What Straight Razor Have You Honed Lately????

Good times with a KLIHASO and an Okudo this evening...
The edge looked decent, but not cutting yet. Changed things up and didn’t use the 1k or 4k - jumped straight to the Mikawa Shiro nagura progression on the Okudo, setting the bevel with the Botan. Took 3 dilutions until it got to a very nice cutting edge. Then went Tenjyou, Mejiro and then finished with a Nakayama tomo nagura.
The scales say Wednesday, so I can only hope the razor works on a Sunday .

Happy honing.
Tom

 

Geneva Cutlery Co., "Pyramid Brand Razor"

This was a real cliff-hanger. It arrived with some light dusting of rust. Minimal, as far as I was concerned. Well, This stuff can be deceiving. After it was all cleaned up, there were a few spots, that were tiny, but deep, on the bevels edge. One was smaller than a pinhole, but went completely through. This razor looked as if it had never touched a hone, but was not cared for properly. So, I kept honing, and killing the edge, until the entire bevel and edge were clean. It took three bevels worth of blade to get it all straightened out. In the end, it took a keen edge, and is a very very nice razor to shave with. After this one, I'm taking a break, from the "Rescue Razors". Some, like this one, frustrate, and wear you out.
P.S. I plan on touching up the tang a little, and making it look a little better.

 

Scott, you are a Machine and you do great work!!! I love seeing how you breathe life into these razors.

 

Thank you. That means a lot.

 

Och Aye the Noo..Some of these Old Razors Can Wear Down the Spirit on the Hones..They Dont Need to be a Rescue Razor Either..I Got a Brand New £ 45o.00 Pounds Dovo to Hone Recently & it Took Me Ages with Some Serious Gymnastics on the 1 K Bevel Hone to True it Up..

The Owner Wasn't Pleased..As the the Bevel was Not as Neat as the Other Razor I Honed for Him..I Said..I Am at the Mercy of the Factory Grinding & the Grinding on this Particular Dovo was One of the Worst I have Encountered from the Factory at Least..Unusual for a New Dovo I May Add.. But Hey You Just got a Bad One & thats the Way it Goes..

Everything was Wrong with it..It was a Bugger..Folks that Dont Hone Razors Sometimes Dont Get this..They Give You Crap & Expect Perfect Bevels with Bows & Ribbons..

Billy..

 

Took the Robinson, Marples & Co to the stones... and it fought me most of the way. Weird geometry and a sawtooth edge to start.
Went Naniwa 1k but ended finishing the bevel on a vintage thin (1&1/4 in wide) Coticule. I then went to the pictured La Veinette for the rest.
Tried something different at the very end by adding a 2nd layer of tape for the final laps with just water.
Pretty decent shave.

Happy honing!
Tom.

 

'Rescue razor' means that you need to be rescued after you fix them, lol.

Cheers, Steve

 

My King Pelican 27 wasn't responding to re-finishing the way I wanted, and that usually means the bevels need flattening or a little more aggressive stone than just a tomo and finisher. So last night I went back to the Shapton Pro 8k, then followed that with a koma nagura and a tomonagura on a nice hard and fine dark egg kiita, probably a Nakayama or Narutaki. That did the trick!

Cheers, Steve

 

A few of them make me feel that way. In the end, I do feel better. Some of them initially looked like they should be tossed in the trash, but hopefully they get a second lease on life. I've had a few that are so trashed, that they couldn't be rescued. If I had a belt sander, for use on razors, most of those could be saved.

 

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This solingen razor had more blacjk spots than a dalmation, but they were almost all superficial, so a few polishing brushes and velvet later it looks pretty OK.

A small dent was removed on the 400 diamond and then from bevel to finish on a coticule.
After some stropping it is a verry nice shave!

 

http://i65.tinypic.com/11r57c6.jpg

a tuckmar otrosur.
Came sharp but seemed pretty agressive, so got it some manners on the esher, first a bit jnat slurry, diluting to water, bit of leather and its a verry nice shaver!

Verry flexible blade, finest sheffield steel, rounded,...

I guess this was the knive the japanese were so keen to copy!

 

Nasty suckers time. I Bought 9 razors pretty cheap from a guy that restores razors himself, most are looking pretty good, so i am like, where is the catch?

The homos took a lot of polishing but worked out pretty good.

This biedermeier had a nasty frown, quickly removed it on a 400 diamond, few laps on the 1000 diamond and to the coticule,.... nope.
It showed quick a Coticule would take hours, freaking hard steel!
So i took it to the 1,2 and 5 k synthetics, than i took out the welsh slates, dragon tongue with slurry, dilute, lynn melynlyn on slurry , dilute, felt pretty good, than to the dark grey slate, slurry to water,...
And it is like adding salt to food, bit more, bit more, bit more, too much !

A shave on the arm felt pretty agressive, so a bit of work on the charnley forest. it is still a bit over the top, but lots of linnen and some leather will finish it.


The next sucker was looking about as it does on the picture, a small frown, i was thinking to solve it bit by bit during normal maintenance over tume.

Unfortunately the edge was probably desinfected with a candle a few times, the steel was so soft it didnt keep an edge. So, i removed the frown on the 400 diamond, put the stone on the 1k, and when it got a little sharpness it developped a brim in no time, and the brim broke of in 1 piece, loosing all sharpness.
But, after this the steel took an edge, so 1, 2,5k and than toward the jnat. Yae botan, botan, tenyou, mejiro and koma, no tomo.
This morning a good stropping, the edge felt sharp and soft, as it is a 1/2 grind it will never shave as a singing razor, but it shaves pretty OK.

Ps, the derby soap is not my thing!

It is really nice to give a second life to a razor that is declared dead!

 

Testing out a new asagi with a user Hayashi last night. The asagi is very smooth and very pure, nothing in it 'sparkles', but the first round HHT on a Gold Dollar finished on thin slurry wasn't exactly where I wanted the edge to be. So I broke out the Hayashi, finished the same way but then added 25 very light clear water strokes after finishing, washing the slurry off the stone and razor well. That seemed to do it, silent HHT root-in or out. We'll find out with the shave!

Cheers, Steve

 

More info on the stone?
Mine, hardness,..

 

There's not enough clues (skin, features like lines or rings, and the color doesn't give away anything) to establish a mine more than a really wild guess. Purity works against you there! It slurries fairly easily with a hard tomonagura, so I'd say around 5 in hardness as opposed to say 5++ for a hard Nakayama or 5+++ for a hard Ozuku. It's 'average' on speed, seems to polish well especially on clear water. It's very smooth, and is at least a little finer than its hardness would suggest, a good sign.

I've only had it 3 days and have honed a couple of raxors, so its capabilities are still somewhat unknown.

Cheers, Steve

 

It is always nice to know stuff about the stone, but in the end it is the result that counts! Good luck with it.


I honed this solingen with the koln skyline on a small coticule.
There was no bevel at all but also no damage. The bevel was set pretty fast on slurry, diluted and finished on water. Bit of leather and a verry fine shave!

 

Another solingen, the point was grinded away, hence it took a heavy rolling stroke and a bit more time to get the blade including the tip sharp, but the coticule did it. After the coticule i gave ita few strokes on the esher, buti dont think i will notice the difference!

 

Ernst sonnenschein,
This coticule hones soft but verry sharp!

 

The Last Word-Cowboy
Honed up sweet once I got past some Swiss cheese on the bevel.

 

"Pipe Razor". George Wostenholm & Sons. Sole Manufacturers of the Original & True Pipe Razor.

This one had a slight frown, and very loose scales. Both were corrected. After the progression through the Norton 1k, Chinese 3k/8k, Welsh Slate Stones 8k 12k 15k, and finally the Arkansas Surgical Black Stone, the blade was sharp as ever. I did have to kill the edge, once, because the 50x Loupe showed micro chipping, at the 12k level. I brought it down to the 3k, and quickly worked back up, in progression. It has a serious edge on it now, popping hanging hairs, at will, down the entire edge. It also gave a great shave, after I was finished.
There is only one problem, that I will address, when it progresses further. After tightening the Horn Scales, I noticed a small crack, at the pivot pin. By the time the shave was finished, the crack was much larger. Tic Toc.