What Straight Razor Have You Honed Lately????

Discussion in 'Straight Razors' started by DaltonGang, Sep 25, 2016.

  1. TestDepth

    TestDepth Well-Known Member

    Mr. Carl Rader supplied the steel for this evening’s fun. A nice 15/16” Spanish point that needed a minor restoration.
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    Had a pretty ragged edge to start. Tried something new for me by using a stropping motion (edge trailing) with spine raised to a 45’ish on a DMT325 before I set the bevel on the Suehiro 1k. Did what I needed pretty quickly.
    Then went Naniwa 4/8/12k and finished on the dark Thuringian in the pic. Hopefully try out tomorrow.
    Happy honing!
    Tom
     
  2. Steve56

    Steve56 Hone Hoarder

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    A little rainy Sunday morning honing today, my Mk33 Heljestrand in ivory arrived yesterday afternoon, so this morning I decided to hone it though that meant a late shave.

    I don’t believe that it was ever honed - no wear was visible on the spine, and the bevels weren’t well formed. That could be from paste but the lack of spine wear means that it had been honed very little if at all. So I taped it with 1 layer of 1 mil Kapton and began on a Shapton Glass HR 4K - the single piece of Kapton lasted the entire session as it usually does. I saw that I’d be a while, so I dropped down to the Shapton Glass HR 2k and then did a back-and-forth between it and the 4K working on the bevel set by visual inspection with a Hastings 7x loupe. The ‘MK’ side had a couple of very slightly low spots in the bevel which also makes me think that it had never been honed, but the little beauty could not resist my charms (or the Shapton HRs lol). After the final trip on the 4K, I stropped 10 canvas 20 cordovan and performed a HHT and it passed with flying colors, meaning that the bevel was perfectly set at 4K. Easy pie from here on out and just a few minutes on the following 2 stones. Shapton Glass HR stones are great for full hollow razors IF YOU’RE CAREFUL, they cut very quickly which is an asset when you cannot push very hard on the blade lest you flex it and round the bevels and scratch the side.

    Next up was a favorite fast kiita slurried with a worn 1200 diamond plate. This stone is very fast on its own slurry, and can easily get you to the finisher off a 4-5k stone. It’s actually quite a good finisher on clear water with super light strokes, but I like the edge off the harder large kiita with a natural tomo nagura. Then I hit the Kanoyama 80000 and did 20 canvas/35 suede/65 cordovan and was rewarded with silent HHT root in or out.

    Now to shave!

    Cheers, Steve
     
  3. joamo

    joamo Well-Known Member

    Just bought a razor that was broken and rusty for these donor scales. The blade was originally sold in the town across the river from me. The town is known for and proud of their squirrel population, which includes a large number of black squirrels.
    The fellow in my pic is one of their best and safest, lineman
    [​IMG]
     
  4. SevenEighth

    SevenEighth Well-Known Member

    Three heavily chipped razors - two Dovos and a Kropp.

    Used @gssixgun 's approach for removing the chips. DMT plate for the heavy lifting and Naniwa Pro 600 / 1000 to set the bevels. Worked like a dream.

    Ran out of time so I just worked on the stainless razor - slurry dilution cycle on a soft coti, stropped on canvas, then a slurry dilution cycle with soapy water on a hard coticule.

    It's shave ready but I might run it around a finishing stone before use.[​IMG][​IMG][​IMG][​IMG]
     
  5. CastleShave

    CastleShave Well-Known Member

    17/16 Celebrated FBU
    8/8 Celebrated FBU
    15/16 Celebrated 1/4 Hollow
    15/16 1/4 hollow
    7/8 W&B H. W. Carter wedge
    7/8 Fine India steel W&B
    13/16 W&B wedge

    Just got a new Jnat so I went nuts still a lot more learning to do on it but the edges came out sweeet.




    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
  6. SevenEighth

    SevenEighth Well-Known Member

    Thought I would try something different. Finished the Dovo on a coticule with lather. The BBW side felt really smooth and the Coti sucked on the blade really hard.
    [​IMG]
    If I was being a perfectionist I like a stainless blade a notch higher. It still gave BBS in two passes though so I am not complaining.
     
  7. TestDepth

    TestDepth Well-Known Member

    First go with an old French razor...
    M. Navaron-Dumas
    I was getting ready for a battle, expecting the 170 year old razor to throw the book at me. So turned on “Eye if the Tiger” to get in the mood and brought out the big guns. :)

    All that was workup wasn’t needed. It behaved great. Not a perfectly even bevel, but real quick set on the Suehiro 1k and Naniwa 4k.

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    Mid range work in the rectangular combo, then turned to that beautiful Coticule bout for the end game. I love the color transition from yellow to pink to purple, all with this wood grain look underneath.

    She how she turns out tonight.
    Happy honing.
    Tom.
     
  8. gssixgun

    gssixgun At this point in time...

    Supporting Vendor
    Had to do a re-pin on this one before honing today

    No wonder the Lock washer popped loose, that pin was causing a spring action and stress everytime the razor was opening and closing..

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]


    Stuff happens, Glen Fixie, make steel sharpie again :p

    Chosera 1-5-10 Blue Green Escher Finish


    Hone On Gents
     
  9. Steve56

    Steve56 Hone Hoarder

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    Trying out an Anchor hone sent to me by Alfredo. It’s a piece of Cumberlandite, a very heavy iron-bearing rock of volcanic origin. A magnet will stick to it. It’s only found in a couple of square mile area in Rhode Island. It’s extremely unusual because of it’s volcanic or deep earth origin, Rhode Island like all of New England down to almost the lower boundary of Pennsylvania is glacial material.

    I took my 6/8 Klass which was already shave-ready off a fine jnat and took it back to 8k. I did 10 canvas/20 cordovan off 8k then hit the Anchor on clear water. I did not use the slurry stone. It’s very smooth with almost no feeling of grittiness, and it polished well. After 2x20 circles/ellipses and 40 straight stokes, I could still see a few 8k marks and a high polish. It did not autoslurry. The HHT after 20 canvas/35 suede/and 65 cordovan was silent root in or out.

    Shave tomorrow!

    Cheers, Steve
     
  10. DaltonGang

    DaltonGang Ol' Itchy Whiskers

    Cattaraugus Cutlery Co. Little Valley NY
    "Green Lizard"
    Model B52GL

    This was a problem child. It was a full restoration project. In honing the blade, I found it to want to be a little "Chippy", at the 8K level, and I had to Kill the edge, at that point. It took on a very nice edge, going through the Welsh Slate Stones, and got wicked, with the Arkansas Surgical Black. Hair popping throughout the entire Honing.



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    ..
     
  11. DaltonGang

    DaltonGang Ol' Itchy Whiskers

    Henkel's. Germany
    Hand Forged

    Easy fast hone. Took on a very nice edge throughout the entire process. Zero issues. Finished on Welsh Slate Stones, and an Arkansas Surgical Black.


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  12. DaltonGang

    DaltonGang Ol' Itchy Whiskers

    "Black Diamond"
    Iroskeen Cutlery Co.
    Solingen Germany

    1/2 hollow, and heavy. I didn't have too much hope for this one being easy, because of the amount of restoration needed. But it was surprisingly easy to hone. It's metal seemed a little harder than the other two, but it really came alive on the Welsh slates, and Arkie Black.


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  13. Zykris

    Zykris Well-Known Member

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    Needed a refresh. Took it down to the soft ark for a few laps then progressed through the hard and black arkie. Shaves nicely down.
     
  14. M14Shooter

    M14Shooter Well-Known Member

    C.V. Heljestrand MK 4 Just received this blade Today .I was surprised by what nice shape she was in .I think she may even be NOS .She came with the original plastic holder .When I checked the factory bevel out it was perfect .Small and even .I just gave her a quick refresh on my J-Nat .50 Laps to remove oxidation and impart a J-Nat feel to the edge .
    Shave was wonderful .Edge felt smooth as silk and cut like a Samurai sword .
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  15. Zzip

    Zzip Member

     
  16. joamo

    joamo Well-Known Member

    The Bird Archer, Pea-shooter Patrol and the Air Corps.
    Sharp looking bunch in their dress uniforms.
    [​IMG]
     
  17. CastleShave

    CastleShave Well-Known Member

    15/16 Celebrated Wade & Butcher

    [​IMG][​IMG]


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
    fredyx, Billyfergie, Keithmax and 3 others like this.
  18. Steve56

    Steve56 Hone Hoarder

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    Touched up the Filly 14s that are ‘regulars’ in the lineup. The edges were OK so I began with a fast fine kiita with diamond plate slurry to get things into shape, then finished on a karasu with tomo nagura slurry. We’ll see tomorrow how the edge works!

    Cheers, Steve
     
  19. gssixgun

    gssixgun At this point in time...

    Supporting Vendor

    Nice !!!!
     
  20. Zzip

    Zzip Member

    E8058F63-9BD8-45AE-BB4A-237DCE2011F3.jpeg So a couple of years ago I started my journey with a Dovo Astrale and Hart Steel razor. I nicked the Dovo like 2 week after my wife gave it to me for Christmas. Research quickly pointed to Gssixgun so I sent it to him. I got it back and “wow” the nick was gone and it was a piece of art (I knew then it wasn’t shave ready like it was advertised when I pointed out the company to my wife”. I was then intrigued by gssixgun’s godly hone skills. I purchased a DMT Dia-Flat Lapping stone, Norton, 1000,4000, and 8000 stones. A Naniwa 12000 and several strops that have since been nicked (don’t ask). Anyway, for the last 2 years I was never able to hone like the pro “gssixgun”. Anyway, I recently nicked my Dovo again during the same time I landed a knee injury. I worked on the Dovo a bit for 2 days and my 10x Loupe kept revealing the nick. Guess in my injured grumpy state and my wife commenting that we could be do something “more interesting......”. I applied a bit more pressure than what I thought all the you tube videos suggested. I started to see some metal on the stones and not long later the Nick was gone. I continued with the higher grits, stropped, and gave the blade a dirty look and it turned out good!!!!! I shaved twice since and it turned out being my best honing to date. I know I need some classes (maybe Portland Razor co) or maybe meet up with gsssixgun for a cup of coffee and pick his brain. But it was my first good hone in 2 years and wanted to share. Also drove home the “happy wife, happy life” saying. Zzip/Danny
     

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