I recently picked up a Wostenholm Original Pipe razor on Ebay, and it needed some cleaning up, but didn't come out too bad after some MAAS and some 0000 steel wool. The problem comes in trying to get a good edge on it. I'm close, but it just isn't there yet. I started on some silicon-carbide 1000 grit paper, then over to the Norton 4000/8000 waterstone. Are these pretty tough steel, and hard to hone? Or am I just still too much of a honing newbie? Anybody have any experience with these?
If you are sure you have a good bevel on the edge, you still need to hit it on the leather for a while to get it to shave good. A green pasted strop will help the most, and then go to the plain leather strops. If you want to get an eye on the bevel, find a 30X jeweler's loupe on eBay.... probably for less than $10 including the shipping.
In my experience the steel used in Wostenholms (and sometimes W&B's) can be a little bit harder than what you would normally get from your typical Sheffield Razor. However, that being said, I never found them to require any special technique to hone, they're a little more labour intensive because of the hardness but I just use a standard X pattern on the hone, nothing else. My Pipe razor was mint and had a pretty good bevel on it from the start so I went straight to the 4000, then 8000 (on the Norton that is) and then I finished on a coticule. I don't know how many strokes I did in total I just kept going until it felt right. Like Bill said, if you're not getting a good edge off of the 8000 then I would take it to a pasted strop and then finish on plain leather. You might try adding a little pressure when going with the grain on the plain leather and see if that makes a difference, sometimes for me that is all that is needed to take a razor from "not quite there" to "scary sharp." Regards, Alex
Thanks, Bill and Alex. Green pasted strop on its way to me. Edit: Well, this is isn't the best photo in the world, but it came out pretty well. There is a stain on the blade (lower left) near the bevel that caused me trouble, and I have learned that the bevel isn't quite straight anyway (must've been some heavy hone wear in the past!) I could really take this to 400 grit or even get Bill or Joe C. to grind and try to straighten it out, but I think I can get it good enough to shave with occasionally from here and I hate to mess it up too bad. Maybe when I have more experience I will go back and try to fix this up better!
Well, Bill was right (thank you, Obi-wan )...I got my green-pasted paddle strop and took the pipe razor to it. What a difference! As I noted above, the bevel is a little off, but I was able to get a better-than-passable shave with it this morning!
