Thread: My First Hone.

Today was my first shave, with a razor that I honed. I finally feel that I accomplished something with my new found passion.
It started with saving this "Brantford Cutlery # 85 from an antique shop. I hand sanded for for about 7 hours total. I did not remove the scales, not ready to handle that yet.
I did loose the etching on the blade though.
I started reading everything I could find on the forum for about 6 days regarding honing. The blade either had a slight smile or was uneven; I really don't know how to tell the difference.
I decided to "bread knife" the blade, making it flat; using a DMT 325.
I taped the spine and worked my way through the Norton stones: 220, 1000, 4000, 8000.
I finished with a Shapton 16000, stropped.
I started yesterday and finished this morning. I used my face as a test, lathering the sides to test the sharpness. I ended up making 5 trips back to the shaving mug (two mugs of cream needed).
Finally the blade cut smoothly. I lathered again and completed the shave.

Thanks for looking,
John

face.

Congrats on the razor save. She is a beauty. And congrats on your successful honing adventure. As you are discovering honing practices can be subjective as to preferences and ultimately I think we all develop our own style with different hones in pursuit of perfect shaves.

Congratulations on the restore, she looks great.

Well done on the honing and the restore. It's a great feeling to shave with something that has been completed by your own hands.

Congratulations. First is the most important rest will follow.
Enjoy

Shapton 16000 I guess I got to get me one of them.
Good job.

Beautiful! Well done!

Thanks to all, for the kind words. I rescued eight razors in the past 6 days; I've got a lot of honing planned.

very nice looking razor.. as much as i would have left the tarnish and the etching, it looks great polished up like that too, so good job, she's a looker.

Nice work!