Thread: Koraat razors

Thanks for the encouragement guys...I do plan to have two, eventually....Im impressed with
BRW razors as they look right up my street. He had two for sale yesterday but Im not in a rush.
He doesn't mention the grind of his razors though...does anyone know?

Ive watched many stropping videos and techniques and as long as I go slow at first, I think
I can make it. What has me a bit concerned is learning to hone by myself. As Im a minimalist
by nature and not a DIY person normally, Im still weighing up honing options.

I really liked the idea of getting a hard JNAT finishing stone and 4 grades of Mikawa Nagura
to do a progression. Ulrik informs me that he uses synthetics for his edges. He uses a Naniwa
3k/10K stone....former for bevel setting and latter for finishing. Then he uses CROX on a denim strop
and that's more or less it.

Initially I asked Ulrik for scales in light horn but Im thinking of paper micarta scales now....any thoughts on that
material?

Originally Posted by Tester28

Im impressed with
BRW razors as they look right up my street.
He doesn't mention the grind of his razors though...does anyone know?

He calls his grind a half hollow, but it shaves much like a full hollow. The one BRW that I tried was a very nice razor.

Originally Posted by Tester28

Ive watched many stropping videos and techniques and as long as I go slow at first, I think
I can make it. What has me a bit concerned is learning to hone by myself. As Im a minimalist
by nature and not a DIY person normally, Im still weighing up honing options.

I really liked the idea of getting a hard JNAT finishing stone and 4 grades of Mikawa Nagura
to do a progression. Ulrik informs me that he uses synthetics for his edges. He uses a Naniwa
3k/10K stone....former for bevel setting and latter for finishing. Then he uses CROX on a denim strop
and that's more or less it.

Shaving with a straight razor, stropping and honing all look deceptively easy to do but take more time to learn to do well than one would think.

There is a reason a lot of people use synthetic hones. Unlike natural hones you are dealing with known grit ratings which makes them easier to learn to hone on. If you don't badly mess up a shave ready edge, all you may need is a finishing hone like the 12K Naniwa to keep your edge going. OTH if you need to reset the edge you may need a full progression of hones starting at a 3k Naniwa on up to the 12K Naniwa.

I learned to hone by myself and it was a long and frustrating journey. You can eliminate some of the time and frustration if you have a forum member close to you who can give you one on one lessons. Mind you, once you have learned how to, it is a very satisfying experience much like finally learning to shave proficiently with a straight razor.

Bob

Yes, because he finishes on a 10k stone, his edge can feel a bit rough, that why I finish my Koraat's either on a Jnat or a Naniwa 12k&Suehiro Gokumyo 20k. Also buy some Ballistol because water is the enemy of a Koraat blade when storing your razor, I had some black pitting with my first Koraat. Now I put Ballistol right away on my blades and I don't have black pitting at all.

For strops I would recommend getting a strop from scrupleworks, very good quality and quite affordable

Originally Posted by shadowman12

Yes, because he finishes on a 10k stone, his edge can feel a bit rough, that why I finish my Koraat's either on a Jnat or a Naniwa 12k&Suehiro Gokumyo 20k. Also buy some Ballistol because water is the enemy of a Koraat blade when storing your razor, I had some black pitting with my first Koraat. Now I put Ballistol right away on my blades and I don't have black pitting at all.

Nowt wrong with finishing on a 10k, if used correctly.

Originally Posted by markbignosekelly

Nowt wrong with finishing on a 10k, if used correctly.

I'm not saying it's wrong, I'm just saying that I prefer an edge which honed on a more finer grit than a 10k. After a Koraat is finished on a Jnat (Shobudani or Okudo kiita koppa for example), that feels the best for me.

Originally Posted by shadowman12

I'm not saying it's wrong, I'm just saying that I prefer an edge which honed on a more finer grit than a 10k. After a Koraat is finished on a Jnat (Shobudani or Okudo kiita koppa for example), that feels the best for me.

According to post # Ulrich uses a Crox pasted strop after the 10K Naniwa finisher. IIRC Crox has a grit rating of 30K or there abouts. In any case, I use a Crox sprayed strop after my Naniwa 12K and it seems to really smooth out the edge. Everyone has their preference as to what to use to get the edge they want.

Bob

Originally Posted by bluesman7

He calls his grind a half hollow, but it shaves much like a full hollow. The one BRW that I tried was a very nice razor.

It looks more like a 1/4 hollow to me but I can't say for sure.

Originally Posted by BobH

According to post # Ulrich uses a Crox pasted strop after the 10K Naniwa finisher. IIRC Crox has a grit rating of 30K or there abouts. In any case, I use a Crox sprayed strop after my Naniwa 12K and it seems to really smooth out the edge. Everyone has their preference as to what to use to get the edge they want.

Bob

Somewhere I also saw he uses diamond spray, sometimes it's a big mystery how he finishes razors, so many different stories going around on the forums

Edit. I send him an email about how the strops and this his answer:
I strop 5 laps per side with Crox, 5 laps per side with 100K diamond spray on leather and than I strop on clean leather.

I never stropped with diamond spray before, can someone recommend me a good one, which is also 100k, the one Ulrik is talking about?

Originally Posted by shadowman12

Somewhere I also saw he uses diamond spray, sometimes it's a big mystery how he finishes razors, so many different stories going around on the forums

Edit. I send him an email about how the strops and this his answer:
I strop 5 laps per side with Crox, 5 laps per side with 100K diamond spray on leather and than I strop on clean leather.

I never stropped with diamond spray before, can someone recommend me a good one, which is also 100k, the one Ulrik is talking about?

In any event, you won't get a smoother finer edge than doing the pasted strop routine after the finishing hone. That is regardless of if it is just Crox or Crox followed by diamond spray. Never personally used diamond so can recommend one but also never felt the need to try it out.

Bob