Thread: S-L-O-W Blade?

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?

Could you compare the width of the bevel of the ABC to the width of the bevel of the Herder?
Inquiring minds would like to know.

Thanks,
Bart.

Originally Posted by Bart

Could you compare the width of the bevel of the ABC to the width of the bevel of the Herder?
Inquiring minds would like to know.

Thanks,
Bart.

The ABC is marginally wider than the Herder. The Herder is TINY, the ABC seems pretty average. I'm at work so I can't post a pic...

Originally Posted by JimR

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...

If it has some Vanadium etc. in it it could be more resistant to abrasion & the Kings are slow IME with some alloys. Ceramics like Naniwas or Shaptons etc should be pretty quick tho.

So I finally came back to this blade, after my frustration had melted away, and continued ot have problems.

I ran into Glen in chat and asked him about it, and he recommended I try slurry on my 4K (the blade is apparently Swedish steel, and Swedes have a reputation for hardness I guess...). Using slurry, he recommended Bart's method, which I took to mean the Dilutcot method (I've had some interesting results with this off of the Nakayama, as well...Try it. See.)

I figured this would be a great chance to try out my new Botan Nagura (the "speedy" one) so I got my 4K hone all naguraed up, and went to town.

I gave it 40 passes, and was already noticing some improved keenness. I diluted down, and at about 80 passes, when I was down to water, it was slicing through arm hairs like a mofo. Already a huge step up!

So I went on to 8K and did the same thing. Dilucot using the Botan nagura...

AMAZING. I shaved off that edge last night, no finisher, no stropping, got a BBS with almost no irritation. I could feel the edge a bit more than I like, but it was sharp, sharp sharp.

I'm sooooo excited about this, both because I got a great shaver honed up AND because I'm starting to use these nagura...

Thanks Glen!!!!!

Way Cool don't ya love it when a plan comes together

You just added another arrow to the quiver, so many of these tricks can be used in different ways... I learned that 4k bit way back on the Norton 4k using the Norton prep stone believe it or not.. I really don't remember if I read about it or just figured it out by trial and error but heck it works...

What diamond plate do you have?

And did you "break it in" before using it on your razors?

Originally Posted by Seraphim

What diamond plate do you have?

And did you "break it in" before using it on your razors?

It's a cheaper Japanese one, but it seems to work fine.

Yeah, I broke it in on some kitchen knives and lapping some hones...It7s still making some good bevels.