Successfully honed my first razor today!

Honed my first razor to a shave ready state today a 5/8 Eric Antonberg, on a small 6"x1 3/8" coticule/BBW combo to boot!

I set the bevel on a Norton 1k i had lying around for my knives, which took about a half hour because there was a very very small chip out of the edge. i alternated between circles, a rolling x, and a push pull stroke, i like to alternate my strokes when honing knives on the lower grits i always feel like i get to the point i want faster.

After the razor could pop arm hairs easily I moved to the BBW(which had never been lapped or used before today) i created a heavy slurry and set about doing X strokes(50-100) till it felt like i had hit a plateau and the edge wasn't sliding smoother every 10 strokes or so. I diluted the slurry and did about 20 more X's before going on to the coticule side. Once i was on the coticule side i basically followed the same routine i did with the BBW only i probably did 100-150 before diluting my slurry and 100 or so after diluting, at that point i could easily pop arm hair with absolutely no effort and the edge had a very very fine scratch pattern under the 10x loupe.

After the coticule i did about 50 strokes on a very lightly pasted hanging fabric strop(the josh earl step by step instructions in the stropping section are awesome) followed by 20 on plain cloth and 50 on regular leather. i couldn't get a positive HHT, but this is literally my first attempt at honing a razor.

I know only a shave test will truly show the result, and i can say I'm proud of the job i did, a very smooth shave with absolutely no tugging and the razor simply glided through the toughest areas in my already very coarse beard. I have a feeling this is a really awesome razor no matter who would have honed it tho, and the steel feels very very hard, not bad for a razor I got off the bay for less than a meal at a fast food joint.

Cant wait to get more razors to hone, or for the rest of the supplies I ordered to start restoring to come in, I blame this forthcoming addiction on all of you for being so nice/helpful.

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sorry the picture is so blurry

Always nice to hear success strories :tu

Bravo Justin!

Its a rush to shave w/ your own edges. It won't be an unbroken string of successes, but you'll almost always be able to get a good shave with your own work. That's an accomplishment - savor it!

Thanks guys, I got a gustave lecoultre frame back with that too, that I couldn't set the bevel on cuz it has a huge smile. I could get everything but the half inch toward the toe of the blade, I'll hold off on that one for now, I need to replace the scales anyway. The last ofmy minimal restoration supplies(a small square jewelers anvil and some flush cutters) arrive today, so I guess it's time to start on that!

Btw any of you guys ever use norton polishing paper 4k &8k I got a couple of sheets of it to play with.

What is your strop pasted with?

Always nice to shave on your own edge. Congrats.

My strop is pasted with .5 micron CroOx. It's just the standard SRD fabric which I lightly pasted the inside of so I still have a regular fabric side, I'd like to get a strop with linnen and pressed felt at some point so I could have diamond too.

And it is very gratifying to shave with something I sharpened.

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Originally Posted by justinA

My strop is pasted with .5 micron CroOx.

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Thanks.

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Originally Posted by justinAwesome

I have a feeling this is a really awesome razor no matter who would have honed it tho, and the steel feels very very hard, not bad for a razor I got off the bay for less than a meal at a fast food joint.

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Heh heh heh.. a member of the five dollar club? It's a kick, considering a man's lifetime, eh? :)

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Originally Posted by justinA

And it is very gratifying to shave with something I sharpened.

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Mmmmmmm. Do you have an x-pattern stroke in mind from a honing video for that smiling gustave lecoultre frame back razor, yet?

It's a really odd shape. Almost like the shape of a Nike swoosh where the smile is shallow at the heel and the curve gets tighter toward the toe, and I'm not sure how to the the toe, I've tried and X, push pull, circles walking up the hone with the toe angled forward, all sort of things. Can't get it. I've seen other frame backs with a similar smile. I didn't want the bevel to get too widein the center so I am holding off till I know what to do.