August 2020 30 Day Rule/Focus Pix & Discussion

Thanks for the tip Joe!

 

Another technique is to use a convexed stone. I have a soft ark, a hard black ark, and a coticule that were all convexed by Jarrod at The Superior Shave who is the modern day advocate for this method. I've gotten edges that I currently favor by bevel setting on the coticule, then moving to the black ark with a slurry from a coticule slurry stone. Did well on a couple of quite wonky Chinese razors I got to practice on.

My Naniwa progression are all flattened in the popular methods.

I like what I get by finishing on a series of pasted balsa strops.

I had one beater with a nasty warp that I deliberately ground the bejebers out of the spine to make it take a bevel on flat stones.

For all my time, effort and cash, I was able to further support my theory that good razor honing is a skilled craft that relies more on the individual than the gear or method.

I'm confident you will find your very own style that delivers the results you want. It is.... what makes it fun.

 

No problem. I just don't want you to waste your money on a junk razor or a razor that needs so much work that restoring it would cost more money than the actual worth of the razor.

 

Thanks, Bill! That convex stuff sounds complex to me! I currently only have two stones, a Chosera 1000 and a jasper stone.. Ben said I don’t need any more. Well my honing of the Puma today was an unmitigated success. After setting the bevel and by watching the slurry and adjusting my finger position in between examination of the edge, I was able to ensure an even well-polished edge. The tomato and hair tests were all passed. Schechter doesn’t advise stropping more than 10 times after achieving the desired edge. So tomorrow morning’s my shave. I guess we’ll see when the blade contacts the whiskers.

 

Glad it worked out.

I gotta do some research on jasper stones. I read some positives on them somewhere, but have little knowledge. I'm anxious to watch your progress.

The hardest thing for me in honing was learning to guage bevel setting. Somehow a can't even do a HHT on a shavette with a new Feather loaded.

On one of Lynn Abrams vids he discussed the different tests. One was the thumb pad test, which I swore was nuts even though I'd done it on knives for years. I eventually began to find it a very useful indicator for myself.

The razors I had Howard do were very nice. Mine are not as toothy sharp but I find them smoother. His final hone grit is .5 micron (30k Shapton). I'm stropping on mounted balsa at about .1 micron grit paste. Stropping in this fashion is closer to honing in reverse direction than on a hanging strop.

I like to use mounted strop media where I think I have better control. Below are some. I have multiple options; balsa, leather, horse hide, kangaroo, denim, nanocloth.

I'd sure love to have a nice binocular microscope to get more input on some of this stuff.



Ultimately, I found shavettes to have fewer variables and be less time consuming.

Even though 'riding the bar' today on the Edwin Jagger DE89 delivered it's best results to me ever, if it had to be 2 tools, the Supply w/Proline and the Feather DX (any AC) would be my picks.
Happy honing, happy shaves.

 

SOTD 20200823 Cera Una Volta
by IschiaPP @ Forio
•••
Simpsons "M7"
Faux Jade, Super Badger Manchurian, 22x50x115mm
---
Saponificio Varesino 1945 "Felce Aromatica"
Beta 4.3 Reformulated, Aluminium Limited Edition 2017 / Dopo Barba Lozione
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Colonial Razors "The General V1"
Aluminium 6061, Black Anodized B1, 44g, 50x96mm
---
Sapphoo Red #36
Kai Captain Titan Mild MG ProTouch Replica
Sample by klopp@ilRasoio
•••
#Shave #WetShaving #WetShavers
#ShaveOfTheDay #ShaveLikeaMan
#WaxUponATime #CeraUnaVolta
#ShavingSoap #AUgust #Test

Full size:
https://imgur.com/hpXi3P7
Soundtrack:
The Police - Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
​

 

Wonderful shave Pierpaolo! Have a great Sunday.

 

Thanks, Joe.
You too.

 

Gorgeous shave and photo Pierpaolo. Love the colors.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Beautiful gear today, Pierpaolo.

 

Thanks, Bill! The shave went well. I really like the razor. I’ve been shaving with my Supply loaded with a Schick Twinjector blade after a friend down under claimed he was getting 40 shaves on average with each blade. I will say the shave is comfortable, very close and smooth, probably as close as I get with my Feather Super AC razors. It’s been fun learning to hone my own razors. This jasper stone is a breeze to use, and even a newbie like me was able to achieve a very respectable edge in just a few tries.

 

Nice shave, PierPaolo!

 

Excellent shave and photo, Pierpaolo!

 

Looking good, Pierpaulo!

Sent from my SM-T800 using Tapatalk

 

SOTD SUNDAY MORNING, AUGUST 23, 2020

Setting the bevel on the Puma was an excellent learning experience. Using the Schechter finger positioning method with the White Chosera stone worked just the way it’s supposed to. Ben lapped the stone before first use. Schechter uses 60 diagonal stroke on each side.

It was clear from the resulting slurry created during the bevel setting process that the heel of the blade was not getting the same exposure to the stone as the rest of the blade. Applying pressure in this area with Schechter’s finger positioning approach resulted in a clean bevel along most of the blade. After Ben examined the edge with the 60x jeweler’s loupe, he recommended another 40 strokes on each side.

With the bevel set, the action moved to the jasper stone where I built a slurry on the rough side with a smooth coarse DMT plate. I began with 80 circles, 40 on each side until the slurry was dark gray. I then rinsed the stone and built a second slurry, this time using back and forth strokes. Three slurries later, I began to notice resistance in the stone.

I then flipped the stone to the fine side, removed the steel feather buildup from the edge by running it gently at 90 degrees across the face of the stone.and began regular back and forth strokes under clear running water (about 20 minutes) until it felt like the blade was beginning to stick to the stone. I finished with 10 strops on Chromox infused linen and 10 strops on leather. At that point the blade was popping hairs and slicing a tomato evenly along its length.

The shave went very well, VBBS above the jawline and DFS++ below. The Puma blade was a bit longer than I’m used to, and I found the XTG challenging on my neck leading to a minor set down error under my left ear. That being the case, I opted to use my twinjector loaded Supply razor to finish the job on my neck. The dome shave with the Supply was a breeze, and again I finished the shave feeling cool, clean, slightly wounded, but still velveteen!

RAZOR: Puma Solingen 5/8 (Mug), SS Supply V2 (Dome)
BLADE: Schick Twinjector
PREP: Cold water rinse followed by a scrub with Rabid Banana Preshave Cube.
BRUSH: Rooney Ebony Pure Badger
SOAP: Mitchell’s Wool Fat w/ 6 drops of M-Bomb
POSTSHAVE: Cold water wash with brush squeezings followed by Humphreys WH and Osage Rub. Finished with Chiseled Face Natural AS Splash with menthol and A&E Post-Shave Serum.

 

Wonderful shave recap and photo Jeff. You are rapidly becoming a Hone Master.

 

Far from it, Clint! I’m just a two stone newb! Ben, on the other hand, has a danged rock garden in his workshop. He’s seriously into experimenting with different honing and sharpening approaches on his quest towards his second career as a bladesmith. I’m just happy that I found a basic method that will allow me to maintain my straight razors.

 

Great shave and excellent honing job Jeff!

 

Thanks, Joe! This approach is simple and yet technical enough that this old engineer can relate to it.

 

My shave this morning began last night. How can that be. Course it can't, but the reason I say that is that last night I noticed a Stoylin Frost Drops vial on the floor...it was the one I should have used yesterday. THAT one has been used enough times to get the drip...drip...drip persuasion. That was an important discovery-hey Chris Columbus, can you top that??? ANYWAY..........I had the same arsenal this morning as that of yesterday except for a different brush-the Stoylin No-Name. Except for a slight Knick along South Porcupine Alley, I had no negative issues. 0:30 for the load of the No-Name, right after the use of the RIGHT Frost Drops. The first pass produced drier soap, due to the Frost Drops action. It was another one of those "Boy, that second pass will come in handy" shaves. And it did. Again the finisher was Stoylin Glacial Lime...Wow, great chill sensation!! I just wrote a review of that aftershave for the Stoylin website. Course I was careful to avoid saying "Stoylin" or "Doc Ezlovan" in that review!!!! Super Duper Excellent.