Honing a Friodur

I've just spent the last 4 days (on and off, about 1/2 an hour per day) honing my 8/8 Friodur and thought I'd share the experience.

I've only got a Norton 4/8k, so of course that's all I used. After reading some posts in another thread I went pretty hard initially, pressing down with both hands on both the 4 and 8k. I used a rough pyramid approach.

The thing I noticed was that because the steel is so hard, and honing consequently slow, I needed to concentrate and be very careful everything was even on each stroke. It's a long way back once you notice any unevenness.

Anyway, I gradually eased up on the pressure after about 2 days. For the past 2 days I've been slowly creeping up on the sharpness I wanted. Just for the fun of it (and academic curiosity), I went slightly further than I usually do and got it to pass the HHT earlier tonight. Haven't shaved with it yet.

Just thought I'd post this as I've heard the Friodurs are hard to hone - I can certainly confirm that. However, patience, patience, patience (that, and sheer bloody-minded obstinacy) worked for me.

James.

They're not *that* hard to hone, and I've got 5 of them -- they're mayber 25-30% longer to hone than a carbon steel razor. Even the bevel-free new-production example I got Tuesday only took an hour to beat into shape, and 30 mins of that was spent with a barber hone while the norton soaked. Something's wrong somewhere. Mark the bevel with a magic marker in 5-6 places and give it a few licks on the hone, and see if the hone wipes the magic marker off the entire bevel.

Friodur's will fool you sometimes as well. You may want to try more strokes on the 8K side as you work through your routine. The harder steel takes to a polish and finish very well.

Lynn

I think the reputation that stainless razors have for being hard to hone is undeserved, they aren't really *that* much harder to hone, especially when compared to a very hard carbon steel razor. But the technique is just different enough that it can be a bit frustrating the first few times you have to hone them.

I also think their reputation for being less sharp than a carbon steel razor is also undeserved. Because they are harder they need more polishing on the higher grits, but this hardness means they take a very, very fine edge given enough attention.

Thanks for the tips guys. I'm a bit of a plodder with a hone - it usually takes me a couple of days to get a carbon steel razor back on track. I figure I've got time and patience, so I just go slow and get there in the end.

I'll try doing a bit more work with it on the 8k side and see what happens.

James.

The last Friodur I honed took 3-4 honing sessions & test shaves. Total of about 3 hours on the hones. It was tempered very hard. The one before that took half that much.