Lynn Abrams On Honing

Honing Tips # 1

Hi guys,

I thought I would start a series of tips as things come up.

For those of us using the Norton 4K8K and getting a razor to the point of nice shaving, but want just a little better shave, you can use either an Escher or Coticule and obtain a really super finished edge. In these situations I will do 3-5 strokes on the Norton 8K follwed by 10-15 strokes on either the Escher or Coticule. May take a couple of times, but the results are usually worth it. I do strop and test shave with each rotation to see where I'm at. Remember, this rotation is after the normal 4K/8K Pyramid.

Honing Tips # 2

If you guys ever receive a razor that has been poorly ground or has a lot of flattening of the spine and want to see how much honing you will have to do or decide whether to have it reground, here is a neat tip. Take either your Norton 8K stone or Coticule or whatever polishing stone you use and give the razor 5-10 X pattern strokes. Then, look at the edge and see if it is shiny all the way to the cutting surface. Depending on how far up the edge the shiny part is will be an indication of how much work you will have to do. If shiny all the way to the cutting part of the edge, you can start with a regular honing pyramid.

More Honing Tips

Bevels

I like a bevel so small that you can't see it. As a razor is honed more and more, it will develop a naturally larger bevel size. Sometimes you may as noted have to even out a bevel if the previous honing is uneven, but there really is no specific measurement that a bevel should be. Also as noted the bevel is definitely a product of the geometry of the blade.

Tests

The only test I rely on to determine whether a razor is shave ready is to shave with the razor. It generally will let you know if not honed enough or honed to much and alot of times to what degree on each. If the razor tugs a little or a lot, take it back to the hone and DO NOT continue to shave with it. If it glides over the beard with no hair removal, it needs a trip back to the hone. After a while you will really develop a feel for this.

4K & Wedge Honing

The 4K Norton is plenty abrasive. I use it to remove small nicks rather than going to a lower grit. The real key on the wedge honing is using the 45 degree angle. The pyramid will help from a consistency standpoint. The real problem with wedges is that once the shoulders are honed down and the edge expands, it gets tricky on the number of strokes and to make sure you get or keep the edge even.

To Tape Or Not To Tape

I totally agree that so long as the bevel is created with the tape on and the tape is used every time the razor is honed, that there should only be one bevel. If you change the amount of layers of tape, they will have the effect of changing the bevel based on how much or little you use. The concern I would have is only that Tim does use the tape to create his bevels on HIS razors. When you explore the technique on razors with established bevels, you'll have all sorts of fun. This technique is great for specific purposes like Tim's or when you really need to remove alot of metal and protect the shoulder or something similar. Considering the different grinds, thickness of metal and material out there in addition to as Bill points out, different pressure, taping is just not something I would recommend across the board.

Stainless blades

Stainless razors are really not much harder to hone. Usually a couple more polishing strokes is all that is needed. They also usually take well to .5 diamond paste too. The Dovo stainless shave is really comparable to the Dovo carbon shave. I have really not noticed any difference over the years.

Learning To Hone

If you only want to hone a few razors that you own, learning to hone should be fairly easy. Sometimes harder for some than others. If you really want to learn honing and understand the many varieties of razors that are out there including the variety of honing media, it will take you as much time as it takes to try all the different razors ever made and all the media available and still there will be some razors that will be pesky. My recommendation would be to hone as many razors as you can as your skill does increase with every one. It may not be rocket science, but every art form is made better from practice and practice does make you better. Try slurry producing stones. Use stones without slurry. Use different stones and pastes and just have a good time. There will always be a stubborn razor, and some people never learn to hone Damascus (including some prominent so called honemeisters), but you normally end up after a little trial and error with a razor that shaves great and makes you want to try more. I won't cover what I showed in the DVD which did not cover this stone, but I did comment on numerous others. Most people eventually everyone develop their own favorites based on what works best for them.

Honing & Polishing

I look at it more from a consistency standpoint. When I am honing, which to me is cutting, I want the edge forward and it produces pretty repeatable results. When I move to polishing, I tend to have the edge trailing more. That said, some of this depends on the media. With the Escher, and I consider this a polish stone, I lead the edge. I also lead the edge on Chromium Oxide paper over a piece of glass. For my leather bench hone media, If I lead the edge, I cut the leather. Edge trailing does a nice job on the polishing. I find that if I do overhone, I prefer to use a cutting stroke vs. a trailing stroke as it seems to maintain the work I have already done better. One thing I always try to do is have the razor sharp from honing first (Talking closeness here) and then try to make the smoooooth better.

The Shave & Blade Angle

These things are just what works for me. None of it is scientific. Just experience from honing thousands of razors. There is no right answer for everyone as some people love backhoning and swear by it. What ever works for you works........... An interesting thing to think about with larger blades is the angle of the blade when you are shaving. Many people don't watch this and as long as the razor cuts hairs, that's fine. Most people who use larger blades tend to flattened out the angle especially around the chin or under the nose. This is obviously less a problem with smaller blades. I find that the angles tend to change in any case with different parts of the shave, ie, down or cross grain. It's also fun to play around with the different sizes and grinds on different days growth. Two days for me is pretty stiff, but not quite as stiff as one full day. At 4-5 days the beard softens up. Still personal preference, but fun to play around with.

Removing nicks & chips

Most small nicks can be removed with the Norton 4K stone and some circular strokes. The 1K is pretty aggressive and really should only be used for more severe type jobs.

The Pyramid Method

Main article: Norton Pyramid Honing Guide

I must bow to all the experience from the previous posters. The pyramid as said is the most consistent method available for honing. It is an incremental method open to very much experimentation and variety. That said, it does provide a foundation upon which most razors can be honed and can be learned pretty easily. Some people vary pressures, strokes.....etc. It is interesting that this so called feel can be developed. No two razors, even the same brand from the same manufacturer always hone up the same. It seems every razor out there has it's own personality for some reason and some can be quite stubborn as well. I have honed going on 8,000 razors and have yet to develop the magic mentioned here. I hope to find it some day though.

The reference 1/5 is one stroke on the 4K side of your Norton and 5 strokes on the 8K side. When you get close and are looking for less pulling or more smooooth, you go to a pyramid that is smaller, ie, instead of 10/10, 5/5, 3/3, 1/3, 1/5, you would start at either the 3 or l level. You might even just do a few strokes on the 8K side.

Thoughts on blade steel then and now

Someone earlier said that Sheffield was the place where stainless was invented. It is also the home of some of the best carbon steel ever made. The shaves from a Wade & Butcher and several other Sheffield brands is awesome. Now that doesn't take anything away from the Solingen blades or the US blades. Interesting is the TI blade which is a Sheffield silver steel and lead hardened. That is what most of the TI higher end blades are made of. Tis a nice alloy and is a superior or top end shaver. So what's being made today. Mostly TI and Dovo. All the yesteryear blades are around because we were lucky that they were stored somewhere where they would not rust vs. any preference any where as they were virtually unused except by a few for well over 50 years. The most widely discussed opinions on what are good shavers have been forthcoming over the past 6-7 years and growing. There are some barbers around still who used straights during the 50's and 60's and surprisingly, they preferred C'mon's and Dubl Ducks from what I have been told, yet many barber collections had a little of everything.

Strop Care

When I need to clean a strop, I use saddle soap and a brush. Once dry, I re-condition it with neats foot or baseball glove oil making sure I do a lot of rubbing to ensure penetration. Palm of the hand daily after conditioned is great. Every so often if the strop is stiffening, mink oil rubbed in well will limber it back up. If the strop is pretty limber already, it really shouldn't need anything. When they get stiff, get to them before they get dry and start cracking. Depending on the climate you live in, this could happen fairly quick or almost never.

Honing A Wedge

You are correct Randy. X stroke at 45 degrees. The other thing with a razor like this is to see how much honing you will need on the 1K stone. Notice the flattening of the shoulder and where the shoulder is more flat as mentioned near the tip. To do that, you might run 5-10 strokes on the 8K and then look at the edge to see where the shiny is. If the edge is shiny all the way across and extends to the cutting portion, you are ready to go with the 4K-8K. If not then you will want to do some strokes on the 1K and check after every 10-20 or so and see where you're at.

A Good Hone For Learning

The Norton 4K-8K is the most consistent stone around for new guys to learn how to hone. I recommend the 8x3 inch. Many razors will actually shave coming off the 8K side following a pyramid method. Bill's suggestion regarding green pastes and Keith's systems are very good as is using a .5 micron diamond paste on a flat bed leather hone coming off the 8K side.

Microscopes

What I always try to look for through the microscope is to see if the edge is even in distribution across the razor. Next I want to make sure that the striations are tight and in most cases they do look darker through the microscope. I also try to make sure no shading up toward the edge and no micro chips near the edge. These usually indicate overhoning and the chips indicate that even if the razor is shaving sharp, it usually won't be as comfy as it should be. I don't try to compare my feather because even though the feather is a super shaver, I find it less for giving and a totally different experience than my regular straight razors. Keep us posted on your progress.