Thread: Two Solingens Different results

Ok.I find this weird.Recently I got two old razors.Both Solingen made.None were shave ready.So it was hone time.Both went through the pyramid method on a 3000/1200 German stone.All went well.Then both went through 100 laps on a Chinese stone with slurry.Razor # 1 which is a Gotta was shave ready and buttery smooth.Razor #2 is a no name stamped Solingen on the shank with nice pearl scales is still a no shaver.Can there be such a difference between 2 razors,both Solingen made?Both blades were in the same condition pre honing.I am starting to think (after more honing) on the nameless blade that it will never be sharp.Any ideas on this?Were some Solingen made blades poor quality?

Both blades were in the same condition pre honing

How do you measure that? If they seemed to be in the same condition, rest assured they were certainly not.
Whereas the first one might be close to shave ready, the second one might have been used as letter opener without you even noticing it.

This probably is not a matter of different steels or grinds but of different quality of the bevel.
Set the bevel on the last one correctly and resume the sharpening routine.
Maybe you will get a good shave out of it. If you fail again you could ask yourself "is it the razor?"

As for did solinge produce crappy razors:
Hell yeah. I live in Germany and why the hell should we not have had cheap and useless products?
Solingen produces a lot of crap, today. Why not back then?
Quality will always fluctuate and there is no link between origin of a product and its quality

Have another go on the stubborn one, you've nothing to lose! Sometimes you can't nail it first time round but I'm sure you'll get there with it. As Lesslemming said it could have been in worse shape. If another go doesn't yield results feel free to send it to me for a new home! Sounds like a nice razor from the description you gave. Perhaps you could try it with the slurry on the Chinese then water it down as you go working to a clean stone?

I mean no offense. How many razors have you honed to shave ready? That will dictate what/how much advice to give. One thought: the jump from 1200 to your Chinese hone (guangxi) even with a slurry may have been a bit too far.

Originally Posted by pcb01

I mean no offense. How many razors have you honed to shave ready? That will dictate what/how much advice to give. One thought: the jump from 1200 to your Chinese hone (guangxi) even with a slurry may have been a bit too far.

once again with no offense... i was thinking the same thing......... he possibly could get a good bevel set with the 1200... then spend the rest of the day on the c12k.... but he is gonna have tennis elbow by the time he gets that edge polished out....IMHO

No offense taken guys,I am here to learn.I have only honed 3 razors to shave ready.They were probably in better shape to begin with than the problematic one that I have.I know I will need to get another stone but at the moment I can't afford it.And yeah Tennis elbow...I feel it.

I would suspect the first one was close to shave ready already, while the other pretty far off. The jump from your 3000 to a C12K is very large. You need at least an 8K in between there to bridge the gap.

Originally Posted by JohnnyHoodoo

No offense taken guys,I am here to learn.I have only honed 3 razors to shave ready.They were probably in better shape to begin with than the problematic one that I have.I know I will need to get another stone but at the moment I can't afford it.And yeah Tennis elbow...I feel it.

i just bought a 4k8k norton last week.... i cannot recommend one enough to you.... it cuts fast and improved my shaving 100%..... i was able before to get shave ready off a 1k6k and a c12k along with pasted strops.....

now with the norton it is SOOOOOOO much easier with a MUCH better final product.... cut my razor irritation to practically nothing..... HIGHLY recommended....

Johnny

stirlings not a million miles away from me, and i have a norton 4k/8k, am back tuesday, if am not back at work by next weekend and you can make it across youre more than welcome to a shot

Originally Posted by JohnnyHoodoo

Ok.I find this weird.Recently I got two old razors.Both Solingen made.None were shave ready.So it was hone time.Both went through the pyramid method on a 3000/1200 German stone.All went well.Then both went through 100 laps on a Chinese stone with slurry.Razor # 1 which is a Gotta was shave ready and buttery smooth.Razor #2 is a no name stamped Solingen on the shank with nice pearl scales is still a no shaver.Can there be such a difference between 2 razors,both Solingen made?Both blades were in the same condition pre honing.I am starting to think (after more honing) on the nameless blade that it will never be sharp.Any ideas on this?Were some Solingen made blades poor quality?

You don't give us much to go on except for the 'Solingen' inscription. Were these two razors the same size, the same shape, similar grinds and were they in similar condition?