What Straight Razor Have You Honed Lately????

Just some fun

Russian before



Chosera 1k work



Two Russians finished on my Thuri



Couple of Sweet Sheffielders coming off my select Coticule



Some Zulu Grey loving for this Connecticut made beauty




Hone On gents

 

Waiting for those Russian Rockets to come home. Lots to look forward to.

 

Last year I treated myself to a western grind kamasori from Portland Razor Co. And upon first shave I must say I was less than impressed with the edge. I put it aside to worry about later and pulled it out tonight to see if I could improve the edge. The bevel looked good and even so I took out the Naniwa 8K and worked up a little slurry then took several laps, thinning it out with water until it was clear. Popping hair nicely now, so I finished up on the 12k, a few laps on my paddle strop with a diamond spray felt, then took it to Adams ( @Drygulch ) Latigo strop I won in the TSD raffle. Nice draw, I really like this strop. It passed the HHT, so I'll give it a shave test tomorrow and see how I did.

 

Just go an email, that mine just got shipped

 

been playing with the zulu gray and must say i am impressed what it´s capable of. been using both plain water and thin slurry,but cant say i feel much different between the two metodes. the three razors have different steel but the feel of the edge is almost the same after the zulu.the last one i honed was the kropp. did a refresh with 8 and 12k shapton before i finished on the zulu.the shave was very good.almost a bbs and absolutely a dfs with two passes. wtg and xtg. the manaslu had a coticule edge and had a big improvement with the zulu.this stone rocks

 

I just honed this old case steel blade. It was a little deceptive, because it's a big blade. I put two layers of tape on it, from the start, and took my time with the stones. The toe end didn't end up as sharp as I liked, because the bevel was so large. The spine didn't look very worn, but, what the heck, Time to start over. Three layers of tape, and the bevel looked the correct size, and angle. Quick work on the stones and strops, and this big baby is ready to shave. It seems plenty sharp now. Oh, I had to sand the chips on the scales a little too.

Razor- George Wostenholm & Sons Celebrated IXL Razor. Washington Works, Sheffield.

Before: Rusty and Crusty all over, especially on the toe end of the top of the spine. Not too much buffing was done, I wanted to preserve the etching on the blade.


After: Still rustic looking, but acceptable enough for my tastes.

 

I have (and had) a 'few' of those style of blades (long tang, hollow notch, full- or half- hollow grinds with a slight smile) from Wostenholm and Sons. All terrific shavers!

 

I will find out tonight, if it was $22 well spent.

 

I decided to treat my Kiebitz to a complete hone on my Naniwa super stones today as I have never given this razor a proper hone.

Before honing the razor, I looked at the edge under a microscope and saw that the bevel looked pretty good, but narrows in a small section. It looks like it goes to half the width of the area before and after it. I have found this razor to be quite comfortable since I bought it and never looked at the edge that closely. I proceeded to hone it and went though the progression, but even when finished, I still had that narrow section of the bevel.

What gives? The blade looks straight and there's little to no spine wear. Can it be honed to get the bevel width the same throughout the length of the blade?

 

A small spot can usually be corrected by concentrating a little finger pressure on that area while honing until it evens out.

 

Or, a slightly wonky blade. As long as its still taking a bevel, and honing out sharp, don't worry about it. Its when the blade is really warped, and you aren't getting a bevel, in some areas, do you need to worry, a little. Then, you only need to do a little blade torqueing or some finger pressure in areas. "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff".

 

Well, I shaved with the Kiebitz this morning and got a fantastic shave from it. I would rank it as BBS overall. So I guess the narrow bevel is not a deal breaker on this blade.

Thinking about it some more, since I don't see any obvious warping of the blade, could it be a variation in the metal thickness of the blade, with it being thinner at the narrow bevel?

 

I just marathoned my way though this thread and it makes me want to pull out my hones. I don't think my razors need anything more than touchups on my finishing stones. My Rolls blades need more work than my straights. I have some blades to restore but they don't have scales and I feel like honing them before scaling them would increase the danger factor by more than I am comfortable with.

 

I have a few nice blades without scales too. I just Look at them when digging into my "Needs Further Attention Box", and have to resist. I have some scales, pins, etc., on the way to me now. Now I just need to teach myself how to put it all together. VIDEO TIME!!

 

I know how to put it together I just don't have the space in my small apartment to do any type of woodworking without angering my girlfriend. If I knew it would fit well I would order scales and just assemble but I'm afraid of poor fits.

 

I feel like I should add that I have a bunch of experience pinning knife handles and that I'm confident I can do the same to a razor without damage. I am much less confident fabricating new scales or fitting premade scales to a razor what with wedge size and angle and such.

I've also watched tons of videos.

 

Just to follow up with the Portland Razor Co. Western Kamasori I honed up the other day. When I first received it, the shave was very tuggy and uncomfortable. After my work on the Naniwas, I took it for a spin today. I had 3 days worth of growth so if it was going to be tuggy it had every chance, however it was much smoother. I did 2 passes for an irritation free high grade DFS. It feels good to take a somewhat sharp letter opener and turn it into a precision shaving tool.

 

One of the real pleasures in honing is getting a razor's edge to the point where there is absolutely no resistance ("tugginess") in the shave. The amount of laps and the type of stone to use varies widely from razor to razor, making the task all the more challenging and independent of using a single process for all. Plus it's an excuse to add a variety of stones...

 

Jim: that's a really sharp old shaver ya got there

 

Thanks! It was a flea market find.