Thread: Picking brains till they bleed

I'm sure a smarter man would have just left this razor alone, but I've never suffered from being overly smart.

My old Lord and Harvey, circa 1820-1830?



Sooo... I decided to hone it. I really wanted to shave with it. I'm not thrilled with age alone, I prefer old items that are still useful. Bear in mind that this is one major-league wedge:



I think I've done pretty well. The bevel rides up the blade a bit in the middle, but really; the spine on this thing isn't all that reliable. I'll bet I used the marker on this 10 times while I was honing to keep track of edge contact, and I used every honing stroke known, plus a few I made up along the way, to get to where I am.





I know it likes like there's a lot of hone wear along the spine, but really it's just more like "corrosion wear", "patina" wear if you will. Yeah, I know I could have taped it, but I hate taping, and I figure nobody would have taped it 100 years ago, or 150 years ago, or 170 years ago. They would simply have honed it.

The deal is, it shaves, but the shaving is a little problematic--- sort of like going back to "Shaving 101". Simple strokes, like my cheeks, shave ok, but when I head for more complicated areas, the quality of my work deteriorates. I'll be going back to the 1k for a while to try to improve the edge but I'm wondering---

Can I expect this to get as sharp as a modern hollow?
Should I expect shaving results like a modern hollow?

Any ideas -- honing or shaving ---- on where I should go next?

Should I leave the corrosion/patina like it is?