Another BBW user

[norvegh]

Hi Folks,

I have been here on this site for some time, doing a lot of reading, but this is my first post. Recently I bought a BBW after reading good things about it here. I did not want to invest a lot into hones, as I was not sure I can stick to straight razor saving as the shaves were not that good. (I have a Heljestrand that I honed previously with a stone I borrowed from a friend, I don't know what it was). When I got the BBW I started my first honing attempt with great confidence, expecting great results, but it turned out to be more difficult than I thought. I tried everything, thick slurry, thin slurry, forward and back strokes, nothing gave me the edge I was expecting. First problem, I am not sure how thin slurry is supposed to be. If I rub the slurry stone once back and forth, it definitely won't give me any colour at all.
After several tries, I found that in my case I seem to get better results with honing only on water. Even if I rub the slurry stone once back and forth, I got some faint grinding sound when I do the strokes. If I switch to water that sound goes away after a while, and the sound becomes very smooth. I also noticed that if I do only stropping strokes, the edge seems to accumulate some imperfections that can be spotted visually under light. They are barely noticeable microscopic burs or teeths. Can this be right, or am I only imagining it? There must be a reason that the standard stroke is edge leading. I decided to mix forward and backward strokes, and at the end I got a much better edge than before. I also did a lot of stokes (around 200-300), so it might be that the BBW just needs more work, and I was not persistent before.

Anyway, I wished to thank you for all the great info on this site,
Norbert

 

[tat2Ralfy]

Welcome Norbet

Honing on the BBW, like any other stone requires learned skills and the proper method, by the sounds of it you are kind of fishing in the dark, constant stropping strokes will indeed ruin the edge, and without a bit of guidance you may never get the best results from your BBW

You say you feel grit when using slurry? what do you use to raise the slurry? if it is another piece of BBW it shouldnt feel that way, if it is a diamond plate be sure to work up a good few slurries, and rinse it all away first, because new diamond plates can release harmful debris until broken in.

Heres the method as devised by Sir Bart, and tested and proven by many (myself included) I am a bit of a BBW fan myself, as I am aware of the great edges that these underated stones are capable of.

Raise a very dense slurry on the BBW. Dense, almost paste-like but do not allow it to become grainy. Add a drop of water at the first sign of it. Dull razor on glass. Hone on dense slurry with sets of 50 halfstrokes, till razor shaves arm hair very easily, along its entire length, Add 100 regular X-strokes, on slurry that's just the tiniest bit less dense (add a drop or 2 of water) Try HHT with thick hair, we are looking for a HHT2 or more, Rinse BBW. Rub with slurry stone back and forth once, with some pressure. Finish edge with 100 light laps. Repeat HHT, we are looking for a HHT3 or more then Strop well with 60 strokes on linen and 60 on clean leather.

Please check the links above for the sharpening academy, and the faq section, as you should find them most helpful, and above all enjoy your self

Best regards
Ralfson

 

[norvegh]

Thanks Ralf,

I did not mean that I feel grit when using slurry, just that it sounds different. Compared to honing on water it has a different sound, especially with stropping strokes. I use a BBW slurry stone.

I thought that the problem is with my finishing. It is not an issue to get an edge that easily shaves arm hair. The problem so far was that I could not get better than HHT-1 directly from the hone, which improved to HHT-3 (on thick hair) after stropping. With my last attempt I got HHT-2/3 off the hone with thick hair.

I will try the method you wrote with my other razor. I red Bart's BBW report, but I have not tried that method, as I am not sure the secondary bevel would work with my paddle strop.

Norbert

 

[Bart]

A secondary bevel, with no greater angle variation than the difference caused by only one layer of tape, will work fine with almost any strop, including the vast majority of paddles strops. It requires only minimal compressibility of the strop material, to have he strop "reach" the very edge. If your paddle is the loom type, it will definitely work, but even if it's a piece of leather glued to a wooden base, it usually works, if the leather has any thickness.

Kind regards,
Bart.