Thread: Quick finish honing method

Please regard the second paragraph as a prelude to the rest of the post.

Some of you might remember several years ago when Ron H [UTOPIAN] posted his idea of cutting the side out of a cereal box and using the INSIDE surface of the cardboard as a dry pasted bench strop. I took him seriously and attached the cardboard to an 8x3x3/8 glass with finished edges all 4 sides and treated the surface of the cardboard with .1 micron iron oxide.

That having been said, I have found that a quick finish procedure for a blade fresh off the 8k goes like this:

5 to 8 laps on a barber hone w/lather [ I use Aloxite Barber Hone, Swaty will do nicely ]
20 to 25 laps on slurried Thuringian
30 laps on GY20k plain water
50+ laps on said cardboard with .1 micron fe/ox
Strop 80 to 100 laps leather and shave

The shaves I am getting from this procedure are some of the best shaves of my shaving life. That amounts to just over 45 years. I am a progression nut. I try any progression the pops into my head and once in awhile I hit the bullseye. This is one of those times.

Just thought I would share another progression with you guys.

GY20k?
the rest I understood.
I'm hoping it's not something really obvious

Originally Posted by RezDog

GY20k?
the rest I understood.
I'm hoping it's not something really obvious

I think he is referring to the Guacamole 20K, this months must have hone!

Suehiro Gokumyo #20000 grit (@ 0.5 µm). : Tools from Japan, Japanese woodworking tools direct from Japan.

I like the "conditioning stone" that comes with it.

Does it really make the edge better than one finished on the Gokumyo? I heard people rave about the GY20K and didn't think there was any better synthetic finish one could get.

Originally Posted by Kees

I like the "conditioning stone" that comes with it.

Even comes with an "impressive, presentation style box".

The box will certainly make your razor even sharper and smoother

This is a quick method?

There are three hones involved and five steps.

Just saying.

Michael

Originally Posted by mjsorkin

This is a quick method?

There are three hones involved and five steps.

Just saying.

Michael

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Pardon me. I should replace the term "quick" with the term "deadly" . I thoroughly enjoy the shaves coming off the iron oxide. Larry Andro sells it in small packets.

Thanks for the tip Jerry. I have a different philosophy. I know that many experienced straight razor honers use stuff like iron oxide, CBN, diamond paste and chrom-ox following their honing/finishing stone. This has always 'rubbed me the wrong way.' I have the GY20k and a couple of Escher Y/Gs.

I don't understand taking a razor finished on one of the recognized best finishing stones, that costs hundreds of dollars, to a dollars worth of powder on a piece of cardboard, leather, or felt. If that was what I was going to do I'd just stop at the 8k and go through a progression such as you describe.

Maybe the reason I am so adamant on finishing on the stones alone is because I tried and failed in the 1980s. Gave up straight razor shaving for 20 years because of that and only came back to it successfully thanks to a guy named Lynn Abrams starting a forum and sharing his expertise.

So I don't doubt your results and applaud your sharing them OTOH, if I can't get as good an edge as can be got off an Escher y/g or a GY20K I'm just going to get a pack of Gillette 'Good News' and put all of this stuff on the bay ......

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Thanks for the tip Jerry. I have a different philosophy. I know that many experienced straight razor honers use stuff like iron oxide, CBN, diamond paste and chrom-ox following their honing/finishing stone. This has always 'rubbed me the wrong way.' I have the GY20k and a couple of Escher Y/Gs.

I don't understand taking a razor finished on one of the recognized best finishing stones, that costs hundreds of dollars, to a dollars worth of powder on a piece of cardboard, leather, or felt. If that was what I was going to do I'd just stop at the 8k and go through a progression such as you describe.

Maybe the reason I am so adamant on finishing on the stones alone is because I tried and failed in the 1980s. Gave up straight razor shaving for 20 years because of that and only came back to it successfully thanks to a guy named Lynn Abrams starting a forum and sharing his expertise.

So I don't doubt your results and applaud your sharing them OTOH, if I can't get as good an edge as can be got off an Escher y/g or a GY20K I'm just going to get a pack of Gillette 'Good News' and put all of this stuff on the bay ......

+1
I do not see how the edge of the Suehiro can be improved further with any pastes, but YMMV.