Hi All,

I just wanted to share with those who may be having a similar experience to mine with these "Ice Tempered" blades. It's basically a stainless steel razor but it was proving quite difficult to hone to be honest and I had tried lots of different combinations of Norton 4k/8k, circles/pyramids, Unicot/Dilucot on Coticule but nothing seemed to give it a great edge that I could shave comfortably with.

I found the Unicot method to be OK but not great in comparison to my current method.

So what I done was as follows:

> Dulled blade on a glass tumbler by drawing it lightly across it twice
> Applied 1 layer of electrical tape to the spine (This is the first big change in my honing process)
> Done 80 circles on Norton 4k (40 in both directions) (light pressure)
> 8-10 x strokes on 4k
> Checked if it would shave arm hair - almost

> Repeat 80 circles
> Repeat x strokes
> Shaving arm hair nicely

> 80 circles on 8k
> 8 - 10 x strokes - shaving arm hair even better and passing HHT

From here I employed a pyramid method of 15/15, 10/10, 7/7, 5/5, 3/5, 1/5 ( I remember reading that SS blades benefit from the extra polishing strokes so that's why I keep the 8k strokes at 5 towards the end)

At this stage it seemed quite sharp and was popping arm hair and passing the HHT(for what that's worth), but I decided to try to give it a micro-bevel similar to what is done on the Coticule using the Unicot method. I was unsure on what stone and how many strokes and how many layers of tape but what I did seems to have worked.

I applied one more layer and done about 15 light x strokes on the 8k side of the Norton and tested again and it seemed perhaps even a little sharper than before so I was confident enough to take it to my face so I stropped around 50 on Dovo green pasted loom strop and then about 40-50 on hanging strop and went at it.

Well let me tell you this is the first time I have been able to get a real shave from a straight razor and I really liked it. I done a WTG and AGT and left it at that as my face is still becoming used to the SE but I am confident that I can get as good a shave as my DE or better with just a little practice now.

I hope this may help someone in their honing efforts and if anyone has any comments about the process or how it may be improved then I welcome them!