Celebrate with me gentlemen!!
I feel the need to do backflips and handstands, and I have all of you to thank for this. I have realized success!! About two weeks ago, I bought a Genco Red Cross on e-bay (cheap, but in need of work). Given some reading on this site, I started learning to hone using the Arkansas stones that I've owned for years. I got comfortable with the technique, but as Randy suggested, these stones cut SLOW. I set the whole thing aside while waiting for my Norton 4/8K to arrive. In the meanwhile, I purchased a 'vintage' strop on e-bay--it wasn't a total waste of money, I was able to salvage the brass swivel :). I also ordered some leather and stropping pastes from Keith at HandAmerica--awsome seller by the way. I also picked up a 60-100x scope at RadioShack. The Norton was delivered this past Wednesday.
Anyway, this weekend my wife and daughter went to visit relatives and I sat down first thing this morning to work on the razor. Taking a close look at the blade, I found that it had a couple of nicks between 1/4 and 1/2 of the bevel deep, so I set to honing. After removing the nicks (yes, it took a little over an hour), the door bell rang and here was the postman with my HandAmerica order..talk about timing. Well, I finished honing on the 4/8K, examined the edge and it was pretty uniform all of the way across, all scratch marks parallel to each other and no evidence of a wire edge. I preped a couple of pieces of unfinished leather, one with 1.8 micron 'black diamond' paste and the other with 0.5 micron chromium oxide. 50 laps on each, and the edge looked downright polished under 100x. Popped a hanging hair at three places from each side of the blade!!! Can you feel the excitement here?!
So, I finally am ready to place a straight to my face this evening. But before I do--just in case I end up cutting my throat and never have the opportunity to log back on to this forum--I wanted to thank all of you for the information, advise, and support you provide to newbies such as myself. I'll let you know how the first shave goes. Wish me luck. Ed