You should try diamond pasted balsa for finishing / maintenance I’ve a SR that has stayed as Uber sharp since January and has not seen a stone since then. The standard progression is .5o micron, .25 micron, .1 micron. These really push my stone finished edges to that “pro” level. I have read where some at plus one year with no sone work with their razors... and I believe it. Yes by default I will have 2 concave masters.... if I ever finish them... I removed entire heel not just stabilizer on the GD and made a finger notch, the probably would sell ore razors if they did have huge stabilizers, does your GD have smile?
My pasted balsa strops are CrOx, FeOx, and I think a diamond from Herald. I have 1 and. 5 micron diamond from Chef Knives to Go. Largely my maintenance tools. Sometimes Naniwa 12k. Agree, works great. The stabilizers on this GD were ground, but one side not enough. I worked it today and will report with the test shave. I would not say it had a smile..... until today. Also my initial thoughts on the convex stones. Stay tuned.
Honing school. Gave the rough GD some rough treatment on the convex. You can see were I biffed it near the toe when I got sloppy. I did get the jagged shards off and add a bit of a smile. No close shots of the edge, but here is what I see under a glass. A smooth even bevel except on the one side at the toe where it is warped so much. I still have trouble with HHT so I had to resort to a less scientific test that I use on knives with phone book pages. It did take significant work. It shaves. Not the best, not the worst. I do like the larger 6/8 formst. Most of my stuff is 5/8. I think I prefer the straight jumped tang over the thumbnotch style. When I get a chance, I think I'll mute the edge, tape up the spine, and run the Naniwas to see what I get. People say these can be good shavers. I do not have the experience to know...... it's 'okay'. The convex is nice to work some shaping. One can see where the edge is being focused on. This razor would not cut on the ends, but is pretty uniform now. A negative I think I see is that after setting the bevel on the soft side, it almost seems like some extra time is needed on the hard side up front. Makes me wonder if the amount of convexing differs a little from hard side to soft side. For those interested, I'd recommend NOT getting the glued combo. If you can, get the thicker individual stones so you can keep one flat side for versatility. Touched up the rescaled Dovo Best on the 12k, it was time to. Remember y'all... don't clean Dovo celluloid scales with alcohol, it makes them crumble. I used the Gold Dollar 208 for 3 passes. It was not a bad shave. I did finish with a fourth pass with the Dovo. Makes it a little hard to not recommended a Dovo over a Gold Dollar. I probably need to get 2 of the same razors and simultaneously hone each using the 2 different methods for a fair comparison on the stones. To me, honing remains a skill to be learned. Convex stones are not a magic bullet, but you can get a really rough Gold Dollar to shave pretty smoothly with them.
Thanks Glen. I do have a question. In your experience, is getting an edge comparable to a nice Dovo possible on one of these Gold Dollars.
Yes, you can come pretty darn close to the "Best Quality" Dovo edge I use a Black Thuringen on all GD's and Clones, the major difference in the steel is the size of the Carbide grains, if you try a "Push" a GD you can easily push it over their capability to hold that edge, just so long as you don't go crazy they are fine shavers What I can NOT say is how long those edges may last, the only people I have ever heard claiming huge numbers of shaves out of them happen to be people selling them or pushing a narrative The real issues with the GD is getting the initial Bevel dialed in, and getting rid of all their mistakes, after that they shave fine
Thank Glen. I'm kind of trying determine if it is a tool that I could recommend as well as a training prop.
As long as you are honest in the issues they present to a newer Honer I have no issues My issues with GD's came with how many new guys were driven away from the hobby with the narrative that they could buy a $2 razor and start shaving.
Sooo..... Being honest...... Yeah you can shave with that $2 razor 'after' ....... you buy a couple of $hundred$ on rocks and spend almost a day of your time maybe. Cool!
hehehe There are also quite a few guys selling them for $20 Corrected and Honed to shave ready... THAT is a good starter..
if you want to try the pasted balsa system i can send you a bit of .25 .1 diamond paste .. google "how to use pasted balsa strop" im super impressed how it maintains and takes edge to HHT4 and 5, or just plain super sharp... Ill pm you a link
i don't think most mortals can do a 2 stone/hone honing job and get PRO level results in spite of all the videos. im not saying it is impossible, i think i've done it once but haven't been able to repeat. as much as i want to have a 2 or even 3 stone progression i have come to the conclusion for consistent high level HHT or however you judge razor sharpness... i still need multi stone progressions eg 1000K 3000k 5000K 1000K 12000K vs the 2 stone progression. i'm guessing if you filled in with some middle range hones then finished with hard side you would get much better results. Ive been testings slurries with samel stone slurries, even other stone slurries as an experiment, my hypothesis is proper slurry will fill the mid range for us mortals.... but that is a whole different conversation.... i have best quality in orginal scales. it has become my test razor. it has become finicky i think from all the abuse i put it through. i can't get that pro honed feel on it unless i run it through multi stone progression. finishing on Hard ark (not novaculite).... i spy TSS take off scales, i bought some a rescaled a genco with them. you also have to consider differences in stones. one stone might cut faster depending on what mother nature decided to do where you stone was mined. and how stone was finished. one stone may have been pissed on by a unicorn and has magical qualities.... i have a 12k ish dota creek depending on how i finish.... acts like a 8k when lapped to lower grits or a 14k + when i finish it with 1200 grit /near burnished. i feel like the harder arks are more like polishers vs actual cutting..... harder stone especially novaculite ark , will take a much more time and effort and does not perform like a synthetic.... comparing a natural 12 k to a 12 k synth is like apples and oranges. the one GD i have messed with has a smile, even after correction work, and when i first messed with it didn't have the skill set to hone a smiling blade. i still have issue where toe lags a bit behind on sharpness..... I have a straight edge that i use for reference, i also sharpie the edge to confirm my technique is covering the length of edge. i'm starting to recognize blade nuances that need special honing technique/ loving i'm looking forward to try the convex stones, but i 100% agree, keep one side flat. i bought a few GD's for cheap that i have yet to abuse. i beat my first one up.... ready to start on others after i hone up recent RAD's i lap my stones on a free piece of granite from counter top manufacturer, the cut outs from sink, or scrap pieces are usually free, bring straight edge with you to confirm flatness. or buy granite tile at tile store. and the add a few loose grits to use for lapping, i understand some prefer w/d sand paper. IMHO cheaper and more versatile than fancy diamond $$$ diamond lapping plate. ( i think im about $20 all in, but was gifted some loose grit) if i ever finish making master /concave stone i'd loan it to you... but it may be cost effective shipping to send me the 12K... i imagine TSS would do the work for you. i was told he spent about 40 hours to make his masters....
Well Bill The plastic doodad and half a Feather blade worked ok, concidering my skill level on a scale from 1 to 10 is a -3. Used it for the first pass then finished with my PAA Alpha Ecliptic Slant Razor and a Feather blade. The blade in the doodad glides smoother (no pulling) than the straights, and seems to be eaiser to control than the other shavette I have. My sholder is still giving me fits, but I manage to get a scattered first pass. Only used it twice so far, but....no blood, scratches or burn. Thanks tp
I started doing the phone book thing for knives. That, slicing tomatoes and slicing bread became my tests for completion. What I do is take a phone book page and fold it around without creasing and take the razor to see what kind of angle it digs in the looped part where you would put a crease if you were to finish the fold. Then I see what force is required to cut. You will also see the differences along the edge. I figure it might dull the razor more than a HHT or 'tree topping', but I've never seemed to be able to do either of them with any consistency I could repeat. And that goes for razors honed by guys who do thousands of them. Phone book paper is from ground softwood pulp and has no filler or clay. I believe I could shave with a DE blade used to slice through a sheet of phonebook paper and not know the difference, but I'll probably do it just for the sake of science. That is the unfortunate thing about edges, the only time they don't degrade is when they are not in use. I saw a video done about a guy with a good reputation somewhere in New England I think. He doesn't even like much stropping on one of his freshly done edges. Like 5 laps max. Tell me that can't start up a maelstrom. I should send a razor up there sometime and see what I get. Trouble for me if I like it.
That is awesome Terry. Glad I didn't give you a bum steer. I just love mine. Just the right weight and balance to feel like you have good control. About how many open edge shaves have you done? FWIW, I think I went about 6 - 4 pass shaves on half a Feather, probably one too many. My fave for that razor is GSB. I love Feathers first in everything else.
This was supposed to be my second project for the ConvArkie. From China in an envelope marked "make-up tools". Prolly doesn't ring the Customs bell. ZY 430 Yeah, ok, well more than I expected ...... I think I'm just going to knock the little stabbie looking shard off the toe, strop it, and see how it shaves. Not a bad looker for $25. Does have a little bend. We'll see.
I wouldn't try it, unless I honed it first. They may seem sharp, but look at the edge under magnification. I've honed a few ZY razors.