I bought the cheapest soap and brush. It’s fine. I had a bad shave today though. There was a lot of irritation and blood spots. I didn’t chase the super close shave to save my face. I had bought new stones and honed and it looked good: all scratches went out each step and it did the hanging hair test. Still my edge gets ruined extremely quickly in the shave. I already use two layers of tape to make it stronger and the steel is fresh. I thought my edge broke down because of my bad lower grit stones didn’t set the bevel correctly. So I bought the shapton glass 3k but it didn’t help enough. I also honed my Koraat the same way and then used my mystery natural stone but it didn’t turn out well: still big scratches left, didn’t do the hanging hair test at all and felt not keen to my finger skin. But when I shaved with it, while lacking sharpness it was smooth and my skin was fine and I didn’t have any blood at all… So I am very confused!
Honing seems like half science and half “need lots of experience to be comfortable knowing what you’re doing”.
Are you only taking it up through 8k? People here always seem to recommend and use up through 12k. I only have a 10k which works great for me, but I haven’t experienced anything different.
Sorry, I wasn’t very clear. With 0.85 I mean the Shapton Glass Seven 0.85 micron stone. The 8k is about 1.8 micron and their 16k is 0.92 micron so this one would be 16k+ rated. But they don’t rate their “seven” stones with a K number.
While the degree of keenness of the apex initiates the cut, the volume of material behind the apex determines how well an edge cuts. Simply put; the thinner the edge, the better it cuts. When you use two layers of tape, you are creating a wider edge and degrading the cutting ability of the razor.
Shaving at a low angle (spine close to the skin), creates less skin irritation. If the edge is sliding across the skin, more of the cutting force is directed at cutting hair than at digging into and scraping the skin.
Most of us take a while to figure out how to get a BBS shave with no nicks or irritation from a straight razor. To get there takes a combination of a very slick lather, low shaving angle, and good control of the razor. It takes patience, but the payoff has been worth it for most of us. It is pretty rare (I’ve not seen it) that someone has a beard so tough that a straight razor edge is “broken down” by one shave. I suggest that you consider this may be more of a technique issue than a steel issue.
As for your stone progression, there’s nothing wrong with what you have. I provide sharpening of knives and razors as a service. If you want, I will hone your razors using Glass Stones on a similar progression to yours, but without tape. This will give you a baseline for your own efforts.
Thanks for the big write up! The first point sounds so logical so it’s surprising that I did manage a smooth shave out of the Koraat with its much thicker bevel. I’ll try to go without tape in the future or at least try reducing it to a single layer and see how that goes again.
For the second point, I’ll take your suggestion and pay more attention to the shaving angle!
The money is a bit tight so I’ll have to figure it out on my own I’m afraid. That is also why it is good to hear that my progression is fine. I watched that JPO video where he goes over weakness in the steel from making large jumps in grit so I was afraid I needed something in between 3k and 8k. I’ll just practice some more.
I interact with JPO quite a bit via YouTube and I’m also aware of the condition he describes; metal fatigue at the apex caused from the many passes that are necessary in a large jump from a very coarse stone to a very fine one. The steel, itself, and the way that steel is tempered play a big role in this. With a progression like yours, it is an unlikely issue.
If you’re in the US I will hone your razors for the cost of shipping them to me. I’ve been doing this for folks on Reddit/Lemmy/PieFed who are starting their straight razor journey.
2025-11-09
I bought the cheapest soap and brush. It’s fine. I had a bad shave today though. There was a lot of irritation and blood spots. I didn’t chase the super close shave to save my face. I had bought new stones and honed and it looked good: all scratches went out each step and it did the hanging hair test. Still my edge gets ruined extremely quickly in the shave. I already use two layers of tape to make it stronger and the steel is fresh. I thought my edge broke down because of my bad lower grit stones didn’t set the bevel correctly. So I bought the shapton glass 3k but it didn’t help enough. I also honed my Koraat the same way and then used my mystery natural stone but it didn’t turn out well: still big scratches left, didn’t do the hanging hair test at all and felt not keen to my finger skin. But when I shaved with it, while lacking sharpness it was smooth and my skin was fine and I didn’t have any blood at all… So I am very confused!
Honing seems like half science and half “need lots of experience to be comfortable knowing what you’re doing”.
Are you only taking it up through 8k? People here always seem to recommend and use up through 12k. I only have a 10k which works great for me, but I haven’t experienced anything different.
Sorry, I wasn’t very clear. With 0.85 I mean the Shapton Glass Seven 0.85 micron stone. The 8k is about 1.8 micron and their 16k is 0.92 micron so this one would be 16k+ rated. But they don’t rate their “seven” stones with a K number.
Here is some of the science that @walden@sub.wetshaving.social refers to:
Most of us take a while to figure out how to get a BBS shave with no nicks or irritation from a straight razor. To get there takes a combination of a very slick lather, low shaving angle, and good control of the razor. It takes patience, but the payoff has been worth it for most of us. It is pretty rare (I’ve not seen it) that someone has a beard so tough that a straight razor edge is “broken down” by one shave. I suggest that you consider this may be more of a technique issue than a steel issue.
As for your stone progression, there’s nothing wrong with what you have. I provide sharpening of knives and razors as a service. If you want, I will hone your razors using Glass Stones on a similar progression to yours, but without tape. This will give you a baseline for your own efforts.
Thanks for the big write up! The first point sounds so logical so it’s surprising that I did manage a smooth shave out of the Koraat with its much thicker bevel. I’ll try to go without tape in the future or at least try reducing it to a single layer and see how that goes again.
For the second point, I’ll take your suggestion and pay more attention to the shaving angle!
The money is a bit tight so I’ll have to figure it out on my own I’m afraid. That is also why it is good to hear that my progression is fine. I watched that JPO video where he goes over weakness in the steel from making large jumps in grit so I was afraid I needed something in between 3k and 8k. I’ll just practice some more.
I interact with JPO quite a bit via YouTube and I’m also aware of the condition he describes; metal fatigue at the apex caused from the many passes that are necessary in a large jump from a very coarse stone to a very fine one. The steel, itself, and the way that steel is tempered play a big role in this. With a progression like yours, it is an unlikely issue.
If you’re in the US I will hone your razors for the cost of shipping them to me. I’ve been doing this for folks on Reddit/Lemmy/PieFed who are starting their straight razor journey.