Just got this beauty shave ready...

Hello,

So far I have been able to keep my razors shave ready with coticule and pasted strops, but from dull as a butter knife to shave ready, it's my third time.
Gold Puma is not mint :(. Light pitting and a bit of hone wear are clearly pictured (I hope). I only cleaned it with metal polish. I will give it serious polishing eventually.
It was really, really dull when I received it. Few passes on extra fine DMT, and off to blue Belgian. After about two hundred passes (I kid you not) I was getting nowhere. As I am not particularly patient, I switched to 4000/8000 Norton, lapped on coarse DMT. It took about five or six pyramids, but I finally did it. I finished off with 5 passes on 8000 Norton and 12 passes on yellow coticule with a slurry. It shaves now as well as any of my other razors. I will keep fine tuning it. A few passes on coticule followed by a few passes on chromium oxide 0.50 pasted paddle strop should do the trick. A question; should I start with a few passes on Blue Belgian, or on 8000 Norton, or skip it altogether and just use coticule and pasted strop?
Enjoy the pics. Not of the highest quality, but I had fun taking them.

Happy hunting,

Dariusz

I'm a true believer in finding your own way in this thing but since you asked.

It looks to me like there is some rust near the edge which is not a good thing. When I get an Eboy Special especially if there is any rust or corrosion near the edge I like to give it a few passes on the 4K Norton to get rid of all the rusty stuff. You will never get a good edge if there is rust or corrosion in the metal at the edge. After that you could stick with the 8K or use the Blue. Try both and see which seems to be working better. The blue is way slower. and then on to the coticule. After the coticule you should be good to go. If you want to give it the ultimate a diamond pasted strop either .50 or .25 will do it. But thats really optional.

I agree with the advice already given. The pastes are optional as the yellow coticule after the 8k is all that's really needed.

Regards,
EL

Your suggestions are most appreciated.

Dariusz