OMG I've done it. (honing)

sd_baker

sd_baker

Member
Joined
Oct 31, 2023
Location
Ontario, Canada
I spent about two weeks finding spare time time to finish my balsa strops.

Finally tried them out today on my Titan T.H.60. My razor is as sharp at HHT as @rbscebu 's reference edge.

I'm strutting around the house feeling like Teri.

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Progression:

1. Bevel set using King Deluxe 1200 using mineral oil (an experiment).
2. SP5k
3. Naniwa SS 12k
4. CrOx on balsa 30 laps (another experiment)

The stone work was done with tape (another experiment). I shaved once at this point and it was an average shave. HHT 2-3 but not nearly as consistent as the reference edge.

6. Balsa progression following the document exactly.

HHTs same as reference edge now, level 4-5 very consistent across the length of the edge. Although the cut is not silent as HHT5 defines. I don't think I've ever gotten pure HHT5.

The balsa progression took 40 minutes to do and my shoulder was sore by the end of it.

Next stop: shave test.

Thanks again @rbscebu for the detailed instructions.
 
@sd_baker, congratulations and thank you for trying diamond pasted balsa stropping and following the instructions to the letter.

Yes, you find muscles that you didn't know you had when starting out with balsa stropping. Fortunately, once a blade is perfected on balsa strop progressions, it normally never needs a full progression or honing again, just maintenance on the 0.1μm strop (hanging).

Remember, the keener the edge, the flatter the shave angle.
 
Some more observations:

1. My 0.25 strop shows more darkening than my 0.5. In my other uses of diamonds, faster darkening usually means courser grit, so I'm not sure if I got mislabeled powder, or I somehow mislabeled my strops, or my technique is bad somehow.
2. I ended up using 0.25 and 0.5 powder with about 1ml of mineral oil and 2-3 ml of alcohol.
3. Naniwa Super Stone (Gouken Kagayaki) 12k is the worst sharpening stone I've ever used. It warps horribly if you get it wet⁉️ I know you have Naniwas, @karol.elec , do you have Super Stones?
4. @rbscebu you mentioned else where that for daily maintenance hanging balsa was too light and works better if you start some laps hand held. Should this be in the instructions?

Some questions:

1. Normally, you do more laps on courser stones, then once the bevel is set, you use higher grit stones to refine the apex, which takes far fewer laps. Probably less than 20. The balsa progression, however, does less laps with courser grit, but more with finer. Is there logic to this, or is this just a result of trial and error?
2. How was the balsa needing to be absolutely flat discovered? I have read some long threads about the pasted balsa strategy, but I'm still now sure of its origin story.
 
sd_baker said:
Some more observations:

1. My 0.25 strop shows more darkening than my 0.5. In my other uses of diamonds, faster darkening usually means courser grit, so I'm not sure if I got mislabeled powder, or I somehow mislabeled my strops, or my technique is bad somehow.
2. I ended up using 0.25 and 0.5 powder with about 1ml of mineral oil and 2-3 ml of alcohol.
3. Naniwa Super Stone (Gouken Kagayaki) 12k is the worst sharpening stone I've ever used. It warps horribly if you get it wet⁉️ I know you have Naniwas, @karol.elec , do you have Super Stones?

Some questions:

1. Normally, you do more laps on courser stones, then once the bevel is set, you use higher grit stones to refine the apex, which takes far fewer laps. Probably less than 20. The balsa progression, however, does less laps with courser grit, but more with finer. Is there logic to this, or is this just a result of trial and error?
2. How was the balsa needing to be absolutely flat discovered? I have read some long threads about the pasted balsa strategy, but I'm still now sure of its origin story.
Click to expand...
Yes. I have a naniva super but with my lack of experience I can not tell you if it is good or bad. Has great reviews thou😂
 
karol.elec said:
Yes. I have a naniva super but with my lack of experience I can not tell you if it is good or bad. Has great reviews thou😂
Click to expand...
I bought the 12k as it's the cheapest recommended synthetic finishing stone. It's been just the worst experience. Mine is only 10 mm tall, and it warps while I'm flattening it. Any amount of water it warps. it might be a problem with some batches, but I cannot believe how bad my stone is.

If you use these, make sure you check flatness with a steel ruler often.
 
sd_baker said:
I bought the 12k as it's the cheapest recommended synthetic finishing stone. It's been just the worst experience. Mine is only 10 mm tall, and it warps while I'm flattening it. Any amount of water it warps. it might be a problem with some batches, but I cannot believe how bad my stone is.

If you use these, make sure you check flatness with a steel ruler often.
Click to expand...
I will check for sure
But it looks fine. I flatten that with a diamond plate with every use thou
 
sd_baker said:
....
4. @rbscebu you mentioned else where that for daily maintenance hanging balsa was too light and works better if you start some laps hand held. Should this be in the instructions?
Click to expand...
No, what I found was that as my technique improved, my pressure using 0.1μm hanging for regular maintenance became so good (light) that my edges were slowly starting to deteriorate. I corrected that by doing a few 0.1μm in-hand laps with blade weight only at the beginning of my hanging strop routine.
sd_baker said:
Some questions:

1. Normally, you do more laps on courser stones, then once the bevel is set, you use higher grit stones to refine the apex, which takes far fewer laps. Probably less than 20. The balsa progression, however, does less laps with courser grit, but more with finer. Is there logic to this, or is this just a result of trial and error?
Click to expand...
It is a result of what I have found through experimentation and testing.
sd_baker said:
2. How was the balsa needing to be absolutely flat discovered? I have read some long threads about the pasted balsa strategy, but I'm still now sure of its origin story.
Click to expand...
I am also not sure but it works so I see no need to change it. You need to sand the pasted surface anyway when renewing the paste so it is no extra work.

As for your observation No. 1, my belief is that it gets darker more quickly if you have excess paste on the surface.
 
Shave tested today. Got many nicks. My shave game is tuned to less keen edges, it seems.

Angle. Pressure. Skin stretching. These I need to work on.

The sound and vibration of hair removal is very different from this edge compared to say the JNat edge from @JaggardJ 's PIF. Basically balsa edge has very little feedback.
 
sd_baker said:
Shave tested today. Got many nicks. My shave game is tuned to less keen edges, it seems.

Angle. Pressure. Skin stretching. These I need to work on.

The sound and vibration of hair removal is very different from this edge compared to say the JNat edge from @JaggardJ 's PIF. Basically balsa edge has very little feedback.
Click to expand...
Yes, I suspect the jnat edge could have been pushed a little sharper. But it is also a little more forgiving than a diamond balse edge.
I like sharper. So I would consider touching up the jnat edge with a little balsa action at some point.
Then again it is nice to have razors with different personalities
 
JaggardJ said:
Yes, I suspect the jnat edge could have been pushed a little sharper. But it is also a little more forgiving than a diamond balse edge.
I like sharper. So I would consider touching up the jnat edge with a little balsa action at some point.
Then again it is nice to have razors with different personalities
Click to expand...
Yes, the jnat edge is my confidence edge based on 4 shaves. Very forgiving, sharp enough to cut hair, rarely cuts me. I really appreciate it.
 
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