What Straight Razor Have You Honed Lately????

I usually don’t buy razors that need lots of work, but I’m a sucker for old French steel, so up today eas a St Joanis 6/8, a classic eBay special. The end of the nose had a chip and was corroded to the point it was ragged, there was a little chip in the heel, and some pitting on the bevel that needed to be gone. Which was no problem since forming the bevels got rid of most of the pitting.

I sanded it with 320, 600, and 1500 grit sandpaper then polished it with 3M metal polish. I didn’t want a shiny finish, it doesn’t look right to me with the residual pitting, so I left it satin. A coat of Ren wax hopefully sealed and stabilized the pitting.

Grunt work was done with a mellow 325 DMT that re-profiled and smoothed the nose, removed the heel chip, and formed new bevels. One layer of 1 mil Kapton was used. Next up, a 500 double thick Shapton Glass followed by 1k, 2k, and 4k Shapton Glass. I stropped and tested for bevel set at 4k with HHT, and had to go back and pick up a spot or two on the edge, but that’s par for the course with these old neglected blades. A little more work and it passed HHT off 4k in fine style after a little stropping. The pre-finisher was 1200 diamond plate slurry on a fast kiita, and a newly arrived karasu made the final edge. It tested very well and I’m hoping this karasu will be a great one.

In the end I just have another old pitted razor, but I like old French steel and like to think that if the maker could see it cleaned up and returned to service, maybe they’d smile. And hey, you could shave with this for the rest of your life if you were so inclined, it’s good ol’ hard French steel. Shave tomorrow!

 

Love the Pic of the entire setup Steve. Nice work putting another fine French blade back in service!

 

Thanks Tom, the honing space isn’t anywhere near that cluttered when I’m honing, everything that isn’t being used while honing is somewhere else, but it was a ‘group photo’.

Thumbs up to my friend Mike (Southbound) who sent me the ‘sharpening dam’, a term used by Shapton for their $200 sharpening dam. Lol, he sent me a fiberglass school lunch tray, which we’ve all eaten most of the meals of our life off of!

 

I keep my honing tools in open of those plastic locking cases from Walmart. Last night I wanted to take the Christmas gift, a S.R. DROESCHER
Importer at 77-79 Warren Street, New York City; later opened a factory in Cranbury, New Jersey
ca. 1891-1924 (manufacture of razors began ca. 1916)

It may have been honed with tape so my efforts are in vain. I did 80 laps on .5 films and then 60 on .3 followed by 100 on 200k pasted balsa. We'll see in a few minutes.

 

Excellent!!!
I too like the looks of the old French razors, and love the steel. I like the rustic look, it shows its age, and adds character.

 

Sharpie the bevel Chuck, then make 1-2 super light passes on the hone/film and take a look. If it’s been honed with tape you’ll know immediately.

 

Okay, the films and 200k paste took the edge to a more efficient level. I'll definitely follow Steve's advice next time.

 

It sure would be nice, if members lived close to someone who could help those learning. It is sometimes tough to teach techniques, over the internet.

 

Steve and I live in the same town. We've threatened to get together. Maybe in 2020.

 

I did a complete bevel to shave progression today on the S.R. DROESCHER
Importer at 77-79 Warren Street, New York City; later opened a factory in Cranbury, New Jersey
ca. 1891-1924 (manufacture of razors began ca. 1916)

If its like the others, near shavette tomorrow AM for the Christmas shave.

 

Honed up an apparently NOS E. A. Berg rattler, no spine wear at all and essentially pristine though there was a bit of the lightest pitting on the bevel. I started with a Shapton Glass HR 4k with the spine taped with a layer of 1 mil Kapton, the tape just to prevent any unseen problems from creating ugliness. The bevel angle in the middle of the blade is 17.5 degrees, so a layer of 1 mil Kapton will make it around 18 degrees which is OK.

Inspecting the bevel with the 4k scratch pattern revealed that the pitting was a little deeper than I’d wished, but still not bad, so I dropped down to a Shapton Glass HR 2k and the pitting quickly cleared and the bevel was set. Back to the 4k, half strop, and the edge passes HHT easily, so I’m just a few minutes from finish. Pre-finish was a fast kiita with DN slurry and the final finisher was ‘ol’ ugly’, a very hard jnat that hard steels seem to like. The HHT was impressively silent root in or out, these Swedish blades can take an edge my friends.

Shave tomorrow!

 

A little late evening honing with the Bartmann. Same setup I’ve been using for the last few weeks.
Bevel set and refinement on the Suehiro 1k (red) & 6k (white) with a finish on the Okudo.

Happy honing.
Tom

 

Went on a Clauss streak at the end of 2019, ending with this one. Larger blade at 7/8” and dressed in a nice pair of shoes.

Intended on using the synthetics and Okudo, but it wasn’t playing all that nicely. I normally have luck turning to a Coticule if that happens...

Most of the heavy lifting on the bottom one, shifting to the smaller bout with a 2nd layer of tape to finish.
Happy honing.
Tom

 

A break in the snow gets me back on the hones

4 feet in the last week

6 Russians 1 Polish Wapi

Chosera 1 - 5 - 10 with a Black Thuringen finisher














ps; Anyone that says anything about some Christmas decorations still being up can come on up here, wade through the waist-high snow, and take them down hehehehehe

 

Beautiful snow scenes Glen. It was 75 degrees here a few days ago, I was doing yard work in a T-shirt.

 

I am sure I would have left the Christmas decorations up too. Wow, that is a lot of snow.

 

Oh the weather outside is frightful
But the fire is so delightful
And since we've no place to go
Let it snow let it snow let it snow.


..

 

Beautiful. I miss having snow like that. I'd take that over this california weather any day of the wee .

 

Was messing with this koppa. Not the hardest stone but fine enough to give a sharp and comfortable edge. Now I have to procure some isopropyl alcohol and soak it, it has a bit of a smell. Not heavy oil or anything just a bit of something.

 

I’m familiar with that smell, it isn’t ‘loud’ but I detest it. 2-3 alcohol soaks should remove it to undetectable levels.

Beautiful stone!