A tale of two hones ( Or why my Carborundum and Wojtec MST kick A$$)

So today I had some spare time to work on my honing, and decided to hone up a C-MON Blackie I picked up a while back.

I started with a Carborundum hone I got in an ebay deal. It was a package deal with a small carborundum razor hone, and a larger hone that's a Carborundum merely labled "Fine Silicon Carbide' or something of that nature. I've been using this one to set bevels and take out chips, as it's a bit more aggressive than the other hones I have, but is still quite fine.

After that, I took her to the MST I'd purchased from our good friend Wojtec. It was flat as glass as I'd found out when lapping it, but I rounded the edges some to get rid of a few small chips.

WOW is all I can say. I did maybe 40 or fifty laps after the Carborundum, and the C-MON as popping arm hairs, grabbing thumb pads, and even murdering hanging hairs. Did a dance on the Chromium oxide pasted paddle, stropped 100 passes, and I can't wait for the stubble to grow back for the test shave.

This is kind of a pointless post, but I've been experimenting with several hones lately, and was astonished at how quickly this combination worked for me. The Carborundum was uber-cheap, and the MST is a nice compromise between a smooth polisher, and a bit of aggressiveness.


Cheers,
Landis

So I shave tested the C-MON today, and I was met with mixed results. The razor was comparable to some Lynn honed razors I've used as far as sharpness. It seemed to just wipe the hair away. However, I got three nicks (weepers) and I haven't had a nick in as long as I can remember. The aftershave test left me feeling pretty burned up too.

I noticed a small nick around the heel that I hadn't completely honed out, and think I might take her back to the lower grit to get this one out, as I feel it might be the culprit from the weepers.

Barring the nick being the smoothness culprit, what step would one take if a razor is giving very smooth shaves, and is obviously quite sharp, but lacks comfort? Does this imply a wire edge, or simply that a bit more polishing on the hone or pasted strop might be needed?

Hm, I'm not sure it implies a wire edge. A couple of my razors feel rough right after I hone them, but they settle down after the second shave with them.

Do you have a microscope you could use? Usually I find that an edge that shaves well but leaves me raw has some issues with microchipping. If there's a visible chip in the edge, I'd bet you need to work the blade on the low-grit hone for a while longer. :)

Keep at it,
Josh

And just as another data point: I have / had razors that shave marvelously and just by accident later I discovered that the edges do have microchipping. But really micro - e.g. hard to see but visible at 20-30x mag

So, in my experience - microchipping may or may not account for raw shaves

Good luck
Ivo

I think I will have to hold off on the honing for now. The post shave face inspection doesn't show any visible irritation, so I might have just been too aggressive with my ATG pass and underestimated the razor's sharpness.

I've been conservative with removing metal from this one, as its a great piece, and I hate to do drastic things with my newbie experience level. This one's really cool, and has fancy bolsters with P J M in them. It has a matching case that says Peter J. Michaels of New York, and it has the same stamped into the tang. Pretty classy!

I will giver her another test shave, and try to keep ya'll posted on the progress on this one.

Cheers, and thanks for your input,

Landis