What Straight Razor Have You Honed Lately????

Refreshed two Japanese Razor on one of my J-Nats

 

Took the latest project to the hones...
Rosenbaum & Mogal ROMO 30

Set the bevel on a Naniwa SS 1k mostly, but it had a significant warp and the spike point was slightly twisted. Stopped and reshaped the toe, which helped quite a bit, and then finished setting the bevel on the BBW side of this Coticule. Then flipped it over and went from heavy slurry to just water to running water to finish. We shall see tomorrow.
Happy honing.
Tom

 

The 1k was out...
Took this 11/16 ERN 173 through its paces. Shoulderless, barber’s notch, and a little devil’s spit to give it character.
Naniwa SS 1k to Suehiro 6k to the pictured Thuringian.

Happy honing.
Tom

 

Honed that 7/8 Manhattan near wedge from eBay that I posted in the acquisition thread. There wasn’t any visible bevel though the razor was kind of ‘knife sharp’ and had no visible edge damage. Since the grind was so heavy I used a layer of Scotch 77 (7 mil) electrical tape protected by 1 mil Kapton (actually 2.7 mil total), so I had 9.7 mil of tape. The intent was to prevent ulta wide bevels and spinewear typical of near-wedge razors, and the old Sheffield steel tolerates the bevel angle increase well.

As usual for a sound razor with no visible bevel, I started with a Shapton Glass 1k HR and the mellow Sheffield steel just melted away. It took a little extra on the heel on one side to get the last few mm of the bevel in order, but that’s not uncommon on these old razors. I set the 1k bevel by inspection with magnification under a bare bulb. Next 2k Shapton Glass HR followed by 10 canvas/20 cordovan and HHT, the first bevel set test other than my eyeballs. The edge should cut hair off this stone, but it won’t always cut it root-in. Still, if it won’t cut hair at all off a 2k Glass, the bevel isn’t set and it must pass this test to proceed. The 1k-2k bevel work is where the big bada boom happens and it has to be right, otherwise you’re just polishing an unset bevel that will never shave well.

Next was the 4k Shapton Glass HR, and After a 10/20 stropping the edge is consistently cutting hair very well all along the edge. Perfectly set bevel. Next up, a Nakayama kiita with diamond plate slurry, again a 10/20 stropping and the HHT is improving. I’m also getting perfect undercut (water/slurry riding up the blade). The final finisher is my ‘sunrise’ stone, probably a hard, fine Nakayama, slurried with a Nakayama tomo nagura. 20/36/72 canvas/suede/cordovan and I have a silent HHT root in or root out. Shave tomorrow!

And while I had the finisher slurried up, I touched up a couple of other razors that had a number of shaves on them.

Cheers, Steve

 

5/8 1953 Stiz Russian Straight Gave her a refresh on a J-Nat .

 

Finish honed my worn 6/8 Hayashi that I use as a test razor, it takes a really good edge as most Japanese razors do, so it’s a good subject for the new Shapton 0.44 micron 7 Series. The 7 series is a new smaller hone line from Shapton, the name comes from the 7mm thick abrasive as opposed to the 5mm thick abrasive on the normal Glass stones. The dimensions are 160 x 37mm. They’re targeted at kitchen knives, but they’d make great razor hones too. Many coticules and Thuris are similarly sized. And they’re priced right, the 0.44u appears to be a little finer than the 30k Shapton (0.49u) and the 0.44u 7 series is $55 at CKTG compared to $360 for a full size 30k.

So of you’d like to try the 30k without mortgaging the house, this could work for you. I think that I’d still want a full size stone for bevel setting, but for the final finish these would do nicely. They’d seem perfect for travel too. I placed a full size Glass Stone in the image for comparison.

I’ll post tomorrow how the shave went!

Cheers, Steve

 

6/8 Wade & Butcher wedge
13/16 W.M Greaves
17/16 Celebrated square point FBU
9/8 Celebrated FBU



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

First, the bottom up honing.

I chipped the edge on this Dovo and once I woked out the small chip it went smoothly up the progession, Naniwa 1k, 5k, Shapton glass 8k, 16k.

Second, up is the new to me SK3, this was a fail. It looks like there is some pitting near the edge and setting a bevel on a smile is above my pay grade. I will need to send this one out to someone with some honing skills.

The touchups: all the touchups were done on Shapton glass 8k, 16k.

PRC western grind kami: CrOx then FeO3. Shaved with it this morning and it was spot on.

Generic JWest, Koraat, PRC Chimera all seemed to be good to go, popping hair and looked good under the loupe.

 

Sorry to hear about the SK3. I was looking forward to your thoughts. I’m sure it will be worth the wait.

 

I am going to send this one out so it gets done right.

 

Cape 1000 Swedish Steel, this finish-only honing is an experiment with the stone, a suminigashi (ink pattern, as in the marbled hand made paper) something. It is extremely hard and fine. It produces a smooth edge, yet it’s almost synthetic like on thin slurry. It reminds me of that Shapton 30k edge. Good edge for sure, but if you aren’t pretty careful with the stretch and technique, an edge off thin slurry on this stone likes to occasionally give you a little ‘love bite’ just to get your attention. That’s really the only drawback to this stone.

I prefer a more forgiving edge, and I know that heavier slurry or a different tomo nagura may fix the problem, so my first try is heavier slurry off the tomo that I usually use. Shave tomorrow and we’ll see if that edge bites!

Cheers, Steve

 

Honest question - what does the coticule add if you are finishing on the yellow lake?

I have the stones to replicate this progression and think I might try it. I found a yellow lake in the same packaging as yours after you were praising it some time back. Wondering what I might expect from this progression.

 

It was Suggested to Me to Try by a Gent from the USA in Another Forum..I Get the Benefit from the Mellowness of a Coticule & the Higher Grit Yellow Lake as a Finisher...Its a Great Combo Finisher as I Call it...But Hey...Thats My Stones & My Hands at Work..Try it..

I Have Honed a Number of Razors for Folks with this Combo & they Like it & Asked Me What I Had Done to their Blades...It Just Seems to Work for Me...I Dont think of the Science behind it...Just Being Open Minded..

Billy..

 

It’s interesting that the mellowness remains even after the razor has seen another stone. It kind of calls into question the statement that some make that the edge is only dictated by the last stone used.

I am really interested in this because a lot of people say they can’t make a coticule work with a slurry dilution technique but can get a great edge using one after a synthetic progression. I guess it means that there is more to the final edge than the last stone used.

I am doing a lot of coticule experimentation - single stone, dilucot, unicot, synth to finisher, different coticules. Your method is now definitely on my list. I bought the yellow lake because of your description of it - I might as well follow your method otherwise what’s the point - right?

Thanks - really helpful!!

 

I have a Good Coticule..Its a Barbers Finisher/Touch Up Stone...I Never Slurry it or Dont look for Swarfe...The Problem with a Lot of Coticules is Quite Simple...They are NOT Fit for Finishing SRs...Mine is a Great Finishing Stone on its Own Right...12 K + with Tallow Lather...NOW...The Yellow Lake..I Use a 3 n 1 Type Oil...Dont Use Water...Use Very Light Strokes as its a Fast Cutter But Mine has WELL OVER a 20 K Finishing Capacity...If I Want it To..Thats in My Hands & thats My Stone..

I Can Take it Off before that if I Wish..REMEMBER...Very Light Strokes...Just the Weight of the Blade in the Hand is the Way I Use it...It Feels Gritty But its a Darn Fine High Grit Finisher if One So Desires...Just Remember Some Blades Cant Handle a High Grit Edge...In Fact My Yellow Lake Can Hone an Edge So FINE the Edge Can Collapse...I Reckon it has a 25 K Finishing Capacity at Least with a Tender Touch..The Oil Will Suck it Down..Huge Claim I Know But True as I Pushed it to the Max to Test it..

I Also Know My Stones Inside Out...I Also Know My Steel Well..Good Luck & Dont Go Mental with it...Check the Edge for Sharpness Frequently...My Yellow Lake Can Overhone an Edge Until it Crumples..Nae Kiddin..

Oh Aye..I Dont Slurry or Swarfe Up the Yellow Lake Neither...Keep it Clean..

Good Luck..

Billy..

 

A little corrective surgery here, I had tapped the side of the bevel against a hone in the past and it had a tiny ‘dent’ in the flat of the bevel, but fortunately the edge itself was OK. But I decided to take the dent out. Razors like this one, an 8/8 Bruno Blades Alien in lava flow Kirinite scales, have unusual tang/blade geometry that makes for more difficult honing and stropping. It’s more difficult to control the honing and stropping strokes and I’ve rolled the edge on the strop many times necessitating a trip back to the finisher to ‘unroll’ it. Shortening up the strokes on both hone and strop help.

Anyway, the progression was Shapton Glass HR 1k, 2k, 4k, my favorite Nakayama kiita for mid-grit, and a hard karasu to finish. All turned out well, but I had to go slowly and be very careful - it took quite a while to hone. I’d almost rather take a beating than hone this thing from scratch, lol.

Cheers, Steve

 

Good job. I've had a few that gave me troubles, like yours.

 

Thanks Scott. I also tried the new Shapton 7 Series 30k Glass and it didn’t want to take that edge. After stropping, it would fail HHT in many places and you could see straight shiny places where the edge just wasn’t there anymore. I’m pretty sure Bruno used O2 steel in this razor which is good stuff, but whatever combination of steel, hardening and tempering, it just didn’t like that 30k. Reminded me of what @Billyfergie said about his yellow lake. A good Japanese natural usually works because rhe slurry just wears the unstable steel off during the honing process, and some jnats can make an edge equally as good as the finest synths. I may have to try the Suehiro Gok 20k and see if it will take an edge from that stone, it’s 0.50 micron vs 0.44 for the Shapton 7, but the Shapton is much more aggressive (faster) and faster stones are more prone to making an unstable edge.

So many hones, so little time....

Cheers, Steve

 

Bisley gun oil, right?
That's what I bought on your recommendation. It's that what you use on your Yellow Lake?

 

Steve, I really like your write ups in this thread. They are like mini masterclasses - very useful.