arches. This site is a wealth of information. Thank you to all that have posted.

Anyway I have been interested in the straight blade for about a year now. Part of the draw ,as stupid as it may be, was the play Sweeney Todd. I then came across an article in Mother Earth Magazine gave the idea a green tone I could stand behind. In October I bought a $4 "hair shaper" removed the blade guard and gave it a go, I already had a brush and soap. The results less than ideal, yet the growth was without the usual bumps. From there I was hooked.

Skip ahead to Christmas my wife had picked up on my less than subtle hints. However, rather than an inexpensive new straight, I received two pawn shop specials. My new prized possessions are a H Boker 386 and a Henckels Platinum 405
She told me they had more so I went and picked up a third,(Henckels 48) since one of the gifted razors had me a little concerned.

The blades were a little pitted, but no rust or nicks. The scales are in fairly good shape, one is damaged at the pin (405). That will have new scales made when the weather breaks, at that time I'll tighten the pins.

I cleaned up the blades with some 800 grit followed by some polishing compound and some hand buffing, I had some nice but not mirror like blades.

This was when I found you folks 3am 12/26. Looking for specs on a stone. Between here and badger and blade. I found my answer, no stone required, for now.
I honed my blades using wet dry sand paper:
220 to start the new bevel,spine taped
600,800 start to hone no tape starting at 800
I then finished with Pinnacle Honing Film 5 Micron and .3 Micron.
The results were great, shaved close and comfortable. Well considering my technique requires a little practice, it was at least close.

I look forward to learning more and will hopefully get some pictures soon, I need to find the camera. Oh, and I'm sure this is probably the longest post I'll ever write here. Thanks for reading