Thread: Hone of the Day

Nice, John-I really like that Llama strop. I've got a fine Japanese strop coming from Santa myself-can't wait. I'll probably re-strop every razor in the house lol!

Originally Posted by ScoutHikerDad

Nice, John-I really like that Llama strop. I've got a fine Japanese strop coming from Santa myself-can't wait. I'll probably re-strop every razor in the house lol!

The 30k strop is probably my favorite piece of hardware I have purchased. Everything else I have a purchased a couple 4 or 5 of, but all razors get the same strop.

I dunno if I'll be able to find it, but there's a coticule.be thread and a video buried in there about softening the linen, which comes stiff as a board. The jist of it is to basically bend the strop at 180 deg and roll the bend down the length of the strop, flip and repeat. Removing the leather first, of course. Helps to clamp one end down onto the table. It will soften and flatten with use, but it really helps the initial break in.

Originally Posted by dinnermint

The 30k strop is probably my favorite piece of hardware I have purchased. Everything else I have a purchased a couple 4 or 5 of, but all razors get the same strop.

I dunno if I'll be able to find it, but there's a coticule.be thread and a video buried in there about softening the linen, which comes stiff as a board. The jist of it is to basically bend the strop at 180 deg and roll the bend down the length of the strop, flip and repeat. Removing the leather first, of course. Helps to clamp one end down onto the table. It will soften and flatten with use, but it really helps the initial break in.

Softening the Kanoyama canvas isn’t hard. Remove the cap and throw it in the washer with some towels and a little fabric softener. Note: this will cause it to shorten by about 1”. Lay flat to dry, then re-cement the cap. Alternatively, you can just wash by hand and work it to no end. Takeshi has different instructions on the Kanoyama listings, but they seem a bit of overkill.

Bonus tip: you can raise a little nap and soften the surface by rubbing it lightly with an Atoma 400 or 600. Go easy, it just takes very few strokes, maybe 4-5, do do this.

That is another method, but removing/regluing the leather, shortening and the resultant fraying is why I avoided that step. I tried to follow the recipe Kanayama states, avoiding the leather handle at all costs, but the rolling was far more effective and gave a much softer feedback in 1/20th of the time to wait for a wash cycle.

Honed what I'm pretty sure is my oldest razor, this one needed to wait for calipers and again for the battery for them (turns out Canada customs got super picky about batteries lately so my aliexpress ones didn't make it). Reason being that the spine seemed awful narrow and indeed it was, took two layers of tape to get the bevel angle in range. Kept the scales for now, 400 then 1k sanding and some neatsfoot makes them presentable, might polish a bit further but mainly just wanted to clean it up a bit. Finished on my ozuku koppa after the Naniwa 10k.



The edge held up through the shave, seems like the steel's kept its temper. Works great, though that toe takes some getting used to. The curve is kinda handy in some spots actually.

Apparently it's almost 200 years old?

Originally Posted by manah

According Robert A.Doyle, such razors with stamp "Old English" on the top of the wedge blade were made in Sheffield, about 1825-1830.

Another reference:
https://sharprazorpalace.com/custom-...one-wedge.html

Looks good. Seems that style of grind was made by a lot of different makers, around that time period.

I'm assuming you cleaned it, while it was pinned.?

Tip: sand the old dry surface of the scales with 220, 400,600, and steel wool, before putting them in oil. They'll come out even better

Originally Posted by outback

I'm assuming you cleaned it, while it was pinned.?

Tip: sand the old dry surface of the scales with 220, 400,600, and steel wool, before putting them in oil. They'll come out even better

Yup, I cleaned it while pinned and used 400/1k before oil. Just wanted a light restore and to preserve some of the original character so mainly focused on taking off a layer for hygiene and getting all the dried/flaking bits. If I find myself reaching for it often I could see removing the pins, reshaping the scales (they're a bit warped) and perhaps modifying them to use a wedge (or just replacing entirely), polishing it up all the way (easier sans pin) and doing more work on the blade. But then its age would be less evident and it wouldn't shave any better, just be a bit less fiddly to close when I'm done.

So far this kind of light work in the scales is as far as I've gotten with horn though and I haven't yet taken any further. Does a bit of oil (wiped on, not soaked) render further sanding/polishing impossible? I can see how it'd be less efficient but have assumed I'd still be able to bring it to a higher polish later if I wanted?