Straight Razor Honing - Part 2: 1000 grit

Beginning honing a razor starting with 1000 grit. 1000 is considered a low grit for honing a razor and is what I use to set the bevel/edge of a razor.

I had to trim just abit out of the beginning and end to make it fit for youtube, but it was only like 10 seconds so nothing relevant is missed.
This is more or less just me honing and talking as I go along.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• Straight
• Razor
• Honing
• Hone
• waterstone
• sharpening
• strop
• stropping
• pasted

[shavefan12]

Should it be able to cut hair off the 1k?

[ToxIkWaste]

@shavefan12 As far as I know, nothing will ever pass HHT off 1k.

[shavefan12]

I'm getting stuck.

When setting a new bevel, how much pressure should I be using? I've heard no pressure, medium pressure, lots of pressure, and everything in between.

[ToxIkWaste]

@shavefan12 I find it depends on the grit and how much work I have to do. For completely rebuilding a bevel I'll start at the 1k with medium pressure to work away steel and then finish with light pressure to keep things even. Then at the 4k I'll use medium-light pressure so I can feel the stone working the edge and again finish with light pressure. Once I get to the 8k it's mostly just light pressure. Rarely will I use the super-light floating type of pressure, except maybe on pasted strops.

[ToxIkWaste]

wow, 40 mins on 1k. that should be plenty.

I've had razors take long, but they were all huge wedge razors. Any hollow ground should be good. It may be a problem with technique, but if the bevel is indeed not actually formed after 40 mins, the only thing I can think is that you're using very light pressure. When setting the bevel from scratch, don't be afraid to use some pressure to work off steel.

[jrcrow79]

are you using electrical take for the spine?

[ToxIkWaste]

@jrcrow79 Yeah, it cuts down on some hone wear.

[johnnytastetest]

@ToxIkWaste - Yeah, I only own the Norton 4K/8K stone, and it's enough for me. It's easy to become pretty obsessive with this kind of work, and while I could progress from there to a 10K, to 12K, or some glass hones, I don't really see the point. I get a good shave as it is, and when these razors were the norm, do you really think guys had a drawer full of hones that they used? No, probably just one lousy rock that they knew how to work with.

[thebp9999]

oh for the love of god you're making too much out of this!

[jrcrow79]

hey..I just got my Norton 220/1k/4k/8k kit...still going on 1k for 40 minutes...what I doing wrong to set the bevel??..DMT 325 lapped til smooth and flat..now what?

[SoundwaveSuperior373]

oh i also heard that it costs a lot of money for materials since when u first begin to learn to hone u will make a lot of mistakes n u need to complete redo the blade with 200 grit all the way to 1000 grit and the time it takes for the learning curve is also incredibly long if im a student with a limited budget should i just pay a honemeister to sharpen my razor until im financially stable enuff to invest in a hone set instead

[ToxIkWaste]

@SoundwaveSuperior373 30k is probably overkill. 4k/8k should be enough, but it would be much nicer to have something in the 12k range to supplement them; It will just make things easier.