Thread: The Art of slurry...

Glen I sure agree with the smooth edge you get with a vintage Thuringian or Escher working from medium slurry down to water only. It's the best edge I've ever experienced!

Slurry is great stuff!
I always use slurry on my 1k, then do a few laps with no slurry before I continue on with the progression.
On my finisher always slurry diluted to water.

I wish I could click "THANK" for this whole thread. I have had a razor that "should" have honed up perfectly. A stray from a 7 Day set, a Solingen "Feinster Silberstahl" but no other makers mark on it. I call it "Sunday."

It was the first razor I ever bought on eBay. It was tarnished, some rust, some crud…I tried many times to hone this razor but it just wouldn't shave. So I decided to use it just for learning restoration--cleaning, sanding, that stuff. Popped it out of the scales which accidentally survived the operation. After sanding, wiping, Q-tips, still nasty looking....I put the blade in my vibratory tumbler for a few days. It came out gleaming! I then put it back in its original scales, dull as a butter knife, having defeated my ever effort to hone it.

I read this thread, and decided to try two things: a layer of tape on the spine, and slurry. I put a single strip of tape on the spine, pulled out the Norton 1K and worked up a good slurry on the surface and proceeded to use circling alternating with X strokes and BEHOLD...an edge began to appear!

Staying with the tape, I worked up the sequence of 4K, 8K, then Naniwa 12K, each stone starting with a thick slurry and letting it thin down to clear water. Finally, a gave it a light stropping on fabric sprayed with green CrOx, then plain linen, then Premium III leather.

And....it shaves! Nice and smooth, as good as any razor in my rotation!

Thanks for showing me how to add this outstanding technique to my honing!

Below is a before and after pic:

That's one thing about honing it's a never ending learning process which is one reason it's so much fun:-)