Thread: Honing & shaving with the Puma Microtome

Originally Posted by hi_bud_gl

if you shave with this one that means steel is good enough to take the edge. i guess sharpening was PITA. Great job getting done JIMMY

I have gotten great shaves with it a few times without needing to retouch it Sham. It was a job to hone it but it was also a challenge so it was fun. One of those where I succeeded ...... the thrill of victory rather than the agony of defeat.

You can shave with these things? I was disappointed when my ebay bargain Geo. Wostenholm IXL turned out to be a sectioning razor. I put it back in its coffin as soon as I saw the flat side and sulked. I sulked even more when I lost the auction on a lovely wosty pipe that I was bidding on to cheer myself up with too.

Maybe I could forgive the poor thing? Have I been too harsh on it?

Originally Posted by m0isty

You can shave with these things? I was disappointed when my ebay bargain Geo. Wostenholm IXL turned out to be a sectioning razor. I put it back in its coffin as soon as I saw the flat side and sulked. I sulked even more when I lost the auction on a lovely wosty pipe that I was bidding on to cheer myself up with too.

Maybe I could forgive the poor thing? Have I been too harsh on it?

Well I have honed mine and shaved with it as posted in the OP in this thread. Whether you want to go through the hassle or not is the question. It is an interesting project, at least it was to me. Once honed and shave ready it has the stiffness of a full wedge even on the hollow side. Mine got super sharp with that good Puma Inox steel and 7/8 blade. I had no use for a microtome as I haven't cut up tissue samples lately nor do I foresee the need so it was a case of honing it up and giving it a go or throwing it in a drawer and considering my $50.00 down the drain. Wostenholm didn't make any bad razors so I bet it could be made into a good shaver if you wanted to give it a shot.

What is the tape for?

Originally Posted by rickboone

What is the tape for?

If you look that the microtome from the front of the blade you'll notice that the spine is not as prominent on the flat side.

By using layers of tape you increase the width of the spine to decrease the bevel angle. I used three on that one. If I had it to do over again I would probably have used four. The idea being to create a bevel on the flat side that is symmetrical with the bevel on the hollow ground side.

Funnily enough, I have shaved with an all-metal wedge microtome last night... it's a heavy blade at 85g but it shaves beautifully. The bevel on mine is asymmetrical, by the way

With that flat side were these intended to be sharpened japanese style? (for cutting actual thin sections though 10 micron thin sections of 100 micron thick hairs could be amusing....)

Anyone know?

could it be that the razors ground like this were also used liek the JP. style razors (by say a doc prepping the skin pre OP.)
or is the blade ground the wrong side for that

Originally Posted by L R Harner

could it be that the razors ground like this were also used liek the JP. style razors (by say a doc prepping the skin pre OP.)
or is the blade ground the wrong side for that

Dunno but if you go back to the OP you'll see photos of the grind on the Puma.

I guess I'm also an unintentional member of the microtome club here. I just found this thread or I'd have asked about mine here. I picked up a Rodgers that I thought had a half-ground job - meaning I thought someone had reground the face side to about a quarter grind and left the reverse as a wedge. Looks like I bought a microtome. Here's a link to the auction and the thread I started - does this look like it could be one?

http://straightrazorpalace.com/honin...re-ground.html