Thread: Hone of the Day

I think this was from Tuesday been a busy week up here hehehe

Hayashi on a my Nakayama full nagura progression




So freaking smooth

Used the 600 for some repair work on a Robeson, no tape. The Chosera 600 makes short bevel work on wedges too.
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Bevel set re-scaled vintage Boker on 1K, no tape.
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Finished a few on the synth coticule. A slow stone but very fine and mild for questionable steel.
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shave test positive
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Time to re-condition the strop so it got hit with lather and brushed over with some 600 grit paper. Lapped and polished up my Norton 4k/8k from 320 grit to 2k. Set myself up with mood music via Pandora, 3 hard rock stations, two country stations, and one symphonic metal station on shuffle. Some Sandalwood & Patchouli in the oil burner, and went to town. Gold Dollar 208 I keep around as a test razor, and did the full Norton 1k, 4k, 8k progression.



Finished with 400 strokes on a Guangxi hone. Overkill? Probably, but I was playing with it. 100 with a 'heavy slurry,' 100 with a light slurry, 100 just water. Heavy slurry in quotations because this rock is hard as steel and using the slurry stone they gave me, presumably the same type of stone, it's a miracle you can work any up at all. While I was at it I got to thinkin about a video of Glen's I watched showing how to use a barber's hone with both water and shave lather. You guessed it, the final 100 strokes were with a coat of shave lather just to see what would happen.



The conclusion: Could neither tell nor see a difference at 60x magnification between the edge before or after the run with shave soap. But it was fun to play with and I'm liable to do it again, perhaps with fewer strokes next time. 10 passes on CrOx, 30 on linen, 60 on leather. Shave test - passed with flying colors. Once again I've managed to make the cheapest razor in my collection the best shaver. Guess I'll be taking the other 2 back to 4k and cleaning them up again. They shave decent, but it's a F%^&*@ travesty when a Dovo is outshone by a Gold Dollar.

Decided to shellac my nakayama. Also bought a nice piece of cedar to make a permanent base for.

Got a pair of barber hones in today and decided to play with them. Got them lapped flat and polished up, then dulled my Dovo on my 4k so I could bring the edge back and test the barber hones on a fresh set.



The orange hone on the right appeared to be 2 sided since the lower half is a green material. For the life of me, I could not see a difference in the edge under 60x magnification. I switched over to the Swaty to play with it, and finish honing for the day (back side is the one I lapped and cleaned up). I feel like the barber hones did their part because that blade was singing through the hair on my arm, but I botched it in the stropping phase because the shave was awful. Have to try again when my face is burning less.

It could be that the edge just needs a more refining grit than what the Swaty provides (at leat with the presure you ended off with). I got a razor singing through hair with a diamond plate and a Sharpmaker rod, but it wasn't refined enough for a comfortable shave. The big difference I think between knives and razors is that knives just need to be sharp. Razors also need to be smooth, and that takes a different level of refinement.

Final strokes were just the weight of the blade. The heel and toe shaved fine, but there was a dead spot in the center. Makes me think I rolled the blade while stropping. Or perhaps had an issue with a wire edge that went undetected as another pointed out. I'm more apt to think it is user error than the hone at this juncture.

Same Dovo, same hone selection. Had to drop back to 1k and work through the progression to get the edge back. Still maintain that it was bad form while stropping since that is the only thing I changed and now it shaves well across the entire edge. Must've rolled the edge while rushing, tired, and being generally inattentive.

Decided to freshen up my Henckels 50 1/2 on my recently acquired Shapton 12k (after first lapping the Shapton )

Don't do a lot of honing for others, but this pair of Rodgers, dormant for 70+ years, is about to be used by a namesake from a newer generation. Did not want to shave-test them. Figure to let that run in the line.

Popping hairs off the 1k Naniwa, my preferred method of sure-fire success has been employed.
A good old 4/8 Norton (Pyramid!) and a silky feeling off the 8. On to some Naniwa 12k, a touch of Escher.
No doubt!