The purpose of using a coarse hone is to remove nicks and old oxidised steel from the vintage razors and then to create a bevel on either a new razor or one of the vintage razors.
You have two tools that you can use to see if a smooth, nick free bevel has been formed. 1. A handheld microscope such as the Radioshack 60x_100X or 2. Your thumbnail.
First wet your thumbnail and then lightly run the razor across the cuticle area. Note anything that suggests a chip. Also note if the degree of cutting is uniform or if it is jerky. Also note if there is any cutting or if its simply smooth(dull).
What you are looking for :
The razor should dig in slightly and evenly along the entire length of the blade.
This test can be used on both the coarse stone and the medium stone but not the fine hone.
This is perhaps the most difficult part of honing,. establishing the bevel. Once the bevel is established the rest is comparitively easy.
I use both a microscope (30X) and the thumbnail test. The one other thing to watch out for is a wire edge. A wire edge is when you have over honed the razor and the edge is so thin that it is like aluminum foil. On the thumbnail test it will feel ragged and under the microscope it will look like a brown/gold line on the very edge in some spots. The easiest way to remove a wire edge is to run the razor thru a wooden match stick or a piece of balsa wood. The other method that sometimes works is to use a reverse honing motion for 5-10 laps then follow that up with 5-10 normal honing motions.
Under the microscope the bevel should a uniform color for the entire width and length of the blade. If there are two colors, with the darker one near the edge, then that indicates two bevels, the old and the new. Continue honing until the color is uniform and the edge is of a uniform level of roughness/finish with no nicks.
Then you can move on to the medium hone. How much to hone on the medium hone is difficult to determine. Thats why a lot of us use something called a "Honing Pyramid".
A Pyramid is annotated like this:
15/5
10/5
5/5
5/5
5/5
3/5
3/5
3/5
1/5
1/5
1/5
What this means is first 15 laps on the medium hone followed by 5 laps on the fine hone. Then perform 10 laps on the medium hone followed by 5 laps on the fine hone. The perform 5 laps on the medium hone and followed by 5 laps on the fine hone. Etc.
The number of times that you will have to repeat this Pyramid or a variation of it will depend on the hardness of your razor.
The number of laps on each hone is just a general suggestion.
Razors are generally classified as having a soft, medium or hard temper. You will have to determine that for yourself.
While you are going thru this pyramid you need to test the edge of your razor frequently. Use the thumb test (not the thumbnail test) or the Hanging Hair Test. When it passes these tests then go ahead and give the razor a shave test. You will more than likely find that you will have to go back to the hones numerous times before you get a decent shave. But... each time you will notice that the shave is better.
Unfortunately there is no objective test available for a straight razor. I personally rely on the Hanging Hair Test to give me an indication of the shave readiiness of a razor. However, I usually have to go back to the hones at least once.
Go over to
www.straightrazorplace.com and read the help files. There is lots of info on honing over their.
Hope this helps,
