Just about ready to quit.

I am almost at the point that I am wanting to sell my stones. I have been trying unsuccessfully for a few months now to get a comfortable edge on my razors. I am working with a 1k, 3k, 5k superstone, 8k superstone, and Chaloney has sent me some films to work with to help me finish as I was having trouble finishing on the 8k. I have also tried a "10k/12k" not sure if its a chinese nat, or welsh slate, and 2 different barbers hones.
I can get the hht to about 3 or 4 I guess. It will clip with a sound and a slight tug, but will not shave smooth.

Is there by chance anyone even remotely close to Bradford PA that might be able to show an idiot what he's doing wrong? I am not giving up my straights, but I am really frustrated to the point I'm ready to quit trying to hone.

Just looking back at my own learning curve, try more strokes at lighter pressure. If you have a small hone put it on your (flat) off hand and hone on it comfortably, that's about all the pressure you should be using. If you've put in a lot of time without going back down a grit or two, try hitting the Naniwa 5k first.

I have a Naniwa 5k SS and you can shave off it, tugs a bit if you haven't done finishing strokes, but does HHT just dandy. It sounds like you're not getting the increase in sharpness off the 8k and finer that you might expect, which led me to the suggestion of lighter pressure and more strokes.

BTW, hope you're weathering the weather. The news says it might get nasty.

Cheers, Steve

Thanks for the tips and encouragement Steve. I get close, and I can do a wtg pass, but it pulls too much to go agt. It just gets frustrating being that close, and not able to finish it.

And the weather is not so good. Can't see the roads now, and I have to leave for work in 15 minutes....

Oh and shave off the 8k. Maybe that mystery finisher isn't that fine.

Cheers, Steve

Steve56 said:

Oh and shave off the 8k. Maybe that mystery finisher isn't that fine.

Cheers, Steve

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Don`t give up, i hone since 10 years and i never got good results atg with an Naniwa 8k. The Chinise 12k thing is not good at all (the ones i tryed so far).

Greets Sebastian.

Lakebound said:

What's your angle of attack? Is your shaving angle too steep because it may not be your honing. Drive safely and be careful up there.

Frank

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Frank,
I can get great shaves off of my cjb with a feather pro, and with the gold dollar I got from buca, so I "think" my shave angle is ok. I only seem to have problems with the blades I have tried to hone myself.

Steve and Sebastian,
I did kind of give up on the mystery stone, that was what led Chalony to send me some film to try.

I will give it another go after work tonight. Thanks for the encouragement and well wishes guys.

Shawn

You can do this, just takes a couple times getting it right and you've got it forever. Ask any of us guys if we got it right straight from the start - I'd wager a pretty good sum that not one will say yes. Keep trying and asking questions and you'll get there. In addition to the good advice you've already gotten, make absolutely sure in your ATG pass to keep the spine touching your face also.

Well dont quit! Maybe your just about to break through. Bevel work is VERY important. So make sure you are 100% on that! Your last finisher may not be refined enough to giver you the edge your looking for. Use yo highest known synth, then do 20 laps on cromox and see. The end result will probably be undesirably uncomfortable, but you can see if it gets it sharp enough to cut ATG. I dont like crox at all, but just for now i would try that. If the razor is still tuggy then I would look at the bevel and be sure your work grit to grit is spot on. Keep pluggin!

Don't come off the 1k till it can at least shave arm hair.

That was my biggest breakthrough when starting. Most of the time I rushed the bevel as I wanted to play with my jnats.

The chosera 1k makes life easier.

Biggest breakthrough for me was that the higher grit stones take more and more laps. Not uncommon for me to do 100 or more laps on my finisher

Go back to the beginning.
Learn to set the bevel correctly.

Get rid of the mystery finisher.

Are your stones flat? Checked with a straight edge?

Shouldnt need more than 20 laps on the Nani 8k.
Can't speak about the films - whatever is around 1um should be ok though.

Lots of variables, lots of advice to consider...

1k > 3k> 5k > 8k seems like a lot to me. My suggestion is to go either 1k > 3k > 8k or 1k > 5k > 8k. Try to get the best edge you can off the 8k, nothing more, then strop on a pasted strop like T-I alox/diamond on suede or black Solingen on toothy leather to fine tune the edge. Haven't tried the Naniwa stones (I mostly use a 1k/3k Suehiro combo as my "synth"), but basically, you could aim for shaving arm-hair off 1k, as mentioned, tree-topping off 3k or 5k, and popping isolated arm-hairs off 8k. A lot has to do with how you are gripping the shank and the strokes you are using, and that comes from experience, if not example. Sometimes with synths, I use them just dampened at the end, rather than with standing water, and that seems to yield a better result for me.

With the Super Stones, I assume that you are honing on a bench. Are you honing with one hand or two? How are you holding the shank? And what kind of strokes are you using?

Stick with it. I'm just now starting to get some decent edges after a little more than a year. I know it can be frustrating but hang in there.
FWIW I never could get any kind of edge off of Synthetic or film. And their supposed to be fool proof.
When I started with a Belgian hone success started to come in steps.
Maybe give one a try. I think you'd have better results with that than the Cnat or the Welsh hone.

Buca has your back here. I am pretty sure we all struggled in the beginning. My "cheat" while I was learning was to rely on a pasted strop to finish what was an almost finished edge. Many shavers are happy with that method for years! Nothing wrong with using pastes and sprays and it gives you all the time you need to learn more about honing.

Get a Coticule. Set the bevel on your 1K. Predulled edge on glass until it easily shaves of your arm's hair. Then follow the Unicot procedure from coticule.be. It's foolproof!

Sorry I haven't responded. I actually left work last night not feeling well, and if you knew me, you would be surprised at that. I haven't gotten the chance to try again yet, but I will soon.

As far as technique, I do hone on a table, and I vary from circle strokes to x strokes after watching a bunch of videos by Lynn Abrams and others. I do rest a finger on the blade towards the point, but only because I find myself picking up the point on the stone if I don't. I don't apply pressure with it that I am aware of, it's more of a comfort guide to myself.

And the coticule suggestion..... I thought films and specific grade stones would be fool proof, but apparently I am an advanced type of fool.

You are not alone when it comes to self-perceived honing ineptitude (see my sig). However, I have been able to shave off of my edges for over a year and go to work being perfectly presentable. I might not be pretty or BBS, but my face gets a DFS and my neck is CCS (mainly because I don;t chase anything better).

Have a read of this thread. The last two paragraphs in post #10 are what started me down the right path.

rockviper said:

Have a read of this thread. The last two paragraphs in post #10 are what started me down the right path.

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That's good advice I believe, but if you hold the hone in your off hand, you can't push too hard on it. If you feel yourself consciously pushing up to counteract honing pressure, that's too much.

Also, if your stroke is uneven, the hone will try to tilt on your hand and you can feel it and correct it. You won't feel this with the hone on a bench.

So even if you don't continue hand held honing, try it as a diagnostic exercise.

Cheers, Steve

Might be worth your while to try a little pressure. I read and watched "weight of the blade" stuff and tried it for a long time, but once I reserved that for the final finishing strokes on water only I made solid gains in my honing. Not talking about enough pressure to flex a blade or anything, but don't be shy about a few ounces of pressure. I am stealing someone's work here and wish I could remember who it was to give them credit, but it was described to me as about the same pressure you would use on a pencil eraser. Very good way to put it.

Pressure is critical - weight of the blade stuff is for finishing only or advanced mid-range techniques.
I've made the pencil erasrer analogy a few times, so have a few others. It's a place to start, more or less might be needed - depends on one's eraser technique. Some people wipe out erasers, etc.