Thread: Henckels Friodur

Need Help! I have a Hendkels Friodur 8/8 that is driving me crazy as well as making my finger go numb from so much honing. No matter what I try or do I can not get this razor to take an edge. I either end up with a dull razor or an overhoned razor that poops out as soon as you try and shave with it. I have tried my Norton 4k/8k along with my Belgian Coticule, a Jap Honyama Awase, Escher Water Hone, Leather hones with diamond .5, .25 micron paste, .5 chromium oxide. I have tried X patterns, pyrimids, small circles, front honing along with back honing, barber hones of all sorts. I may have met my match finally. I have spent quite a few hours of the last two days trying to get this sucker to shave right. Can it possibly be a bad batch of steel or maybe a bad heat treatment somewhere along the line. I do know that it is SS and suposidly some really hard steel. It seems like it does not take too many strokes to get an overhonned edge. Any help in this matter would be greatly appreciated, before I give this sucker a toss.

If you decide to toss it, toss it my way

To me, it sounds as if you are working the edge too much. Starting sharp then fizzing out sounds a lot like a wire edge from overhoning. With honing, less is better than more.

I recently (well, last year) bought an 8/8 Friodur. The steel is harder, so honing takes a bit longer. I also noticed that it was easy to go a bit too far and develop a wire edge if you weren't careful, and I agree with sensei_Kyle that it sounds like that's what you've got.

This probably sounds a bit weird, but I "sneak up" to sharpness when I hone the Friodur (which I must say hasn't been very often). Try backhoning a little, and start again. Go slow, test very regularly. Also, don't be afraid to spread the process over a few days in short bursts. Fatigue can cause your form to get sloppy, and can impact on the efficacy of the honing.

It's possible I suppose, but unlikely, you have a bad batch of steel. Don't dump the razor yet, there's many other options to try before that (sending it to a honemeister would certainly be a good next step)- they're excellent shavers once sharp.

Best of Luck,

James.

If you've tried everything and your sure your honing is up to snuff I would take a very close look at the razor and make sure you don't have a warp in it. That could cause all your efforts to be for nothing.

Make absolutely sure that the wire edge is gone. Thats the first step. I hope you have a microscope to help you determine that. If not them perform 25 laps on the 4K. That should remove any wire edge. If anyone has insight into this razor that says otherwise then please speak up.

From there I would start with a conservative pyramid then 25 laps on an Escher followed by 25 laps on the chrome oxide and then test shave.
As has been mentioned it seems that you need to be very conservative with this razor and sneak up on a shaving edge.