What Straight Razor Have You Honed Lately????

Discussion in 'Straight Razors' started by DaltonGang, Sep 25, 2016.

  1. TestDepth

    TestDepth Well-Known Member

    Finally took the last 3 of the 7 day Heljestrand set to the stones, and thought it would make for a cool Thuringian comparison.
    FE7D7C33-4A71-476D-A00F-7DA3CCA551EF.jpeg
    They all just needed time on the Suehiro 6k prior to these finishers.

    Monday became my first finish off the Thuringian side of a SRD Ambicut. The feel was great, so I have high hopes.

    Wednesday ended on that blue’ish stone and Friday on the darkest Thuringian.

    Here is a color comparison:
    B11330B9-896E-4991-9B7C-DDCB5F4F4A38.jpeg
    I really liked what that Ambicut was offering! :)
    Happy honing.
    Tom
     
    Karl G, DaltonGang and Steve56 like this.
  2. TestDepth

    TestDepth Well-Known Member

    2 blades off the Ambicut Thuringian
    Went Naniwa SS 1k, followed by the Suehiro 6k to set the finish up.
    Geneva Cutlery “Ontario”
    6FC92489-CBE7-48FD-83C8-02A2F8B1B160.jpeg
    And then the H. Cromwell “Criterion”
    CA62386B-1F6E-42E7-9842-10DD0B821FFE.jpeg
    Shaved with both and I like what this stone produced.
    Happy honing.
    Tom
     
  3. TestDepth

    TestDepth Well-Known Member

    Thistle Cutlery finished on an Okudo

    This one gave me trouble last week, focusing on about 1/3 of the way in from the toe. Put it away and came back at it with a few rounds of slurry off this Okudo. Seems to have worked. :)
    45221967-5CF3-4C30-B7F1-369C1AC72897.jpeg
    Happy honing.
    Tom
     
    Zykris, Karl G, Steve56 and 1 other person like this.
  4. Steve56

    Steve56 Hone Hoarder

    The 355s were on the bench after a re-scale at Alfredos. Bevel set with a Shapton Glass HR 3k, followed by a Shapton Glass HR 10k, and Alex Gilmores #10 kiita and one of his tomo nagura. Silent HHT in or out, perfectly straight, even edge.

    406F45AD-2F81-427A-ABE5-910A47AC4525.jpeg
     
    Karl G, Zykris, DaltonGang and 2 others like this.
  5. gssixgun

    gssixgun At this point in time...

    Supporting Vendor
    Having a bit of fun
    One on One with Tamahagane Kamisori
    Chosera 1-5-10 into my Nakayama with Kita slurry
    Used a variable ratio on it
    1k = 7:1
    5k = 5:1
    10k = 3:1
    Nakayama =1:1
    Took a little extra time on the 1k to Re-set the bevel and eliminate the small chips ..
    Magic marker test tells all [​IMG]
    This ratio works really well for people that will probably use both Front and Back to shave with
    Stropped in using two bench strops
    One with CeOx, yes Cerium, it wasn’t a misprint, into pure clean leather…

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]



    Hone On !!!
     
  6. Steve56

    Steve56 Hone Hoarder

    Honing a Sub Cero for a lucky friend of mine. Used razor, but super clean with almost no wear. Honing was easy pie, Shapton HR 3k -> Shapton 6k HC -> Shapton 8k HC - Asagi with a new tomo that’s proving to be very good. Silent HHT root in or out.

    309E0D37-2D1B-499C-A65A-C1F94D67A7FE.jpeg
     
  7. DaltonGang

    DaltonGang Ol' Itchy Whiskers

    :happy088::happy088:
    A Fili 14 Sub Cero is on my "Bucket List".

    .
     
    Karl G and Steve56 like this.
  8. Steve56

    Steve56 Hone Hoarder

    Revisiting a stone from my stone stash, a Narutaki scalpel hone from Alex Gilmore from the good ol’ days. There’s nothing magic about the stone though it is very good, the narrow form factor is what makes it a scalpel hone. As we all know too well, JNat prices go up exponentially with size, so these narrow hones were cheaper and fine for small blades like scalpels, kiridashi, etc. Alex told me that while visiting one of his sources in Japan, he asked for a scalpel hone and the gentleman told him that he did not have any, he waited until he got some orders before slicing up a bench stone. ‘Come back tomorrow’. And Alex did, and I have the stone. The razor is a Le Grelot that I got recently, so a good test subject.

    A398C4A9-D44D-4A7D-B6B9-3FDD5895A500.jpeg 3FE0016C-7607-4AA2-8D8F-F658D7943A7C.jpeg
     
    DaltonGang and TestDepth like this.
  9. TestDepth

    TestDepth Well-Known Member

    Cool hone Steve. :eatdrink047:

    Been a few weeks since I put a blade to stone… so needed to rectify that. :)

    The Clauss and the Heljestrand were simple starts on the Shapton 4k, while the Rodgers required some edge fixing on the Suehiro 1k.
    83891F4A-D4A3-44CA-AAFB-F0CF346F7219.jpeg
    All then spent time on the Shapton 8k, with a finish on the pictured Okudo. I really love the look and feel of this stone.
    1CD1E02D-61E4-4449-878D-0629EC48E78E.jpeg
    Great to play in the “mud” again.
    Happy honing.
    Tom
     
    DaltonGang and Steve56 like this.
  10. Steve56

    Steve56 Hone Hoarder

    Thanks Tom!
     
    TestDepth likes this.
  11. DaltonGang

    DaltonGang Ol' Itchy Whiskers

    I've been falling behind, and need to get back in the game. Too many razors, too little time.
     
    TestDepth likes this.
  12. Steve56

    Steve56 Hone Hoarder

    I’m looking forward to seeing some razors Scott.
     
    DaltonGang and TestDepth like this.
  13. Steve56

    Steve56 Hone Hoarder

    Finishing up a Wade and Butcher on a really nice JNat for my friend Matt - he gave me a Zulu Gray edge on it to try and I’m giving him back a JNat edge. His Zulu Gray edge was bonkers good so I hope that I match it.

    Doing an ‘edge exchange’ with a fellow honing aficionado is a great way to assess your skills, improve, and most importantly, have a lot of fun. I encourage edge exchanges!

    DFF57424-CB47-4DBF-AAAB-0DD462728B4A.jpeg
     
    DaltonGang and TestDepth like this.
  14. Steve56

    Steve56 Hone Hoarder

    Some days you eat the bear and some days the bear eats you. We all like to see good honing successes, but it isn’t always that way. And you can learn as much or more from failures as successes. I’ve always maintained that you can’t learn much from honing a good razor. Here are 4 razors - 3 pictured - from my ‘do later’ drawer that I revisited in the past 2-3 days. There’s a Saunders New York on the right, which looks an awful lot like a Wade and Butcher, a Hewlett Sachs in the middle, which is a German import for a barber supply or hardware store, and a worn Geneva on the left. The razor not pictured is a Joseph Allen non-XXL. The results weren’t pretty, lol.

    The Saunders/Wade and Butcher did not take a straight even edge at 8k, probably because of heavy pitting at the bevel. Some of these pits are below the shoulder of the bevel so there are probably some microscopic pits weakening the steel at the edge. I might be able to cut down into solid steel but that’s a decision for later.

    The Hewlett-Sachs went pretty well until it got an 8k polish off the Shapton Glass HC, that’s when the little crack in the blade near the toe became visible. It’s now in the ‘scale pail’ for recycling. It extends above the bevel only on the show side, but above the bevel it just looks like a scratch. At 8k the edge chipped out at the end of the crack at the edge.

    The Geneva did best of all, but the edge was giving way a little after stropping off the finisher, something that I’ve seen on some worn Genevas but not on ones in better condition. On those, an extra layer of Kapton seemed to work. This was the last razor honed in this session so it could also be that I was just tired and rushing a bit too much. It gets another try soon.

    The Joseph Allen was doing the same thing as the Geneva but a lot worse, something that you see on some Sheffield steel but not others. The razor is ground unevenly and I suspect might have been buffed although that isn’t a sure thing. I honed this one the next day and to test if it was me or the razor, I also touched up a Filly 14 in the same session and got a straight, even edge with silent HHT. I’ll give this one another whirl soon.

    Funky razors 4, me 0.

    287D1838-E334-47EF-BAE2-CD51A6656C76.jpeg
     
    Last edited: Oct 21, 2022
    Frijolero, DaltonGang and TestDepth like this.
  15. DaltonGang

    DaltonGang Ol' Itchy Whiskers

    Sorry to hear that you've had a rough day of honing. $#it happens. Especially when you use blades that are old and worn. You are correct, in that you learn more from razors that aren't pristine. I contend if someone wants to be proficient at honing, they need to learn on every possible type of blade, in every possible condition. There is a sense of accomplishment, when you bring a rusty looking "Rat Razor" back to life, and put a perfect edge on it. Kind of like fixing your old car/truck, that others might have given up on.
     
    Frijolero likes this.
  16. Steve56

    Steve56 Hone Hoarder

    It was not entirely unexpected Scott, these were ‘problem children’ due to various issues. Still fun though.
     
  17. TestDepth

    TestDepth Well-Known Member

    Put an edge on the Robert Williams “The Purist” Saturday night. It has had a rough life over the past 10+ years, so went back to the Suehiro 1k to sort that out.

    The bevel is not even, but with a few killings of the edge, 2 layers of tape, and some gymnastics, I think I got something that works for me.

    Went to the Shapton 4k, followed with this thinner natural combo Coticule to finish.
    3A061446-B9AF-437C-ABC6-FCBEC42F3374.jpeg
    I look forward to taking it for a spin.
    Happy honing.
    Tom
     
    Frijolero, Steve56 and DaltonGang like this.
  18. Steve56

    Steve56 Hone Hoarder

    Love that voti Tom, but it’s badly cracked, send it yo me for proper disposal….

    This poor old razor, a 6/8 Geneva Vanadium, was once a very nice razor, before the faux tortie scales decomposed and ate into the blade. So it got new scales from the ‘scale pail’. On blades this thinly ground, the only thing you can do is hone past the unstable metal at the edge. I hope I have done that, there’s still some pitting halfway down the bevel at one spot, and it is not unusual for the metal to be unable to hold a straight, even edge even though pitting isn’t visible with a loupe. We’ll find out soon if the edge holds, it seems pretty good right now. I’m a minimalist when it comes to removing metal, you can make ‘em smaller, but you can’t make ‘em bigger, so if it takes a couple more tries to get to stable metal, that’s OK. If I were honing for someone else, I might have taken off a little more just to be sure.

    The progression was Shapton Glass 4k HR -> Shapton Glass 8k HC -> finisher with some really fine and fast koma slurry -> tomo slurry on finisher. Fingers crossed.

    2810C6C9-DDBE-4866-BAB2-4A4FE3958657.jpeg
     
  19. gssixgun

    gssixgun At this point in time...

    Supporting Vendor
    Monday's lineup

    [​IMG]

    The Kamisori was a real challenge, I honestly never believed I was going to get all the pits out of the bevel. I knew I could get it to shave ready but I was surprised that it got clean

    [​IMG]
     
  20. Steve56

    Steve56 Hone Hoarder

    More pits today, a Shell 72 Silver Steel, a brand that I like, but there were some pits on the edge. I saw them when I bought it, but the price was OK and I was hoping to luck out. Eh, not really, but it wasn’t too bad either. Progression was Shapton Glass 1k HR -> Shapton Glass 3k HR -> Shapton Glass 8k HC -> Big Blue and tomo B3. Silent HHT in or out, I think it’s going to be a great shave.

    F4226B50-A2C9-42AF-94F9-4C45A4E9317E.jpeg
     
    Frijolero, TestDepth and DaltonGang like this.

Share This Page