Thread: A Very Educational Exercise

Learning to hone has been fun, but one problem I've had is that I tend to use razors from antique stores, ebay, etc. and they are all different, all need more less degrees of restoration, metals vary, the works.

Some time back i purchased a 7 day set that was beautiful but the scales were warped so much the razors would put whiskers BACK on your face...so I put the box away and forgot about it.

Then I learned how to straighten out the scales, got out the razors, and realized these Solingen "Fri-Kour" blades were in excellent shape and were all in identical condition except one with a tiny chip.

So this AM I hone them all using the same method on each except for the Sunday razor which, after setting the bevel, I used a BBW/Coticule on. I had my microscope out to watch the bevel form up, and studied how each razor responded to my efforts.

Results:

• I am missing a lot of leg and arm hair!
• I have 7 very nice razors that seem very well honed
• I have been able to practice important parts of the process multiple times on razors that are basically the same, i.e. eliminate variables and focus on technique
• I had a very relaxing morning!

Not a bad exercise!

My eyes have turned a very dark shade of green.

I'm also nurturing my honing skills and would love to have 7 identical razors to practice on, but having the variety of differing razors is nice too.

congrats on your very well honed razors


regards alex

Does sound like a good morning!

Those Fri-Ko razors are very nice shavers, I have had quite a few go across my hones...

7 day sets are a honing challenge in themselves, as you want them all to be exactly equal as shavers....Also you want the wear and the bevels to stay equal.... Personally I don't look all that forward to doing them my slightly OCD brain gets way to wrapped up on keeping them all the same

Here are some pics of a 7 day set of Dorko's I just did last week

http://straightrazorpalace.com/635322-post1.html

http://straightrazorpalace.com/673182-post36.html

Holy cow. How long did that take? I was working on a resto the other day, and gave up after 1 hour on a 220K Norton stone and about 30 minutes on a 1K. The bevel is finally set, but I didn't have the energy/patience to finish on the 4k and 8k.

Originally Posted by souschefdude

Holy cow. How long did that take? I was working on a resto the other day, and gave up after 1 hour on a 220K Norton stone and about 30 minutes on a 1K. The bevel is finally set, but I didn't have the energy/patience to finish on the 4k and 8k.

it actually did not take very long at all. These were full hollow 5/8 razors in lovely condition. I was extra worried about spine wear so I used the lightest stroke I could execute.

To set the bevel it took, on a Norton 1K, 40 X strokes, 40 circles each way, and 40 more X strokes. At this point they shaved moistened leg-hair very nicely. My legs look good too! Then I gave then about 20 X strokes on a Naniwa 1K because, well, any stone that smooth has to help make the bevel nice!

Then I gave them, on average, 25 X strokes on the Naniwa 3K and 8K and checked that they could cut arm-hair above the skin, then finished with, on average, 30 strokes on the Naniwa 12K. I say "on average" because I was watching for the water to start running up the razor evenly across the edge, and also on the Naniwa stones there is a kind of feeling the razor gets when it's right. Maybe I'm goofy but that's what I think for now!

Then I hit the CrOx strop for 30 laps, then 30 on fabric, 60 on leather.

One of the razors, Sunday, after setting the bevel, I used the BBW/Coticule method described in the honing Wiki here--a thin slurry on the BBW to refine the edge and then water and light strokes on the Coti to finish. Because I'm still curious about the "coticule edge" I only stropped that one on fabric and leather, not CrOx.

Here's a picture of one of the razors:

I'm not totally happy with my straightening of the scales. I held them in steam while lightly compressing the scales into the position I wanted, then held them that way until they cooled. This could have been much more precise, to say the least. I also had to tighten the pivot pins on 3 or 4 of them.

Originally Posted by LawsonStone

Learning to hone has been fun, but one problem I've had is that I tend to use razors from antique stores, ebay, etc. and they are all different, all need more less degrees of restoration, metals vary, the works.

Some time back i purchased a 7 day set that was beautiful but the scales were warped so much the razors would put whiskers BACK on your face...so I put the box away and forgot about it.

Then I learned how to straighten out the scales, got out the razors, and realized these Solingen "Fri-Kour" blades were in excellent shape and were all in identical condition except one with a tiny chip.

So this AM I hone them all using the same method on each except for the Sunday razor which, after setting the bevel, I used a BBW/Coticule on. I had my microscope out to watch the bevel form up, and studied how each razor responded to my efforts.


Results:

• I am missing a lot of leg and arm hair!
• I have 7 very nice razors that seem very well honed
• I have been able to practice important parts of the process multiple times on razors that are basically the same, i.e. eliminate variables and focus on technique
• I had a very relaxing morning!

Not a bad exercise!

Sounds like a darn fine morning indeed. So how did the BBW/Coticule compare.

Also, you stated you learned to straighted scales - could you share?