My first honing experience - Wapi

My Wapi arrived today - thanks Wojtec!

I took my Arkansas stone, honed it for a while and switched to the pasted paddle strop and did 20-30 laps. Then, wehnt on to the linen side of my hairloom hanging strop and did 30 laps, and finished with 60 laps on the leather side.
How I tested. First I tried it on my arm hair and it went OK, so I got one of my chest hairs and rolled it over the blade and it popped pretty easily. As I shaved yesterday, I still don't have much of a long beard to try it, but I couldn't resist! I passed the blade below my chin and -how- it shaved what my old Dovo didn't shaved yesterday.

It got me wondering... This was too easy to be true. Are the Wapi's pre-honed? I must admit I haven't tried it before honing it.

Well, now I'm off to finding some new scales to the Wapi - that metal handle sure is heavy!

Congrats Leon! Good job my man. Woj does give them a bit of a honing before sending them out, but the rest was your doing. The Wapis do hone up nicely, don't they? For the money, they're the best darn razor value available anywhere! I re-scaled one of mine recently and the new lighter scales do feel nice. In the meantime, you will get used to the carbon scales if you keep using them. Nice work.

Mine were ready to shave when they arrvied.
I've got 3 5/8 and 9/16's wapi on the way. easy to hone and maintain. stamped or unstamped, imo the best bang for the buck. i'm partial to the stock scales on them. I like the heft of them.

I also found the wapis to be hone friendly, they somehow respond very well and still i havent overhoned one.

All i can say is that you did a great job, with all that honing and stropping is easy to mess up an edge...very...

Good job and keep us posted with your improvements.:tu

I shaved with my Wapi yesterday and I looked like a teenager shaving his face for the first time. Man, the Wapi is S-H-A-R-P. Scary sharp. I never got so many nicks and cuts in my life! I think this may be due to the heavy scales that unbalance my hand when shaving, I don't know. So, in conclusion, my Wapi shave was close, too close... Definitely very different than my Dovo Best Quality that shaves OK and it's much more forgiving...

Hi Leon

I purchased a Wapi from ebay (from open_razor) and decided to keep it stock until I got a Norton 4000/8000 and started to learn honing. It came in pretty sharp but not honed. My father then took it and replaced the steel scales with some he made from mahogany and to be honest he has done a great job and so I am tempted to get it pro- honed as it looks and feels fantastic. I can’t wait to shave with it as it feels just right to me and I am interested to see if it fares as good or better as my Dovo.

The price of the Norton or similar stones means I will have to wait until Christmas until I can get hold of one (Rats!!)

Now I need to find someone from the UK that can, and is willing, to sell me a hone up for it!!

Ray

:OT Mondy... get in touch with Iwan (Steelforge) for honing in UK.
Cheers
M.

:OT Heads up for that!!

Thanks Mark

Sorry for the Off Topic Leon!

Ray

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Originally Posted by Mondy

Sorry for the Off Topic Leon!

Ray

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No prob. :nj

I'm about to take off the stock scales and put some pakkawood scales - it will be my first scales replacement. For what I've read, it's not very difficult. I'll let you know then.

Good work fellas!

When you say it's so sharp 'you have never had so many nicks and cuts' are you sure it's sharp enough? I get nicked and cut when the razor's just about lost its keen-ness and I am overcompensating by adding too much pressure? Or maybe you have gone to far and over honed? Just my two pen'orth...

For anyone reading this and thinking Wapis are the simplest things to hone and you are struggling with yours fear not...one of mine was a pig to hone at first but a pointer or two from Randy regarding techniques got it right on the money.

It has a slight (and I mean slight) warp but it's sharp as hell now.

Simon

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Originally Posted by Bradford Si

When you say it's so sharp 'you have never had so many nicks and cuts' are you sure it's sharp enough? I get nicked and cut when the razor's just about lost its keen-ness and I am overcompensating by adding too much pressure? Or maybe you have gone to far and over honed? Just my two pen'orth...

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Well, I apply less pressure than with my Dovo and it cuts my skin very easily if I'm not very careful. It seems like I'm holding a surgery knife! But again, with the additional weight of the stock scales, I may have to apply very little pressure...

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Originally Posted by Bradford Si

Good work fellas!

For anyone reading this and thinking Wapis are the simplest things to hone and you are struggling with yours fear not...one of mine was a pig to hone at first but a pointer or two from Randy regarding techniques got it right on the money.

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Simon - can you share those tips with us here?:confused:

I'm glad to hear someone new say this. Honing is not a mysterious art. It's a very predictable process if you pay attention to what you're doing and use quality tools. Now try sharpening some other things! It's addictive. It can also make you popular. I take my hones to peoples' homes when I visit and sharpen their kitchen knives. They're astounded more often than not. They often say they were just going to throw the knives away and get new ones.

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Originally Posted by Limey

Simon - can you share those tips with us here?:confused:

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Yeah sure, nothing more mysterious than the much quoted x pattern I am afraid! It did take a tad more concentration to actually get the x right but using that worked.

I think mine was some way off when I got it so the pyramid went out of the window and I stayed on the norton 4k until I felt the edge had changed using the thumb pad test.

If you haven't used this before there are hundreds and hundreds of posts on how it feels etc but I think if you are looking for a particular sensation you are going to miss what the test is telling you.

If the edge cant cut the hair from your arm, gently and very lightly, slide your thumb a fraction along the edge (I know many say to go across but I couldn't get any sensation on this). To me, it felt sharp as there was no resistance (opposite of what I expected). I then did sets of ten on the 4k until I had a palpable change in feel - to me it felt blunt as I'd expect a blunt edge to drag.

At this point I retried the arm hair and they actually did 'pop' off the edge. I then did the conservative pyramid which refined the edge and rather than popping the hair fell from the edge. I went very lightly on the pyramid as I was surprised how quickly the norton 4k removed metal. You can always take more off but once it's off.....

For the X-pattern find one of Randy's posts and watch his avatar - it's better than a description.

Shaving is the best test though!

Good luck.

Si.

I am a newbie and I bought one of these and just got it today. I gave it 20 lashes over a 12000 waterstone and then gave it 30 strokes on a strop with white rouge and 40 on bare leather strop (no compound, just oiled the strop with neatsfoot oil). This thing has gotten scary sharp. Anyone who is new to a straight razor and wants to try it without spending alot really needs to go get one of these while there are a few left. I like this one so much I ordered another one!