Thread: Barber hone month (using barber hones only forthe month of april

Well 60 on the leather and then to the face with VDH. This little Genco is a gem of a blade. It has a pronounced smile which fits the hollow and curves. No cuts nicks or burn just slicing the whisker away. It will be interesting to see when the blade will need to go beyond the leather next time.

I relapped my Swaty using my belt sander and a 500 grit belt followed by chromium oxide on a sewn wheel to buff the hone smooth. When I have more time this weekend, I plan to do a full wet sanding of the hone through higher grits to produce as smooth a surface as possible, but using the sander and the buffing wheel was all I had time for last night. Approximately 20 laps more on the Swaty produced a decent shaving edge for this morning’s shave.

I’m surprised that an abused eBay special can be made shave ready with only a DMT 325, a Norton 1000, a barber’s hone, and an unpasted strop. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised given that this was likely done with regularity 100+ years ago. Nevertheless, I am both surprised and intrigued.

So far this has been a fun experiment!

The Genco hit the leather and came out swinging. WTG and XTG just fine. The ATG pass was a lame attempt but that is not unusual. I have difficulty not getting cut or burnt ATG. So after the failed attempt with the Genco I used a 4/8 Torrey I started experimenting on today with an new finishing stone. Wow I have just learned a new level of sharp. The ATG was 75% successful and no injuries. It seems the new finisher makes a considerable difference. Two different razors and the Torrey hasn't touched the barber hone so it is apples and oranges but the Genco was ahead in the sharp and smooth category until today. When this month is done I am taking the Genco to the new finisher to see what happens. I really expect the leather and some Crox occasionally will keep the Genco at its present level for a long time.

Late entry for wednesday. Shaved late. Usual Larkin Crown setup. But used the Lucky Tiger Shave Cream. If you haven't used it yet. It's worth trying. It's really a Lotion that lathers. Very nice product. Shave was good.

I touched up a Torrey on my Swaty this morning with no prep and it was hawesome. I think I have shaved with 7 different razors off the swaty so far this month.

glad eveyones enjoying them selves. ive been using my wade and butcher hollow ground sharpened off my laudys barber hone. and leather and linen strop. i Have been using van der hagen shave soap and i really like it. its making that bs policy of being clean shaved for work a nice thing.

I finally had some success with my JA&S on my barber stone after I lapped it with a norton lapping stone, it have a pretty good and close shave, though ATG was rather in pleasant!

Thursday evening shave... Usually don't try to use two new things on the same shave . So I went for " three on a shave" hoping that there was no sniper out there to get me.(;-). New ( to me) razor: really nice condition,but dull, Geneva Cutlery 1903 SR.; New (to me) Keen Kutter barber hone.; New (to me) Arko sensitive shave cream with Allantoin. Alum; Clubman AS. and Nivea sensitive lotion. Went better than I thought. Just received the razor this week and wasn't sure it would be sharpe enough for today. Wasn't bad, could have been a hair, or two sharper but not bad. The Arko was nice. Most of the packaging was in Turkish but it did say that it had Vit E and Allantoin in it. Not sure why?
Good shave. Needed something different.

Tonight I put the little Genco 106 to the balsa strop 12 on crox and 30 on the feox then 60 on leather. The soap was the MWF and the shave was a smooth improvement from last night. The ATG passes were better with much less burn. The barber hone is holding its own.

Honesty is a terrible thing. Just had to do it. Walked into the bath this morning... And the Merkur Vision called out and made me do it!! Just jumped into my hand with the new Astra blade and made me shave with it. I didn't want to do it, but it made me(;-(.
Yes. It was awful, awfully good!