The last use of the Wacker Barbers Bride indicated it was time for me to work on the edge.
Made by a small family business in Solingen that had reportedly been commissioned to make razors for European Royalty, now in the 4th generation.
I elected to receive this piece 'shave ready' by the hands that made it. A good solid shaver right out of the box it was, not the best, but good. Originally maintained with an occasional use of pasted balsa strops loaded with Dovo green, red, and black pastes. Probably had about 40-50 uses when I thought it could use more work. I had it on my Naniwa 12k, then balked due to a warp I was not prepared to tackle. It was this that ultimately lead me to the antiquated European craftsman's practice of deliberately convexing a razor hone to address razors lacking perfect geometry. FWIW, the US advocate for this convexing practice has said he'd never seen a Japanese razor that is anything other than dead flat.
Numerous methods are commonly used by honing aficionados to work around this condition, the greatest is sometimes termed 'honing gymnastics'. I still have not acquired the necessary skills be successful in doing this well.
I chose to send the Barbers Bride to a gentleman whose reputation for great edges finishing on Shapton glass 30k.
It came back okay, but the good shaves didn't last long, and the tool was getting bench time while I played with other stuff.
The opportunity to work more with my new jasper stone was here. X strokes, rolling X strokes, hand held, bench style, different slurries, soap, water...... nothing seemed to get me where I wanted to be, mostly due to a lack of flatness.
Worth pointing out, that without a method to evaluate your work, most of this honing stuff is frustrating. People use arm hair topping, hanging hair tests, and many others for feedback. For me, the thumbpad test proved to be the most interpretive. I'd done it for years with knives, but originally shuddered at the thought of doing it with razors.
Ultimately it came around to a honing style that has worked well for me. A convexed black ark with a slurry from a coticule bout, then a 6 pasted balsa progression ending with .1 micron cBN. Then bench roo strop.
The shave test confirmed. This razor has never shaved smoother. There are both advocates and naysayers for those things I have made to work for me. I'm always shaving smoothly, but think I could be a little sharper.......... the never ending pursuit.
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