What Straight Razor Have You Honed Lately????

The Ruff razor got the J-nat treatment at the begining of the week, lovely shave.

 

Refreshed my Genco today. 100 laps on a Black Arkansas, with Smith's honing solution. Easing up on the pressure as I went polished it out nicely. Stropped on chromium oxide, linen, and Chromexcel horsehide. Much smoother shave today.

 

I took this little Charlexe back to the hones today, I think I over stropped it the first time around. Worked it pretty hard on the Naniwa traditional 1000 then moved to the Naniwa 3000 and 5000 specialty stones. Then hit the 8-12-15 Welsh slate with a good slurry built up. 5 laps on a felt pad with 5 mike diamond just because and 20/20 on rough and smooth leather. This thing should be sharp. I'm going to find out tomorrow.

 

Don't worry, I'm sure it can be sewn back on

 

Sweeney Todd. Lots of work. I still need to work on the heel, but It's gone through the 1k, 3k/8k, 8k 12k 15k Welsh Slate stones. It seems sharp enough to shave, and I'm going to find out if it will, after while. The back 1/2 in heel isnt sharp, but there is still another 4 1/2 inches of sharp blade to use. I just needed to see if it would hold an edge, sharp enough to shave with. Wish me luck. If you dont hear from me in the next couple of days, I will have bled out.

Compared to a normal razor.


After Honing, grinding of the spine, and a lot of bevel work.

 

Todays Hone was an easy job. I did a light buffing on the blade, to take off all tarnish. Then I honed. No tape, and very little work was needed. Everything was straight, and little hone wear on the blade. The razor came extremely sharp, as is, but I wanted to start with a new edge, so, I killed it, on the 1k King Stone. After that, I set the bevel, and killed the edge, ever so slightly on the 3k. The edge came back up rather quickly, and I progressed 3k/8k, 8k 12k 15k Welsh Slate stones. Light 8 strokes on the Chromium stop. Then 100 strokes on the Illinois 827 Russian leather strop. Hair popping all the way. I did a light stroke on my cheek, without soap, and dry. I thought it didn't cut, because it was so smooth. My face there is now BBS. This blade took a very sharp edge.

ZWILLINGSWER Solingen (AKA J.A.Henckels)

 

Question for you, why do you "kill" the edge?

 

If the previous hone job, or edge had any imperfections, I wanted to get rid of them. I like to own my own mistakes, not inherit mistakes others have made. Plus, when you kill the edge, on the corner of the stone, you can feel any imperfections on the edge.

There are other reasons to kill an edge, but these were the reasons I did it with this blade.

 

Not sure I totally understand, I'm going to have to think about it. Thanks for your reply though!

 

Two others Honed. Same as the others.

French "Rasoir Fin"
I don't know anything about this Frameback, or Faux Frameback, or Rattler Razor. I polished it out some. It came looking 100 years old. I do know that the entire blade is very thin, and took a very nice edge, very fast, because not much metal was being removed. The only issue it had were two small nicks on the toe end, which I ground out and honed relatively easily. I'm exited about shaving with this one, because it does look very old, and it does take a very keen edge.

Before:


After:


Cheap unknown Chinese Razor that needed a new edge. I wasn't happy with the heel, so I redid the entire thing. It went fast. This Chinese steel is hard and takes a wicked edge. I would put it up next to about any steel out there. They shave great too.

 

That's a beauty.

 

This afternoon I honed this IXL Geo. Wostenholm razor. This was my $5 antique store find that was heavily tarnished and had a chip out of the toe. I rounded the toe...and it cleaned up nice. I honed this a while ago, but put it on the stones again today because I wasn't entirely pleased with the edge. I used my usual Naniwa 1, 3/8, 12k stones and followed by a plain leather strop.

 

Those old Wostys hone up nicely!

 

I here a lot of good things about the Geo. Wostenholm razors. I've yet to try one. Good job on the toe work. Let us know how it shaves.

 

Honed up my Dovo Best on a Norton1,4,8, and Naniwa 12 prgression. Finished on a mottled black thuringian hone.

Tried this hone a week ago when I first got it. I didn't like the grainy feel. Laped it on a 2k w/d, and it is very smooth now. Tried some Smith''s on it for fun. It gave a glass feel to the hone. Smith''s seems to be a little thick for this maybe, but gave a hazy finish to the 12k bevel. I'll see how it strops out, and shaves later tonight.

 

Really didn't like the look of the bevel with a 30x loupe. Put about 20 laps on it under running water with the mottled black. It looked better, but not as good as a 8k bevel. Stropped 50/100 and it showed a slight improvement . First pass WTG. It was a little tuggy. Stropped it 25 more on leather. Still tuggy. Finished the first pass, and did 10 laps on a CrOx strop. Another 50 on leather. The bevel showed some improvement. It looked smoother, but still a little chippy. 2nd pass was WTG as well. It was much improved over the first pass, but not as keen as 2 days prior with a fresh 12k edge. The shave was not my closest, but it was completely irritation free. I have a lot to learn about this thuringian hone.

If anyone has some tips, I'm all ears.

 

Start over with a new bevel. How does the spine look?
It shouldn't look "chippy" before the strop work, even under a 60x.
Just my opinion.

 

The bevel looked great, and shaved great with the 12k edge Sunday morning . I ran it on my new "finisher" yesterday. If I have time tonight, I'm going to relap my German natural with 2k. I'll probably drop back to 4k hone first, and see how the bevel progresses. I'm thinking of trying 50/50 mix of water and glycerin on my gnat, and see what happens . I not going to blame the stone, I can be a little heavy handed on the hones sometimes. I need to work on my technique and pressure .

 

I've been the same way. I just have to learn to use very little pressure with my synthetic 8k and no pressure on the 8k 12k 15 k Welsh Slate Stones.
Order 2-4 lighted 60x loupes. They are worth the money, about $1.30 each, or so. The bevel doesn't lie at 60x.

 

I had ordered 2 loupes just like that a few months ago. Some Chinese company through Amazon. They never delivered, and I got my money back.

Just got through lapping my GNAT to 2.5k. It's got a glassy finish now. Time to get the Norton soaking!