Thread: Le Grelot -B&B LE- with olivewood

All I can say is "wow." I pulled out of that buy because I had seen enough of Joel's mindset [culminating in the irrational hissy-fit hack job on RW someone alluded to] to be wary of dealing with him and I have to say I'm feeling pretty good about that call having seen what you went through. Though to be fair, the non-defective ones look simply gorgeous in the photos, and I'm surprised he didn't insist on going to bat for you to get it fixed rather than saying you should have expected that.

Anyway, all's well that ends well [ignoring the wasted cash], and your custom scales are a knock out. And it should be a fun shaver if you are able to overcome the poor initial honing - my simple inexpensive one ($165 I think) with black plastic scales from rasurpur, which I think Martin honed for free, is really really fun to handle even for a rookie and gives super shaves.

With all the cost I guess I could buy 2, maybe 3 from rasurpur instead. but hey...

I was close to pull out because of all the noise at B&B myself, but I thought that this should be an reference razor, as to good blade, buttery smooth, etc, but the result was an razor which did not shave at all...

I'm strugling a bit with my honing, so I needed an reference so I know what is sharp enough, but my razors are way sharper than this sucker..
But still, the blade is awesome, it looks very nice, and now I even have the most awesome scales I have seen!, good match

When it's right it should be really really smooth. I only have three straights so I have limited references, but for me using my LG (at least with IK shaving soap) it doesn't even feel like I'm using a sharp razor, but rather feels I'm massaging my face, and I'm always shocked to see that I'm really good to go after two passes.

You might want to check in with Martin at rasurpur and see if he has suggestions. He sells a ton of TI razors and knows his honing so he might be able to give you some guidance, and given this is a 1/4 grind it might be a little different to hone (I've had no trouble touching mine up on a coticule, but that's probably because martin did it right in the first place). He's very good on customer service too I should add.

I just re-read the orginal post and saw the genius that did your scales honed it to, so you are probably all set and in for a very nice experience. Enjoy! Those scales are really drool-a-licious.

Yes, I guess it are good to go now

Regarding honing, read from post 22 here:
B&B Le Grelot Review - Page 2 - Badger & Blade

I got a little scared when reading joel used DMT 325 for setting bevel, in all his tutorials, and writing about razor honing, the lowest grit to use was 4K. 1K and lower was only for fixing chips or really bad razors.. and here he uses 325 on perfectly new razors.. and even three layers of tape..
I have tried my DMT 1200 on some razors, and that cuts extremely fast...

As he writes in post 39, two of the razors was on the 325 for 40 minutes.. that calls for a lot of grinding.. Is the metal on these grelots really that hard??

Wow, that is stunning in olive wood!

Originally Posted by asbjorn

As he writes in post 39, two of the razors was on the 325 for 40 minutes.. that calls for a lot of grinding.. Is the metal on these grelots really that hard??

Let us know what you think. That struck me as odd too but I know too little about honing to judge. Some who really know honing say they wouldn't let a DMT of any grit touch their razors and some that seem knowledgable do use at least the higher grit DMTs. But that did seem like a very odd hone to use on a brand new razor. And it would surprise me if it's any harder than the metal in the satin finish blade (but again I don't know), and the metal in the satin finish one I have is certainly workable with a coticule.

Anyway, hope the razor rocks when you get it, and let us know how it shaves. If you can stop staring at the gorgeous custom scales long enough to shave that is.......

Ok, than i will explain how I honed this razor. At it comes to me it was definitly not shave ready.
I used only one layer of tape, to protect the spine from scratches. Then i used my 1000er waterstone with - difficult to say, i dont counted - 40 laps each site. The same on the 6000er waterstone and on a MST Mueller. After that some laps on a Shell Cordovan strop with 1ym diamant paste, then chromoxyd green, shell cordovan without any paste and at last my finishing strop.

Its now a very good shaver but not the softest I have and not the sharpest. Only a very good razor that pass the hair test without problems.
If you look for a really reference in smoothness and sharpness try this W&B:

Fine Razors

This is actually and absolut one of the best razors i had.

he, I'm already drooling at some of your razors, Guess I well try to catch some when I'm recovered from this razor.

Thanks for the description of the honing, and good that it is used only one layer of tape. I think that three layers as Joel used is way too steep.

Originally Posted by Buddel

Then i used my 1000er waterstone with .

What kind of 1000 grit waterstone do you use? Norton?