Did 3 shave tests backed up by the R21 with a Feather on about 7.
Bummed out that I was having a difficult time bringing this Sunday Shaver into competition with my first. Rather than continue honing school on such a nice piece, I went with the Naniwa 12k. Bingo, got it! Used for the first pass of my shave.
But.... hold on there, before the convex hone hate gets a foot in, I brought the 'Wagner Rat' around with a little more work. Totally honed on the ConvArkie, this razor has never shaved better. Not a huge fan of 4/8 tooling, but I'll shave with it some more. The second pass of my shave.
For a 4/8 comparison, I took the Japanese razor I won in this year's raffle to the 12k. It was sluggish on the first time out and I did not make an improvement on it. Think I'll mute the edge and run the Naniwa progression, after freshly leveling 5 stones, and start with a fresh bevel set, just to see what happens. This razor has perfect geometry. The third pass of my shave.
Finally the fourth pass. The Focus R21 w/Feather. I think 7 shaves is where this one gives up the ghost. I didn't draw blood, but I could feel I was needing the pressure of a straight. Sorry straight razor fans, the modern doodad still wins.
I'm no where near an expert or complete and intend to keep going on playing with my stuff, but here are some thoughts.
Flattening stones is a hassle.
I'm not going to buy $300 diamond lapping plate.
I'm not going to pursue other naturals requiring higher experience levels.
I'm not going to buy a $300 30k Shapton.
I believe an individual could be satisfied and successful with a pair of hard and a soft Arkansas Convex stones for $140. And you wanted, you could keep one side of each flat.
Nobody
needs a convex hone.
Modern honemiesters and successful modern synthetic flat stone fans are not likely to adopt this antiquated methodology.
If all your razors are flat, and you just want to maintain, get the 12k.
You can go directly from a convex hone to a flat to finish a razor with good geometry.
Honing is a skill. If you have time, resources, and like to tinker, go for it. I'm going to get an inexpensive Chinese razor or two and see what happens. I'm open to expendable wonky razor donors. If I get them to shave, I'll return on request (no rehab projects, please).
DE shavettes outshave straights.
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