What Straight Razor Have You Honed Lately????

Redid from bevel to finish on the Salamander 5/8 using films from 30, 12, 9, 3, 1, .3, .5 to diamond paste on balsa to linen and horse today. I've been dissatisfied with the shaves and wanted to see if I might be able to improve tomorrow's results.

 

Finally took the Herder 49 to the hones. Went with my favorite bevel set and refine combo with the Suehiro 1k/6k. Then went to the Thuringian to finish. Resulted in a very comfortable shave.

Happy honing.
Tom

 

awesome looking razor sir, and unique..nice work..

 

I noticed you had your Harley model in the Sat SOTD... I had to get this up and running.

 

thank you, your razor looks fantastic sir, i hope it shaves as good as it looks..

 

Thanks Gary. I appreciate it. It was a great shave... those Herders are nice blades.

 

Some interesting honing this weekend, so why not make it a throw down? Both stones hard Nakayamas and showing the characteristic ring or kan pattern.

On the right is a worn Hayashi Diamond that I use for a test razor. I was doing just that and a newly acquired synth made some unsightly scratches on the bevel, so I refinished it with a Shapton Glass HR 4k a Nakayama kiita prefinisher that I’ve posted many times. The chunky ‘little’ stone is one that will make an aggressive edge of you don’t manage it. Kind of like a shavette, very smooth but if you don’t mind your shaving Ps and Qs, the edge off this one likes to give you a little ‘love bite’ just to get your attention. So I’m using a softer nagura and heavier slurry. Heavier slurry helps most of the time with aggressive edges. The HHT tested well root in or out - I could have gotten better HHT, but the idea this time is to tame an edge, not bump it up. Making an aggressive edge seems to be a property of an individual stone, and is fairly uncommon with jnats.

On the left is a big, hard, pale green asagi, and I used a very hard nagura. It probably took me 3-4 minutes to raise a decent slurry, but the rewards seemed worth it. The Cape 1000 is a good razor, and I got silent HHT root in or out fairly far from the hold point, a stellar result. This stone usually doesn't produce an aggressive edge so I’m looking forward to shaving with it. Both of them actually.

Shave tomorrow half my face with one, other side with the other. I really want to tame that small one.

 

Beautiful stones Steve!

Went for a little challenge today... Langres: old French, heavy grind - call it near wedge, with geometry issues. Who could ask for more .


Used the natural combo for pretty much everything. Set the bevel on the BBW and then multiple rounds of slurry on the Coticule side. Took a while, but I wasn’t in a hurry and it was fun spending time on the stone.

Never completely enjoyed shaving off that hone so turned to the green bout. I am horrible at guessing veins so maybe a Las Latneuse or La Verte or ???? . It’s very hard, tough to slurry and I do like shaving off of it.

I’ll see how I did tonight.
Happy honing.
Tom

 

Very nice Tom. I have a coti on the way, my second.

 

Touched up a pair of Pelicans, usual 4k Glass - kiita - Nakayama koppa. Edges test great!

 

Long live the King.

 

Whoops, forgot to post this last night. I dug out a very pretty orangish kiita with a rouge streak and honed my Hayashi test razor, usual progression but then rinsing the stone and razor well and finishing with 20-25 clear water strokes. A lot of times, stones this color are too soft and coarse to finish a razor, but at least with a clear water finish this one is an exception. It’s also a little unusual in that one side is cut with a hand saw.

The shave this morning was excellent, nothing left to be desired from this edge.

 

Three high-end razors on the hones yesterday, a complete bevel set on two of them all were finished on a Suehiro Gokumyo 20K.

 

It interesting group of very nice razors.

 

Nice looking blades. Can you tell us about them??

 

The Ali's blade is a big 8/8 + extra hollow with a great deal of flex if you like that sort of thing, the Max Sprecher is a 1/4 hollow very nicely made and finished, I would imagine it to be a very nice shaver, and what can you say about the Iwasaki a classic If you like Kamisori razors it's the one to own, personally I'm not a fan of Kamisori style razors, but to each his own, I tend to like a stiffer grind over a full hollow bigger blades 6/8 and above are my choice.

 

Just Honed My Two Factory Fresh NOS Solingen SRs that Just Arrived from the States...A C- MON Blackie 5/8th & JA Henckels Twin Works 401 5/8th...Mint Condition Em Both...

Honed on a Naniwa Super Stone Progression to 12 K...The Henckels was Finished My Surgical Black Arkansas 20 K...The C -MON was Finished on My Special Coticule/Yellow Lake Combo...I Took it Off the Yellow around the 17/18 K Mark..
Both are Ready to Go..

Billy..

 

I haven’t done an all synthetic edge in a while so figured this weekend was a nice time for that... 2 razors: a German razor for the French market (Le Resistant 77) and a Japanese Feather 2601.

Naniwa SS 1k for the bevel set, then a Shapton glass 4/8/16k progression. And finished with a few strokes on that tiny white stone... a small bit of a Suehiro Gokumyo 20k.

Looking forward to the week.

Happy honing.
Tom

 

Man ooooo man

Had to get serious and go to the Bench grinder and then the Belt grinder to reset the bevel on this edge today

Tons of nicks and dings but I got it sharp finally

Used a 60 grit wheel then a 120
Finally a 150 grit belt on the 2x72 Belt Grinder

I could NOT get the HHT to pass but want ahead with a quick shave
Could not believe the awesome WTG first pass I got didn't even do a second pass or touch up














Perspective, Is Everything









Hone ON Gents !!!! regardless of what you might be getting sharp today or shaving with it

 

You just passed the ‘Gold Dollar honing test’ Glen, full marks!