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Nano Hone first experience.
Last saturday, after a six months stop, I finally met again my (SR fans & expert) Rome's friends.
As I had to hone properly an old Bengall Cast Steel (Sheffield - 7/8" Wedge) razor... had the opportunity to test a 3K Nano Hone to set the bevel (2 layers of tape). At first sight it seems really a nice & fast cutter, that leaves an impressively polished bevel.
After that synth stone, I went on my usual nagura's sequence (Tsushima - Asano Mejiro) on Ozuku Asagi Koppa... this time ended with the Red Ohira Tomo.
I wanted to test that one on a Sheffield's steel to see if performed well as on Solingen's steel, despite not being one of my finest tomo.
Images shows the results I expected, and the shave was more similar to the one when I tested Ohira on Nakayama Kiita, than on the same Ozuku I used this time. I.e. a bit less pleasant when shaving, but always very good on post-shave.
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Second Comparative Nagura Test - Round Five.
As anticipated, the other night I continued my series of Nagura comparison tests on my Ozuku Asagi Koppa. This time, after the Tsushima's slurry, I went directly on the Asano Mejiro's.
Images shows the bevel aspect and expecially how the pitting spot appeared during the second round, finally broke into the edge causing a second micro-chip (see this Post for dimensions).
Note: the razor came fro the stropping test described Here.
Anyway, despite that, today I got one of the closest (and smooth) shave ever, and the presence of the micro-chips was unnoticeable.
One of the reasons could be the repeated use of the Tsushima, which has remarkable sharpening abilities, as well as those of erasing the sharpening marks due to the stones of lower Grit. I.e. as the tests add up, the blade becomes sharper and sharper.
The mejiro, for its part, while not showing the finest aspect, still seems sufficient to ensure a good and smooth finish ... at least in practice.
Next move will be using a very fine Tomo (Ozuku Suita or the Asagi) on this bevel, and see if it adds something to the shave.
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One, Two, Three. Four... can I have little more?
Paraphrasing the first verse of the famous Beatles song "All Together Now", after two excellent shaves obtained first by finishing the blade with the Mejiro and then, adding the Ozuku Suita, I wondered if I could achieve "a little more".
Note: Ozuku Suita's Tomo Nagura is the one that microscopically has the finest appearance and the one that gives the best results when shaving, among all the Naguras in my possession. So... how to get that "little more"?
Inspired by a video seen these days, I wanted to try an oil finish on Llyn Idwal (Welsh Novaculitis).
So, after a light edge joint, I made two rounds on that stone. Got a pleasant feeling during honing and a quite nice microscopic aspect. The bevel shows a quite fine "Oil Kasumi" and the edge was quite (always IMHO of course) straight and clean. The blade passed the treetop test, but in a less aggressive way than the previous finish.
Shave test was positive this morning. I lost a bit of closeness, but gained a bit of smoothness. So, the final result was, more or less, very close to the previous ones.
Did I got a little more? I have to say no, not that way. But, at least, I didn't got a little less... ;););)
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How Teaching should always be!
Euclid,
Your previous two posts are two monuments to what teaching should always be. There are, condensed together, knoweldge sharing, support, guidance, and suggestions as well as concepts of a psychological approach on how to face a path of continuous improvement.
How else could I have correctly assessed what is with what "should" be, without having such a reference guide? As a beginner, I could not know if and how much a stone could/should be performing. As you yourself said: "I am always amazed at what people will shave with and accept". Here, I would have seriously run the risk of settling for little ... because I did not know that much more could be achieved.
And all this ... not only helps me to grow and improve always ... but it can also help the many who read now and will read this thread in the future!
Regarding Heljestrand, before putting your suggestions into action, I want to see how it behaves in the next two/three shaves, to realize how much/how the edge holds now, and how it will perform after the "treatment" you suggest.
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Honing for a friend. First Gujo Nagura test.
As in my last posts, I've got a Gujo, to be added to my already ample arsenal of Nagura. :)
After a quick test during the recent honing meeting, I decided to use it as a starter in my usual honing sequence and see what will happen.
Had to hone a Tridente (Solingen - 6/8" FH) razor for a friend. I refreshed it's edge on my Nakayama some months ago, but didn't had a microscope and don't remember if I used a shobudani tomo or diamond plate to raise the slurry. Being the owner an occasional user of straight razors, didn't heard from him after the first shave (he said it was good) so, when I met him @ the meeting, gave a look to the bevel with microscope because, according to him, the razor currently sticks and tears, especially on ATG pass.
You can see the bevel/edge conditions in first image: a veeeery narrow bevel, a not so straight edge and some micro-chips. Btw. the reference point showed in images IS NOT the narrower part of the bevel! :eek: Anyway, treetop test was positive.
As Euclid440 pointed out, the Gujo is a quite coarse nagura. However, working the slurry, the particulate gradually tends to refine itself (and therefore, it can reach a level of pre-finishing of the bevel). In short, it can act as a kind of Botan + Tenyou. On this occasion, I kept more on the "coarse" side and didn't work too much (neither diluted or thinned) the slurry. The rest of the sequence took place as usual: Tsushima, Asano Mejiro and Ozuku Suita. Used my Ozuku Asagi as a base stone. Used one layer of Kapton tape too.
Microscopic results seems quite good. Gujo immediately straightened and gave a better aspect to the edge/bevel, and the other naguras made, as usual, their homework. Its interesting to see how the bevel enlarged a bit, as the sequence progressed (expecially after the last nagura). I think it is due to the progressive decrease of the (torsional) pressure I used, moving towards the finishing phase.
However, these are very small differences, visible only thanks to the considerable magnification. In fact, the bevel remained very narrow during normal observation.
The razor easily passed the treetop test.
As for shaving results, I will have to wait about a week before I hear from my friend. Of course, I'll publish an update post.
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