A few random razor questions

Hello Everyone,



I have been trolling the forums now for about four months soaking up the wealth of knowledge. I have aquired all my starting equipment from Ebay. (brush, razor, strop, soap) I took Glen up on an offer to run my razor over some pasted strops, and he was able to get it shave ready. I then proceeded to dull the hell out of it learning to strop. :D I was able to get a good amount of practice shaving my cheeks, but the razor was just too dull to do my neck/chin. I feel good that I was able to correct my stropping, and practice a bit on my cheeks.

I broke down last week and sent my razor off to Lynn to be honed. Oh by the way my razor is a 5/8 J.A. Henckels made in Solingen. It appears to be stainless steel. I am looking forward to getting it back and experiencing a full shave.


I am already hooked and have hunted down the razors I will be getting in the near future. I have to stop here and say......DAM YOU JOHN CROWLEY DAM YOU EVIL RAZOR BARON. :D I will definately be buying several of your razors when christmas rolls around. I will also eventually be learning to hone when I buy a Norton 4000/8000. So now that I have rambled on I guess I will ask my questions.

If a razor has gold wash or other decorative elements on the spine; won't honing the razor scrape it right off? When a razor does have spine decor; do you lift the spine slightly off of the stone when honing to prevent wear? Will pasted strops also dammage spine decor? I was thinking about getting one of John Crowley's 1/4 grounds that he has recently posted. I understand it just makes the blade a bit thicker/stiffer/heavier; but due to this will it hold an edge a little longer?

Thanks everyone SRP for the win!!!!!!!

Put a little tape on the spine to protect it from the hone.

Unless you are restoring a razor and have to build a bevel from scratch (certainly tape the spine in that situation) there is no need to tape the spine as you should not be removing much metal from the blade. The severe hone wear you see on razors are either the result of decades of continual use, or improper honing.

The gold wash/etching on blades is most often in the hollow of the grind and will not be affected by honing.

The file work on the spine should not affect the honing either nor will proper honing technique damage this file work.

FWIW,
Ed

Don't worry about the gold wash. It will be coming off with just regular shaving. Once it gets bad enough, I'll probably just sand it right off my Bismarck.

Yea those pretty razors with all that fancy stuff all over are great for display but for shaving you want the plainest razor you can get. The gold will come off rite quick with shaving as will the fancy paint and all that. Though honing shouldn't affect the fancy work on the blade if you ever need to polish the blade it will suffer.

1adam12,

There's a name that brings back a few memories! Welcome to SRP, and remember that when you order your razors from John, pick up some of the T&H Shaving Creams. Top notch stuff. Especially the 1805 and Trafalgar!

RT

To protect the finish on the shoulder of the spine when honing just put some electrical over the spine. It is quick and easy and works great for me.

You should never, ever, lift the spine up from the hone while honing. The end result is that it becomes impossible to keep the exact same angle on each lap and this results in a slightly rounded edge.

The pasted strops will cause some wear on the spine so use tape for that also.

The 1/4 hollow ground blades, either single concave or bi-concave will be stiffer due to the greater mass along the edge but they probably do not stay sharp longer.

Hope this helps,:)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 1adam12

Hello Everyone,

If a razor has gold wash or other decorative elements on the spine; won't honing the razor scrape it right off? When a razor does have spine decor; do you lift the spine slightly off of the stone when honing to prevent wear? Will pasted strops also dammage spine decor? I was thinking about getting one of John Crowley's 1/4 grounds that he has recently posted. I understand it just makes the blade a bit thicker/stiffer/heavier; but due to this will it hold an edge a little longer?

Thanks everyone SRP for the win!!!!!!!

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