Do I have to learn the same lessons?
I was honing a chip out of my new takamitou kamisori and trying a new mix--naniwa ss 1000 to take out the damage, aoto to clean up the bevel and then finishing on a Maruoyama Aisa with judicious use of slurry throughout.
I got to the final stage and I was unsure how to proceed. The Maruo stones are softer than the honzan stones I'm used to so they aren't really suited for tomonagura use; they release slurry on their own. This means that for the final finish, pressure is a bad thing. So, like I said, in testing the setup, I was unsure of myself...and I skimped.
The finishing stage went on a while, me honing with small strokes on water only, no pressure, just the slurry released by the razor. I was using the arm hair test to check the edge-I've honed enough now that I can see a strong correlation between the way the edge cuts arm hair and the way it shaves. The edge was popping a few hairs, but it wasn't really hitting what I'd call a good aht, and so I cheated. I stropped.
I KNOW this doesn't work for me. If I can't get a good aht off the hones, then I can't get a good shave. But I thought "well, I'm not really sure of this stone so let's just try one more time." I stropped 20 on linen, then 30 on smooth cordovan, and got a great aht. I knew I would, I've done this before. I also knew how the shave would turn out....
Crappy.
I don't know what it is, what's happening at the very edge that makes stropping an incomplete edge give a great aht but a terrible shave, but I've tested it plenty and it's not failed yet. If I don't cheat, if I hone until the edge actually slices hair cleanly a good half inch off my skin without stropping, then I'm confident I'll get a good shave.
So if I know this, then why did I cheat the edge? Laziness? Perverse curiosity? Masochism? All of the above?
Who knows! But now i have to go back and figure out where to start fixing that kamisori. It's a good thing I enjoy honing.
4 comments:
I feel your pain. I have so many shave ready razors that I tend to go a few months between sharpening binges :p And I always forget a few things I learned the last time, if I didn't right them down well enough... About the time I've honed everything I remember the things I should have remembered the first time and I forget to write some down clearly... and the cycle continues...
Yes! The ability to take pressure under control is most crucial skill in sharpening and especially in razor honing. It is very hard to master.
When You master it good enough the hones become far much better than You have thought before.
The second crucial skill is ability to prepare the surface of stones...
DwarvenChef,
Thanks for the sympathy. It's silly, I know, to not keep better track of things like this. Ah well.
NK,
Thanks for your comments. I'm always working on my use of pressure, but I'm not sure what you mean by "Preparing the surface of the stones." Do you mean proper lapping?
Sorry for my bad English.
As for "preparing the surface" it mean make the surface very flat and make the edges slightly round (make radius bevels on edges).
The lapping is a best way to achieve good level of flatness. The thick peace of mirror glass and abrasive powder of SiC (silican carbide) is just enough to make a stone flat. As for flattening of nakado and arado stones You can use sheet of sandpaper on this glass. But for fine stones (shiagedo, awasedo) sandpaper can not give enough flatness. So we should use fine abrasive slurry on glass. As far as I know SiC powder #2000 give very good flatness.
Of cause one can use cast iron lapping plates of ceramic laps for flattening with the same or even better result. For example Shapton provide very precise lapping tools. But all this is so expensive!
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