Well guys, buoyed up by my success with that Herder, I gave an old friend another try--an ABC razor, made in Japan and featuring some of the prettiest scales I've seen...
This one has been giving me fits. I think it might, MIGHT, be made of the hardest steel I've handled yet....it's taking me tons and tons of strokes to make any progress.
For example: I got the bevel set to where it would shave arm hairs, finally, off of my diamond plate and then moved up to the 2K for some polishing (I do this because the diamond plate is really rough, and I feel that the 2k Naniwa super helps boost the 4K a bit on smoothness/keenness). I used the marker test and I was making contact, but it took me DOZENS of passes to make any noticeable difference to the blade, either in scratch pattern or in smoothness on the arm. I think it was about 50 passes? I don't know, a LOT>
Then I moved to the 4K King. Freshly lapped, ready to go...and again, the marker showed full contact, but stroke after stroke, no increase in keenness, and under mag hardly any change in the scratches. After about 40 strokes, I was feeling something, and at about 60 I could pop one or two hairs on my leg (my arm is getting kind of bald). finally, around 100 and I gave up. It would pop some hairs, but nothing like I wanted.
Just for snots and pickles I went on to the 8K. after about 75 passes, it was popping hairs pretty good. Which is not what I want off of the 8K...
And you might be saying "Jim! after all those passes, you must have some terrible honewear!" and I say "Nope. No more than I had when I started, any way." It's craaazy...or I am.
So, could this be some special steel that's resistant to abrasion? Or perhaps stainless? It has some minor pitting, but stainless isn't impervious to that...
ORRRRR...coudl I be making some mistake that I haven't made before? I'm using as little pressure as possible after the 2K now, could that be the problem?
