Feedback adjustment w/ Diamond stropping

Being a fan of the heavy grind, I was always disappointed when a famous maker honed up and quickly proved itself a 'silent shaver'. For whatever reason, if it doesn't give audible & tactile feedback - its on the block, don't want it. As you might guess, this means I'm not a fan of the heavy Sheffield - which seems to epitomize the silent shaver. (pay no attention to the raucus peels of uncontrolled laughter. that's just cudarunner) One frustrating wedge that had been silent, I re-rinished using some diamond stropping *before* the final finisher. And this time, it wasn't silent. When I use the diamond spray on felt, I'm on a 4"x6" pc of hard felt, using anywhere between 4-6 strokes. Surface travel-wise - that's only 16-30" of total stropping stroke. Five more quiet wedges, and each time - quiet or silent blades got more vocal. These were all Soligen, US or Swedish blades. Having been Jack the Ripper or Jeffrey Dahmer in a prior life, the Master of Ceremonies in Karmic Retribution - decided it was once again time for Pinklather to be sent another couple of unrestored, large Sheffield choppers that 'just needed honing'. Sigh. 5 hrs later, I had a semi workable bevel. In another hour - a low-quality 8k edge that defied improvement. Being in suitable frame of mind, it was time for the nuclear option - and out came the diamond treated felt. None of this wimpy 4-6 strokes, this meat-axe got 15. 'Not wanting to inflict harshness on a fairly new member, I then took the blade to about 35 strokes on the Gokumyo 20k. It was lopping hairs about 1" from the point of hold before stropping, and I thought the finishing stone would remove any possible harshness from the diamond treatment. I stropped and began what was usually 3-4 test strokes to confirm it shaved - and I heard and felt the sounds of a hard-steel 1/2 grind. The tactile feedback was not as strong as a hard-steel blade, but still unmistakable. The sound was quite comparable to a Soligen or US 1/4 grind. Using diamond to restore a silent blade's voice may be common knowledge to others - and I'm just late to the party. I would not have guessed it would work on a big sheffield. It certainly made this blade appealing enough to complete a whole shave - with cold water touch-ups. I'm still shaking my head - 'cause I wouldn't have believed it.

I dunno. I use that (lack of) sound as a cue to touch up my razors (all are 1/4 or heavier).

I never mentioned it before because I thought perhaps it was in my head, but it seems to me that a heavy blade has a voice level that is somewhat proportional to its sharpness....it could be other factors, but...well...(shrug)...it works for me.

Unit, thank you. So you're used to a heavy sheffield talking like a Soligen? Its a very new experience for me. Previous sheffields (3dz), only had one w/ feedback, and that was an odd maker & alot harder than the avg. sheffield. Maybe others have a similar experience - what are you doing to get your sheffields to talk?

(pay no attention to the raucus peels of uncontrolled laughter. that's just cudarunner)

Hehehe

I’ve often told my very good friend (pinklather) that I envision him being sent to Hell and being chained to a chair with a very small wobbly table with no water and only one hone of his choice and an eternity of heavy near full wedge Sheffield razors to hone and Satan tells him that he can only be freed if he can produce an edge that pleases Satan!:rofl2::roflmao :rofl2::roflmao

hehehe

Sigh. Cudarunner knows. His hearloom chopper has my all time record for length of time setting a bevel. 'No surprise that others could do it faster. [ Though its silent - it was silent from a pro - who knew a thing or two about sharp. That blade convinced me they were all straight from the pit! [ An now maybe they don't have to be obnoxious in the shave - just the honing. :)

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Originally Posted by pinklather

Sigh. Cudarunner knows. His hearloom chopper has my all time record for length of time setting a bevel. 'No surprise that others could do it faster. [ Though its silent - it was silent from a pro - who knew a thing or two about sharp. That blade convinced me they were all straight from the pit! [ An now maybe they don't have to be obnoxious in the shave - just the honing. :)

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hehehehehehehehehehehehheh!!! :tu

Gents, 'Got mail last night from the owner of the heavy sheffield that had my eyeballs changing sockets. It sounds like the much sought-after feedback is short-lived, and now mostly gone. Sigh. So maybe I am destined to be estranged from the heavy Sheffields for life. 'Even picked up a handsome one this wkend, hoping it would join the esteemed ranks of Pinklather's rotation. I'll repeat the process on this one - just to see how long the feedback lasts. It made the sheffield tolerable for me, and got a number of silent soligens to find their tongue.

Robert , just shave with a really high angle & all razors can get noisier. :roflmao

That's now I got my name :)
For those that don't know, Oz has more than earned the right to tease me unmercifully - he endured *so* much of my headstrong buffoonery while I learned - an kept giving wonderful help.
I'm most grateful

Who says we don't have fun here eh Robert ?

That's a fact!

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Originally Posted by unit

I dunno. I use that (lack of) sound as a cue to touch up my razors (all are 1/4 or heavier).

I never mentioned it before because I thought perhaps it was in my head, but it seems to me that a heavy blade has a voice level that is somewhat proportional to its sharpness....it could be other factors, but...well...(shrug)...it works for me.

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Unit, Thx for weighing in. For the harder steel heavy grinds, equal sharpness, as measured by hht and the shave (not in that order) seem to respond w/ widely varied amounts of feedback. I had mentally written off the heavy sheffields, thinking that unless one was accidentally left much harder than usual, feedback was impossible. I've have honed a couple odd - extra hard heavy sheffields - and I liked the shave better from those edges also. But sharpness has been lopping a hair 1-1.250" from point of hold for a thick (.0033") hair. Yes, I used a 1" mic to measure.

Anyone having a honing method that allows these handsome brutes to talk like a normal razor, PLEASE SHARE your method.

To borrow from W.C.Fields: heavy sheffields drove me to drink. I never did stop and thank them. :)

Update on the edge longevity.

'Finished a week, using only a Butcher 'Bow' that's about a 1/4 hollow. It got 8 strokes diamond on felt (total of about 40" total travel) after the last stone.

It was talking just fine. By the end of the week, there wasn't much reduction in feedback. Being from the 'Strop til you drop school, that included a total of 1200 strokes on linen, about 900 on leather. It still talks. One member mentioned his talked w/ some soaps but not others. I used Provence Sante, the essential oil Uber recipe, Prorazo green. All gave similar result of normal feedback. The edge is holding up really well.

Previously, you couldn't pay me to use a sheffield for more than enough strokes to confirm an edge was acceptable. Now its not so bad.