Thread: Shout out to all the SRP gurus

Originally Posted by tcrideshd

Just send it out and get your first one right, that way you will have a target, right now shave ready is just a phrase till you know what it really is. Tc

I see the wisdom in this for sure. I'm still hoping to find a local guy to do this for me so that I can apply the idea. I also like the idea of knowing the person who sharpens my razors, but I strongly dislike the idea of sending a razor (that I'm poring so much of my time into) of in the mail for some random apprentice to use for practice. Accountability is sorely lacking in any mail away service from my past experience razors or otherwise. So it has to be a local option to satisfy my growing protectiveness of this razor.

Originally Posted by Chevhead

Do NOT make it shave ready and then polish it.
Just make sure out has the bevel set correctly then polish away.
Only get it shave ready AFTER all the polishing work is done.
( Lot easier to cut yourself if shave ready when polishing)

That was my thought exactly. I'm assuming that It's also possible for a polishing slip to demand setting a new bevel. But after spending 2 hours on polishing and it not being perfect I decied to make a new plan. I'll get this one shave ready and start enjoying it with the polish as is. I'll probably back at the antique store looking for a second one to work with and so it's probably months before this one will see any additional polishing. Unless one of you see something in the pictures that I really need to address for functional reasons. I am going on the assumption that I've done enough to stop rusting or other further degrading of the steel. I'm currently wiping it down with isopropyl/mineral oil to protect it then letting it dry.

I did never messed with the stains and patina that took so many time to appear. Would be like to remove the lovely carbon crust from my iron vintage frying pan. Heresy!

Basically no. You could but it would be a lot more work and most likely not a good shave. An ideal beginners set would be a 1000k for bevel setting. Norton 4/8k combo. You could go from the 8k to a pasted strop with good results. you could purchase those for $120 or so. DMT's cut really fast and tend to be harsh on the steel. Lapping is not that tough to do.

Never said send it to an apprentice, on this forum there are see of the best in the world honing, not to mention great guys. I have a large collection of custom razors, and have never worried about sending them, much less a relatively inexpensive razor.

But if your lucky enough to find someone close , just make sure it's not a knife guy claiming he can do it, he needs to be a guy who shaves with one, and not be putting it on a machine to sharpen, plus most if them don't have anything besides DMT,S OR stones that weren't meant for razors, good luck,

Steve1150, here is a long time member in your area:

Moosiker (Atlanta, Georgia)

PM him and set up a meeting and see if he can give you your shave ready edge. That way, when you get around to trying it on your own you will know what that edge should look and feel like. If he isn't available to hone it for you look in the members services in the Classifieds for any number of reasonably priced honers to do it for you. You have enough to contend with in just mastering a decent shave to worry about honing at this early stage of the game.

Originally Posted by Steve1150

Almost nothing. I have a 400 and a 600 DMT for setting the bevel. I will obviously be making a purchase, but I'm currently debating DMT vs Norton. There are a lot of people swearing by the Norton 4k/8k water stone, but I've never been a fan of the periodic lapping. I've also been wondering if you can skip the 8k and jump from a 4k onto a pasted paddle strop to finish the polish.

Any thoughts?

No, That is my thought not that I don't have any Don't know where you read all that but it is far from the norm

400-600 DMT will tear up the steel a 1k Waterstone is as low as you should need unless you are doing serious edge restoration

Mid-range or knowing how to do a slurry technique should take you from about the 2k-6k level

Polishing at around 7k-10k levels or knowing how to use a slurry technique

Finishing is what we all talk about and spend our money on, and is above that and really not needed if you can't get everything dialed in below that level..

Originally Posted by Hacker7

Basically no. You could but it would be a lot more work and most likely not a good shave. An ideal beginners set would be a 1000k for bevel setting. Norton 4/8k combo. You could go from the 8k to a pasted strop with good results. you could purchase those for $120 or so. DMT's cut really fast and tend to be harsh on the steel. Lapping is not that tough to do.

Any chance you have personally tested the DMT 8k? It seems that there is a bit of nostalgia on SRP for the waterstones. So far I have only found 2 posts from people claiming to have done side by side comparisons with the Norton 4/8k and The DMT 8k. In both cases they preferred the DMT and gave a good description of why. Having used (non-razor applications) both DMT and natural stones for years myself, I can say that there could be a couple explanations as to why some people that pick up a DMT for the first time might get the negative results that are being rumored around.

Anyway I'm curious to know if you have tested the DMT yourself.

Originally Posted by gssixgun

No, That is my thought not that I don't have any Don't know where you read all that but it is far from the norm

400-600 DMT will tear up the steel a 1k Waterstone is as low as you should need unless you are doing serious edge restoration

Mid-range or knowing how to do a slurry technique should take you from about the 2k-6k level

Polishing at around 7k-10k levels or knowing how to use a slurry technique

Finishing is what we all talk about and spend our money on, and is above that and really not needed if you can't get everything dialed in below that level..

"read" all what? I'm a minimalist, just trying to figure out what my next purchase needs to be to get met to the next step. Honestly it sounds like a small microscope will be in the shopping cart along side my next hone. But right now I'm only trying to equal the edge on a disposable straight blade. The perfect finished edge will be a later goal. Unless you think the Van Der Hagen Ice Tempered disposable blades I'm using now are better then a 3 micron hone will be on my project razor. In that case I might need to expand my next step. I have searched for that very topic and found none. Do you have any thoughts on the relative edge of the disposable blades to the various degrees of refinement obtainable with the various methods discussed?

After hours of reading hundred of opinions regarding stones and pastes, I am certain of only one thing. There is a great deal of misinformation regarding abrasive particle size vs spacing! Yea, a great deal! So anyway all theory aside I would be very interested to hear if you have personally tested the DMT D8EE in comparison to the Norton 4000/8000? The real world result is what most interests me. I'm sure you have probably come across this post before. Unless this is a DMT rep or someone with some other bias, his write up seems fairly objective. Is he missing or overlooking something critical?

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthr...arison-Results

With a diamond plate you WILL get micro chipping.

Diamond plates DO cut faster, but faster isn't always better.

Lynn & Glenn (gssixgun) have probably honed more razors then you or I will ever SEE yet alone hone.

You can get all the advice you want, but sometimes nothing will change your mind except doing it and seeing for yourself.