Thread: Wapienica Honing

Hi Matt, sorry about hijacking your thread.

I just got a Wapienica back from Lynn to use as a benchmark and I'm ready to go to work on these bad boys. I live near 217 and Allen and I'm up for a combined effort if you want to work on these things together.

I have Norton 220/1k and 4k/8k water stones, some barber hones from Tilly and the Polish stones from Woj. I've got a bench strop from TM thats plain on one side and .5 green paste on the other and one of his hanging strops.

I'm hell bent on learning how to restore moderately neglected razors and to hone them effectively and I finally have the proper equipment on hand to start.

Mike Layne

You have more than I have. I currently have a four sided paddle. Pasted on 3 sides. I am trying to get a hone off of ebay all that I can find is a Swaty barber hone. I figure for 15 bucks it is a good deal anyways. Maybe a team of two could accomplish more than one??

I'm all for it. I'll be back in town this week and could get together Monday thru Thursday evening to work on it.

Cell: 503-975-7707 email: mike dot layne at gmail dot com

Mike

I spent a lot of time on prep this evening. Shower after sweating it out ripping up my bathroom floor, face wash followed by 5 minutes of hot water. T&H shave oil, lather, hot towel for about 3 minutes, re lather. The first part of the shave is great. Once I move onto my neck the razor is feeling like it has lost its "edge" so to speak. I stropped and finished my shave but ended up cleaning the neck with my trac II. It is still rough like usual. Should I attempt a few strokes on a pasted paddle?? I was thinking 10 and then strop but I do not want to loose the edge anymore than I have.

Ive just used my double sided pocket hone from spyderco &its put an edge on mine qucklty & easily, if you can get hold of one give it a go.Paul

Originally Posted by matt

I spent a lot of time on prep this evening. Shower after sweating it out ripping up my bathroom floor, face wash followed by 5 minutes of hot water. T&H shave oil, lather, hot towel for about 3 minutes, re lather. The first part of the shave is great. Once I move onto my neck the razor is feeling like it has lost its "edge" so to speak. I stropped and finished my shave but ended up cleaning the neck with my trac II. It is still rough like usual. Should I attempt a few strokes on a pasted paddle?? I was thinking 10 and then strop but I do not want to loose the edge anymore than I have.

I doubt that you will lose the edge by using a pasted paddle strop. I always use at least 30 laps.
From what you have described it sounds like the angle of the blade is incorrect on your neck. My suggestion would be to continue with the blade as is and modify the angle when shaving your neck. Experiment.


Just my two cents,

For the benefit of those of us who seem to be perenially in the dark , would those of you bathed in the light of knowledge , review the thumbnail and the thumbpad tests for us? I actually think I have the thumbnail test down: wet the thumbnail and place the edge of the razor on the nail with the blade perpendicular to the nail and drag the edge lightly across the nail. Smooth is good; bumpy or jumpy indicates problems with the edge. Thumbpad: dunno. I suspect it entails slicing itsy bits of skin off the thick parts of one's thumbly epidermis. Close???

almost hate to admit it, Bruce

Originally Posted by Bruce

For the benefit of those of us who seem to be perenially in the dark , would those of you bathed in the light of knowledge , review the thumbnail and the thumbpad tests for us? I actually think I have the thumbnail test down: wet the thumbnail and place the edge of the razor on the nail with the blade perpendicular to the nail and drag the edge lightly across the nail. Smooth is good; bumpy or jumpy indicates problems with the edge. Thumbpad: dunno. I suspect it entails slicing itsy bits of skin off the thick parts of one's thumbly epidermis. Close???

almost hate to admit it, Bruce

Oh boy Bruce,


This will help you out

http://straightrazorpalace.com/inthedeepend/?p=113

Matt,

That scraping feeling on the neck is similar to what I experience if I use too steep of an angle on my neck. It used to feel like I had a steak knife instead of a straight razor...

Especially on the ATG pass, I press the spine onto my skin and actually try to keep the edge off my skin. This combined with using really light pressure is working really well.

You might also try stropping a few passes during the shave. This is really helping me. I do 5-10 about 2/3 of the way through the first pass and another 5-10 partway through the ATG pass.

Keep at it,
Josh

Originally Posted by JoshEarl

Especially on the ATG pass, I press the spine onto my skin and actually try to keep the edge off my skin. This combined with using really light pressure is working really well.

I'll echo that. On the ATG pass, I'm laying the blade flat on my skin and making light, little "skritch-skritch" motions.



- Scott