Thread: Difficulty Honing a TI

Check out this thread. TI's seem to have quite a few qualitiy issues. https://sharprazorpalace.com/razors/...rs-issard.html
I have one that I can only get to shave well when I strop it on a pasted strop after the finishing hone.

The C135 steel is quite hard. That makes it harder to hone, but it also means it last longer before refreshing is required, so the overall effort is similar.

For the longest time I wanted and wanted a TI but after get several in to hone the edges are hit and miss, very few factory edges are good enough to shave off of especially production razors and then couple that with the wacky wonky grinds that are on them makes things interesting for honing, my best success with them was one layer of super 88 tape and set a good solid bevel then change tape and finish and it usually yields a decent edge

Synthetics

The C135 TI is rated to be 66RHC I have my doubts that it is that high

I don't mess with them I go straight to either Naniwa SS 1-3-5-8-10-12 or Shapton GS 1-2-4-6-8-16-30

These hones are designed to take that hard steel and tame it nice

The Chosera 1-5-10 into a finisher isn't bad either


Be careful and look for a slight frown on them from the factory, hone toward a smile to correct slowly

I now have 5 TIs, the last from AOS in Las Vegas just last month. The AOS people are as dumb as rocks. They sell a pretty product with a price tag. They knew nothing about straight razors, hones, bevel formation; didn’t even know the knot diameter of their best brush. If their website didn’t say it, they didn’t know it.

I digress. Glenn is exactly right. I used my Shapton Glass series to hone the AOS TI, up to 8k and finished on a Coticule. It is now a fine shaver, as are all my other TIs.

Keep after it. That C135 steel can produce incredible edges that last a long time.