Thread: Just finished test shaving my first honing job!

...And it was a nice shave! Not the best, to be sure, but very acceptable. Here is the razor in question, a 6/8 Wade & Butcher Celebrated Hollow Ground:



I tried honing it yesterday, but failed miserably - couldn't get the bevel set and then wasted time hoping to fix it with finer stones. Yes, I know that will never work!

After deciding that setting the initial bevel was the problem, I found gssixgun's videos on honing smiling wedges and that gave me the confidence and techniques to try again this afternoon. My progression was 1k King>4k/8k Norton>Coticule. I used one piece of tape, changing it at every stage as per the videos. Everything went really well, needed to do a little work on the heel area, but it all came together in short order. No issues at all with the Norton, and almost decided to stop at 8k then give it a pasted strop before shaving. However, being a pushy bastard, I decided to finish with the coticule after all (just received it from LZ6 and had to use it!). The main issue here is the size of the stone, which is 2-3/8" x 4-1/2". Being too small to fit in my holder, and not trusting myself to hold it in my hand, I tried resting it on top of the Norton - which worked just fine. Taking extra care not to run off the end of the hone, I started with a very light slurry and diluted down to plain water. Didn't keep track of the number of passes, etc. but I could tell when it was done. Everything looked and felt good, it was popping hairs the entire length of the edge.

Stropping consisted of sixty strokes each on linen and English bridle leather. The test shave was with Trumper's sandalwood cream, followed with Baume.be balm. Very smooth, no pulling, no irritation. Three passes (WTG, XTG, ATG) and spot touch-ups, BBS out of the gate. Considering the frustration I had with the same razor yesterday, I'm extremely pleased with how everything worked out today!

Extra thanks to Lynn, gssixgun, and LZ6 for giving me the tools and guidance to make this happen!

Nothing beats the feeling of honing you first razor and shaving with it!
Congrats


But now your HOOKED.....

Just wait until RAD grabs hold of you...............

Originally Posted by DoughBoy68

Just wait until RAD grabs hold of you...............

Believe me, I know... Been shaving with straights for just over 2 months now, here's my seven-day rotation:

"The main issue here is the size of the stone, which is 2-3/8" x 4-1/2". Being too small to fit in my holder, and not trusting myself to hold it in my hand,"

You will find that it is much easier to hone on small hones if you DO hold them in your hand by laying it on your open flat palm. This will allow the hone to slightly rock to accommodate any slight mis-strokes you may make.

Originally Posted by sqzbxr

...And it was a nice shave! Not the best, to be sure, but very acceptable. Here is the razor in question, a 6/8 Wade & Butcher Celebrated Hollow Ground:

Overall, you did a fine job, congrats !

Originally Posted by sqzbxr

My progression was 1k King>4k/8k Norton>Coticule.

A natural stone like the coti does not have a standard grit, but give or take, a BBW/coti combo is approx 4k/8k AFAIK.
I find them to be wonderful "transformers" or "pivot hones", effectively taking a blade to "razor sharp".

But what I am trying to convey is that your coti and your Norton are quite equivalent and that you may have done the same work twice.
I think you would need a good finisher, some are not that expensive (the welsh trio - DT, PS, DGS, the chinese 12k...) some are (Escher, other Thuringe, etc)

On the other side of the spectrum, while I know that 1K usually work wonders to set the bevel, if there are no chips on the edge one can consider starting with higher grits (4k may be just fine)

Originally Posted by sqzbxr

I used one piece of tape, changing it at every stage as per the videos.

A good exercise is, in time, trying to reduce as much as possible the need to change the tape. It helps to learn not to press too hard on the back, and have a lighter hand overall.
It's a useful trick to learn as it's one of the baby steps to honing hollow grounds without taping, besides you don't want tape residue dirtying your hones
(the most difficult trick IMHO being honing a smiling wedge without tape, by raising the back a bit, I know very few people who can do it)

Originally Posted by sqzbxr

The main issue here is the size of the stone, which is 2-3/8" x 4-1/2".

Small is good, more so when you begin as it teaches you to cross your X correctly.

As for "positioning" it, I would listen to Utopian's. Take the occasion to learn palm stropping at the same time
Otherwise, instead of simply making it rest on another stone, I prefer putting a towel between : sucks the excess waters, prevent hones for scarring each other.

Originally Posted by sqzbxr

Stropping consisted of sixty strokes each on linen and English bridle leather.

Bold move not to use chromium oxyde or other finishing pastes on a first project, but not a bad one as far as I am concerned.

Still, in these conditions, you may want to consider 200/300 strokes on the leather, as a freshly honed razor is still a bit raw. You will find that there are very "hard" razors which need a lot of stropping. A W&B is no such thing but you may find it getting better and better as you use it.

Once again, good work !

Congrats. You will get better and better.

Originally Posted by sqzbxr

Believe me, I know... Been shaving with straights for just over 2 months now, here's my seven-day rotation:

I guess I'm lucky RAD didn't attack me. After I acquired 50+ razors I figured I better start selling them off before RAD did hit me.

Originally Posted by DoughBoy68

I guess I'm lucky RAD didn't attack me. After I acquired 50+ razors I figured I better start selling them off before RAD did hit me.

50+ plus razors and no RAD, LOL, isn't that called, "denial"?