wdwrx said:
So. Some questions.....
1: How the heck do you keep crap out of your slurry? I mean like dust, (I tend to shed saw-dust) stray cut up arm-hairs etc. I hate to loose that seasoned slurry, but I hate the sensation of lumps in it too.
2: Speed. (no not the kind you take:blink: ) I mean lap speed. What effect does the speed of the honing stroke have on the edge refinement? I'm thinking here that a fast light stroke would leave a cleaner "cut" than a slow light stroke. Picture a saw blade making a cut in wood; the faster the blade spins, and the slower the material is fed into it, the smoother the cut. Does that same logic hold up in relation to the edge of a razor moving across the stone?
3:How do you monitor the "keennes" as you're going? How does one know he's not out-running the edge? How do you know you've reached the limit at any given point?
Cheers guys!
-Chris
Hi Chris, by the sounds of it you are working very hard at getting this together, heres my take on the questions above.
and please note that I do not know where your experience and skill level is at so if it comes across as being basic I meant no disrespect.
1, Hone clean, and hone in a clean environment, if you come in from the shop dusty, shower and change, I hone at the kitchen table and believe me when I say, my wife simply would go ballistic if I made a mess, so its clean hand towel on the table top, clean Ralfson in clean clothes.
Its easy to pick up stray arm hair if you dont wipe the blade before and after you test it, I wipe with a clean tissue each time I test the edge on arm hair, because like you I dont want any in my slurry.
Another important point, when dilucutting it really can be difficult if you have to refresh slurry during the process, too thick and you set the edge back, to thin and it will never catch up, so keep it clean and wet and its a lot easier to monitor as you progress through the honing.
2,speed (people take this?..lol) there is a huge difference between a saw blade cutting wood and coticule garnets cutting steel, a better comparison would be fine and coarse toothed blades working at the same speed and feed rate, coarse saw blades will rip the wood fast, but the finish is like a cheap fence post, a fine blade on the other hand will cut the wood a lot slower but leave a much cleaner finish. when we dilute slurry we gradually change the slurry from coarse to fine, this gives us the finish we desire after first "Roughing out" the bevel
Stroke speed is far less important that stroke accuracy, its vital to perform nice even strokes that cover the entire length of the bevel, your honing speed will increase with practice but need never be a blur, faster strokes than you are capable of executing accurately will never produce a good edge.
3, there are a few methods of checking the edge along the way, first up is the arm hair shave, as the edge improves you will feel it becoming keener, and just as importantly smoother, with experience you can check how you are doing by shaving arm hair every now and again, one of the most widely used methods is the thumb pad test (TPT) again with experience you can tell the differences in feel as the edge lightly bites the top layer of skin, although its not a test I use that often I swear that after a while you can almost feel the blade cutting the ridges of your thumb print.
TBH with experience you may find that such tests are not needed, I check on arm hair when I set the bevel and only start to dilute once I feel it has maxed out, then I run through the dilution stages and finish on water before I go to the hanging hair test (HHT) I couldnt hone without it, and I know that I am competent enough that should the hht fail, I can pull it back using 1 or more finishing strategies.
I hope this helps, and keep up the good work
My kindest regards
Ralfson (Dr)