Thread: Problem child needs fixing

This is my problem child. First, it won't stay honed, or sharp. Bought it from John Crowley at The Shaveing Shop. Even he admitted it was very hard to hone. Second, it stains super easy. Glenn (gssixgun) wrote some where he's honed razors that rusted while looking at them. This razor first stained with Coticule slurry on it. I wiped the slurry off and there were spots. Contrast the two pictures. Anyway, I ramble. This really is a thread about honing this razor.

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I read with much interest a recent thread dealing with heat tempering and how some blades, if over tempered, can over harden at the edge. The suggested remedy was to joint the edge several times at the 1k level before progressing on to get down to some good metal.

This was the first time I used magnification to aid me at each progression...And I got pictures too. Here's my sequence of progression: Shapton Glass series 1k, 2k, 4k, 8k, Coticule, my new Dan's Whetstone True Hard Arkansas novaculite (featured in another thread), and dozens of strokes on a dry Zulu Grey. Some of the pictures didn't turn out as well as I would have liked, so I don't have pictures at each stage.

Here are the pictures.

Shapton Glass 1k

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SG 2k

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SG 4k

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SG 8k

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Arkansas True Hard

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Zulu Grey

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The ultimate test, and only reliable test, is the shave test. My problem child wasn't a problem today. The shave was fabulous. For what ever reason the edge has been failing after the first or second shave. Hopefully with jointing I was able to get down into some good metal for a lasting edge.

That's the Wacker 8/8 limited with super narrow spine, from a few years back, right?

I spent two years failing to hone this razor, using naturals and synthetics - I put it in a drawer for a year and then gave it a 'last chance' with five layers of Scotch 88 tape (yes 5!) and honed it on a full DMT diamond plate progression from coarse to XXX Fine (finishing with Naniwa SS 10k).

It now shaves like a dream and holds the edge without problem.

Not necessarily recommending such extreme measures (my DMTs are usually for repair work and the use of these plates for honing is controversial) but it worked perfectly for me and I continue to enjoy this razor a lot (together with my other Wackers, none of which had this problem).

Actually it has an extra thick or wide spine, not narrow at all.

Problem child was tame again tonight. Two in a row. I'll use it again tomorrow, then put it back into regular rotation. It will come up again in about two weeks. To me that will be the real test.