My new hone . . .

[AFDavis11]

Okay, so I wanted a wicked good edge on my razor. Did I whip out a hone and work on a perfect stroke developed from years of honing practice? Nahhh, screw that, I cheated. Reviewing La Pogonotomia III, The Strop, I found this little gem:

“Good leather is calf, buffalo, or beaver. After gluing it on the wood, it is dressed with pumace (dry). Any substance put on the leather should be absolutely free of grains which might damage the edge. Many substances are used in powder form: stone, pencil, red chalk, hone, pumace, terracotta, pottery”.


Sure enough, I took a piece of paper, folded it over twice, rubbed a pencil all over the paper is several “coats”, then rubbed the pencil graphite infused paper all over my strop and stropped my razor up to a hyper-wicked edge. Worked like nobody’s business. Sharpest edge I’ve seen in years. Easy peasy! Wiped it all off after I completed about 40 laps . . . now we’ll see how well my strop lasts! J

If I’d known how easy this technique was I would of posted about it years ago. Darn the luck! A 100K grit hone for 12 cents?