a definite improvement along the entire edge, by whatever means, and then give it another 20 laps or so to be sure you got it.

Now the razor should shave your face quite well. But there is one more stage: 1u film again, but over damp paper. Remove the film, apply a damp piece of paper, then lay the film over the paper. If you don't get it right, nice and smooth, make another attempt. Don't try to hone on this if you don't have it laying perfectly flat. Give it about 30 laps, very very light pressure. This gives your edge a uniquely face-friendly character and a further improvement in sharpness. Now it should be a really, really good shaver. You should get a good HHT4 from this edge. Optionally, you can follow up by stropping on balsa pasted with diamond or CrOx, but it is not strictly necessary. If you absolutely insist, you could go with .3u film but most of us find the .3u film edge to be a little harsh. YMMV I guess. Strop on your hanging strop, and it should shave. A good test here is to float the razor about 5mm over your forearm. It should easily lop the tops off of several hairs.

The "ask me about taping spines" title is a typical bit of humor from our mods here on the forum. Sometimes they like to amuse themselves at our expense. It does no good to complain... you simply get a worse custom title.

Remember to always keep the spine on the film and never allow it to lift off of it. Always flip the edge outward, when changing direction. Stroke one way, flip the blade, and stroke back the other way, and that is one lap. Don't let the shoulder ride up on the film. Don't use heavy pressure. Keep a balance between pressure on the edge and on the spine. It helps to randomly vary the angle of the blade across the film. In other words, not have the blade exactly 90 degrees across the film for each and every lap. It is okay to pull the razor slightly across the film as you stroke it along the film. These randomizations help to correct for microscopic inconsistencies and could make a difference. Keep your film and your plate clean. A hair or speck of dirt can cause problems. Keep the film wet. It cuts better and lasts longer. Don't progress to the next stage before the previous stage has done its job. The HHT is not absolute... it is relative, and depends largely on your technique and even more on the hair sample used. If you don't get the numbers I give, don't worry. After all, the goal is not to perform some parlor trick but to shave your face.

If your bevel is truly set, and if you run this progression without cutting corners, you will have a good edge. Possibly better than the average professional would give you. If you cut corners your edge will suffer and so will your shave from it.

Good luck, and happy shaves.

[Doc226]

I must saw I started taping spines, I no longer do.

The change came about when I honed a few razors for some members that did not use tape, so I didn't use tape-I liked the feedback off the stones much better without tape.

Plus what Slash said; he makes a slot of sense.

[kingping]

Thanks for yet another great thread here at B&B!

[Khay]

Thanks for yet another great thread here at B&B!

An excellent thread for anyone beginning to learn how to hone, imho.

Thanks !

[drathgeb]

I am questioning the quality of my bevel. Should I try to set the bevel on my lapping plate with some of the wet/dry paper? Either 1000 or 2000 grit?