I´m only rescaled this razor for a member here. It is olivewood at a brassliner. The wedge is also from red and lightbrown vulcanfibre combined with brass. The thirdpin is a brass tube. Now it is also shave ready an I hope the owner likes it.
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I´m only rescaled this razor for a member here. It is olivewood at a brassliner. The wedge is also from red and lightbrown vulcanfibre combined with brass. The thirdpin is a brass tube. Now it is also shave ready an I hope the owner likes it.
Dude I love your work!!!!
that beautiful, well done, mate!
What a beauty. Thanks for sharing!:)
If he does not like it... I am ready to adopt! excellent work as usual!:tu
Wicked!!!, Million thanks for the work!!, I'm really happy with the outcome of this, can't wait to try it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Buddel
Finally the Grelot looks fiine :)
Don't worry.. :D, me like.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ockham
I must say, the pattern of the olivewood on these scales is amasing, much better than the bent scales of pink ivory they came with. (Lesson learned, buy plastic scales or something next time.. and rescale.. )
Just out of curiosity, did it not look fine before?Quote:
Originally Posted by asbjorn
That is gorgeous work. Beatiful wood and design. I have a regular black plastic scale one from rasurpur and love it. It's a really nice razor to shave with.
Sorry, no.
I'm a bad photographer, but take a look here:
2008 B&B Le Grelot 6/8 - a set on Flickr
One scale is as it should be, the other is bent, like it is in tension or something. (I was told by Joel that I should expect things like this.. after he have been talked so much good about it.. well.. after all, he said that he could talk to TI to check if they could do something with it, but whataheck.. )
On this it shows good how it is:
DSC_7548 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
The "spacer" also looks like it is made after the scales, and to thin compared to the width of the blade. I'm not sure what the wedge was made of, but it looks like it is melted plastic that is formed after the gap between the scales.
And the pivot pin was strange, the scales did not align at the pivot, they was moving when opening and closing the razor.
If that was not it.. I ordered it shave ready, yeah, right, dull as hell, I even could see the gritmarks in the bevel, to bad I did not take a picture of it then. I did the recomended 100 laps on strop etc, but no-go, the bevel polished nice though, but still dull.
After paying like $420 for an razor, (it was kinda steep because of shipping, taxes, customs etc), then I was expecting something little better than this.
Now Buddel have fullfilled(?) that :D
I cannot believe this... how dare say that one should expect things like "this" when paying that much money for a razor! Looks like Mr B&B is using quite a double standard when he praises his Le Grelot B&BLE and criticises other razors hand made (follow my sight... RW.)Quote:
Originally Posted by asbjorn
yeah, dissapointing at least.
Look also at this:
FS B&B Grelot - Badger & Blade
And this:
B&B Le Grelot Review - Badger & Blade
And if you then remember how i praised this when it was prototype, and when all of them came in.. I really thought that this batch was better than the average TI out there. (Well, I have no TI's myself, so I wouldn't know really.)
If your read the FS thread from PapaSmurf, you see Joel states the same that i wrote to me, He told me also that he could blabla, but who want to do something that you newer would know what is going to happen?
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!
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by asbjorn
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.
What kind of 1000 grit waterstone do you use? Norton?Quote:
Originally Posted by Buddel
I´m using a King Hyper. A very good stone in my opinion.Quote:
Originally Posted by loueedacat
Japanese Whetstone KING HYPER Regular Sharpening #1000 - eBay (item 380045165794 end time Jul-17-08 19:04:22 PDT)
Stunning, just stunning.............
I could not get the ebay link to work, is it something like this?
Combination Sharpening Stone, 1000/6000 grit, with stone holder - DICK GmbH Onlineshop
Or these items on ebay: 380047526314 or 260229822935 ?
Buddel, that's some beautiful handwork. Your blades are definitely on my wish list!
Asbjorn, I'm glad that you are satisfied but it's a shame that the original pink sclaes were unsatisfactory. I also bought a B&B LE and received one in perfect condition.I honed it on my set of spyderco stones and get a very smooth shave from it. It is a very different shave experience from my TI and other Grelot full hollows. My three TI's are also flawless. Two of the TI's were from a French vendor and one was from a US vendor. Neither inspected the blades before shipping as I understand Martin does. Many others have had disappointing razors delivered from TI and DOVO as well. Again, I've been lucky with my DOVO's so I think I am statistical outlier!
My conclusion is that having someone like Buddel custom make and fit scales is probably the best way to avoid frowns when buying high end razors.
Amen to that!Quote:
Originally Posted by CloseShave
This combination stone you show, is not as good as the King 1000 that I use. Try at this website you show the number 711008. This is the King Hyper.Quote:
Originally Posted by asbjorn
But the combinaton stone is a cheap possibility for persons, that only have to hone few razors from time to time.
The new scales are 100x better than the pink that it came with. Excellent upgrade!
Wow! A 100x better! Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The pink scales are a rare wood that is very difficult to work as Martin describes on his rasupur site. I think new scales are excellent but comparing custom handmade scales to a factory produced run albeit small is not quite the same.Quote:
Originally Posted by Gotcha38
Pink Ivory is probably a nice wood, but then the manufacturer of the scales should think about that, and make the scales properly.. .if you did not take a look at my pictures of the scales you should, others have two scales wich have an bend on them, on mine, one is straigth, the other is bended, like an bow, and the wedge is not right, and strange..
So it is bad that they misuse the materials if they are "rare"...
I agree that your razor had maufacturung issues. I was addressing the special character of pink ivory wood. Here is an excerpt from Martin Nienberg's Razurpur site on pink ivory scales:
" I do not have a lot of these on stock, because the wood is hard to find in a good quality and it is very expensive. So if you like it, don't wait too long.
Notice: Pink Ivory and Desert Ironwood are extremly difficult to work on. As with all natural products the wood may have some little spots, pits or other very minor "defects" or discolorations.
This combination of a Thiers Issard razor and pink ivory is unique and you won't find it elsewhere.
Special note: The fate of this beautiful and rare hardwood is the same as with the desert ironwood.
Once I have sold the small stock, the price will go up. "
The spacers used are consistent with factory produced Thiers Issard and LeGrelot razors both new and vintage razors that I have. I have found that DOVO uses better metal spacers on thier premium razors