Thread: my first honing experience

i think it will better if he ships to you Bart .He is closer to you and will cost a lot less then sending to usa. As long as he gets help that is all i need.That will make me very very happy
Thank you Bart for your help.

Plan B didnt work very well .It did shave but the edge didnt seem sharp enough for an ATG pass.. so I taped the spine and reset the bevel...went on to the BBW and the coticule.. stropped it and shaved with it.. The razor popped the haires on my leg just like the ERN and the Dorko but the shave was still not very good.. so I think I'll send it off to Bart..

I also tried to hone my Crown but it was less sharp than the Dirlam so I'll ask Bart to hone that one as well...or give me a clue what I'm doing wrong here..

Maarten

Today I found a package from Belgium in the mail... It was the Dirlam and the Crown I sent to Bart..

At first I didnt recognize it because Bart almost regrinded it a bit... WOW it looks a lot better than when I sent it to him..

The shave was pretty good.. I messed up with my new brush so the lather was too dry and I think I should have stropped it before I started the shave..

Think Bart will tell us what on earth I did wrong honing this razor..

My honing skills have improved quit a bit since I gave up on the Julius but they are no match for what Bart can do to a razor (I think he talks to the razor giving it enough confidence to scare the whiskers away)

Thanks Bart!!

Maarten

When the Dirlam arrived at my place one thing immediately caught the eye. Extremely wide bevel and spine wear. The razor was practically a full wedge, and I believe Maarten did some serious honing in his attempt to get a decent bevel on the razor.
The width of the bevel sides was several mm at some parts.
Without the use of several layers of tape it is impossible to avoid such wide bevel panes on a nearly geometrical perfect wedge. And a second disadvantage that Maarten couldn't possibly avoid, was the differing width of those bevel panes. The least unevenness of the spine causes this, and with these old wedges, there's always some unevenness at the spine. Gssixgun had a thread about honing wedges some time ago, where he stated suspicions that some wedges couldn't possibly be honed with the spine resting on the hone, and I have to agree with him.
Nevertheless, Maarten managed to have a completely developed bevel on the razor. I shaved with it, and it was not the worst shave, but there was pull and discomfort, because the razor was not keen enough. With those overly wide and highly variable width bevels, it would have been a hell of a job, refining the edge on a Belgian Blue with slurry, taking an exponential amount of time compared to more regular bevel widths. Looking at magnification, I could see the typical pattern of a Blue, but I could also see deep scratches running underneath it, all the way to the apex. Most likely scratches from a DMT.
I could have opted for a quick resolution. Adding 4 layers of tape to the spine and starting a new and narrow bevel, refining and finishing it and sending it back after a final test shave. But I felt sorry for the Dirlam. So, after talking to Maarten, I took it to a rotating grinding wheel with a diameter of about 1.1/2" (4cm) and ground it slightly more hollow. I held it with my bare hands, to make sure I wouldn't let the blade become too hot. When all hone wear was completely gone, I sanded up to 600 grit and used various buffing wheels to get a mirror polish. Here's a picture of the final result, that actually looks a bit better than reality.

After that, I taped the spine width 4 layers of tape, and recut a bevel on the DMT325 and DMT600. Next I removed one layer of tape, did one downstroke and finished the new bevel on a Coticule with slurry. The new bevel looks pretty normal. I refined on a Belgian Blue, 'cause I wanted to use the same tools as Maarten. I finished with about 100 laps on the same Coticule with water, removed the tape, and stropped 100 on leather, slightly less taut as usual to make up for the tape. The test shave was much better, but not entirely up to my standard. A few days later, after some contemplation and calculating the edge angle of the Dirlam, I reapplied 5 layers of tape (which is two more than what I used to complete the bevel) did 15 laps on the Coticule with water. After removing the tape, I stropped again with ever so slightly reduced tautness (do you get the hint, Maarten?) and had a marvelous test shave. I happen to like wedges, and this was as good as it gets for me.

The Crown Maarten send me for honing, was also just lacking a bit of extra keenness + the coarse DMT scratches. After getting rid of those on a Coticule with slurry, I too struggled with getting it keen enough off the Blue before finishing on the Coticule. I could have called it shaveready, but I usually aim for a bit sharper. I tried 70 laps on my Nakayama, but still wasn't pleased. A few days later, the Chosera 10K worked its magic. I finished on the Coticule again and found what I was after.

I hope Maarten likes them both.
I think he's doing well. I have surely shaved with razors that were not keener than those he send me, when I was starting out with honing my own razors.

Best regards,
Bart.