Test shave from first time honing....

So tonight, after going to the SRP meet up at Utopian's, I test shaved two razors. On my right side of my face was a 5/8" Full Hollow Wade & Butcher. On the left side of my face was a 5/8" Full Hollow Curtain & Clark Cutlerly Co 782 Special Razor. Both had their bevels set on a Chosera 1k. The C&C was honed on Norton 4k and 8k hones with supervision from many of the people at the meet up, who all helped me advance from hone to hone. After I got home, I honed alone the W&B on the coticule I picked up yesterday at an antique store here in Brainerd. It was a one hone process from heavy, medium and light slurry's to just water. For the brush I used my Plisson. Soap was WSP Barbershop. Pre-shave was a hot towel and home-made pre-shave oil. Aftershave was Fine Clean Vetiver. 3 passess WTG, XTG, ATG with a 4th pass of just touch ups. There are a couple of nicks from the C&C razor but I used alum and both sides had minimal stinging and both sides of my face are a very clean, BBS shave!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited that honing turned out this way!!!! Thanks again to everyone who helped me learn how to hone today!!!!! Now the big question.... should I order any hones other than bevel setters??

Cool! :)

It was good meeting you today and you took to honing like a natural.

I know you have the Coticule but what other hones do you already have?

I don't have any. Coticule was my first hone purchase (and a great find from what I gathered from everyone today :o ) I have the Chosera 1K and the Trend in my cart so far on SRD. Debating if I should toss in anything else or just get really good at the coticule.

If you can do all your honing with the coti why buy anything else? The more you have the more confusing things get :)

The standard arsenal of hones are a bevel setter, Norton 4/8 or equiv, and a finisher ( coticule in your case).

If you try to use the Coticule as a substitute for the Norton 4/8 then your in for a much longer period of learning and a longer time to hone a razor and you will wear out that Coticule much, much faster.

Using the Coticule as a do-all hone is something I will not do.

I have to say I agree. But making another big purchase within two weeks of each other, it's hard to pull the trigger on the 2nd one.

Right now you have 2 shaving razors. Plus one that has been honed up to 1000 grit. So you have 2 razors you can use to practice stropping and shaving with. There is no need to rush the honing of the other 2 razors. Use what you have now.

Frankly the Trend or DMT is not that important
For the time being do what I did for 8 years. Use sandpaper instead of any diamond hones or 1K hones.
Much cheaper to start with.
The most important hones are the 4/8K with the 4K being the workhorse, the one you will use the most.

I see what you mean. When we discussed this earlier, I thought you were still jumping to a 1k hone after the 1k W/D.

After the 1K W/D you can always work up a light slurry on the 4K then dilute it down. The slurry makes a nice transition step.

You can easily use a Coticule for honing, but for your sanity, you will need something in the 1k range to set bevels, a Coticule can be VERY slow. The best plan per Randy, would be synthetics at first.

personally would suggest 1k and bbw. Bbw are cheap and work well with slurry before finishing on coticule with water.

That's a nice start. Way to go! Enjoy the ride. Listen carefully to your mentors, but don't be afraid to experiment now and again. You're off to a great start.

Honed up the 3rd razor this afternoon, the Frieder, Baurmann and Sohne Comfort 25, on the Coticule and did the same shave I did yesterday. Still a great shave. It was a 2 pass, WTG, ATG with a touch up. 50 laps on the linen and 100 on leather. It wasn't BBS in all places, but at the same time, I can only feel scratching if I really stretch and run my finger over some of my trouble areas. Overall, very satisfied with the coticule, but I do think I will use it as a finisher only and get the 4/8. But based on the shaves, and the bevels being set on the Chosera 1K, I have to get one of those so I can repeat this as much as possible.

On the downside, when attempting to get the blade out of the scales on the Comfort 25 to restore it and give it a good polishing and clean up the scales, after punching the pin through one scale and blade and getting it about half way through the other scale, that side broke away. Not sure if there was a small crack or if I was just using too much force, but I guess crap happens.

Get yourself a FastCap Macro Flush Cut Trimmer. It will allow you to cut most of your pins off very easily. Cut one side, then gently only begin to undercut the opposite side's pin and allow the angle of the cutter pull the pin out slightly. Then use a small punch pin to push it out.

I can demonstrate it for you at the next meet-up!

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Originally Posted by Utopian

Get yourself a FastCap Macro Flush Cut Trimmer. It will allow you to cut most of your pins off very easily. Cut one side, then gently only begin to undercut the opposite side's pin and allow the angle of the cutter pull the pin out slightly. Then use a small punch pin to push it out.

I can demonstrate it for you at the next meet-up!

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The next meet up is in Texas.:p

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Originally Posted by bluesman7

The next meet up is in Texas.:p

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Yeah, and TN is in April, but maybe I can slip in another MN one in March!

I have a flush cutter that I used and a 1/16" hole punch with a block of wood that has a hole large enough to allow the pin to be driven into the hole. Prior to using the punch, I do use the flush cutter to "lift" up the other side, giving me enough room to secure the punch without chance of it slipping over the top of the scale. Then the scale on either side of the pin is supported by the block of wood. It's punched out a number of pins, this is the first one that broke that I didn't notice a prior crack in.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Utopian

Yeah, and TN is in April, but maybe I can slip in another MN one in March!

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Yeah, a meet-up per month sounds about right.

You could start with a 16K Shapton Glass and then work your way down. Too Soon? bj

I need a bevel setter and mid ranges. Finishers will be coming as I get good with bevels and mid ranges. Will do some finishing on the coticule in the meantime.