Thread: Menard's Union Razor

Originally Posted by PaulFLUS

Yep. The ancients also used a "flint knife," or obsidian. I'm sure that was fun.

That's where the term, "Chicks dig scars" comes from. But you knew that....

Shave 13:

Got a set of balsa with diamond paste.... aka the Method Edge....

Did 50-60 laps on 0.5, 0.25, and 0.1 balsa impregnated with diamond and it brought the edge up to par.... Maybe even better than I had it originally.

Anyway, I did a 4 pass shave and it worked very well. A great shave.

Originally Posted by Johntoad57

That's where the term, "Chicks dig scars" comes from. But you knew that....

I even got the shirt...

Man, 20 on CroOx followed by a bit of FeOx on balsa takes the teeth off on some and settle things down for the leather.
When you have gone too far or need to creep up on an edge, it has been a good tool for me. get the thin balsa and let it bend.
Used with discretion, of course. Going lightly on thin coverage
Diamonds are forever. If it goes bad, more won't work

Originally Posted by coachschaller

Shave 13:

Got a set of balsa with diamond paste.... aka the Method Edge....

Did 50-60 laps on 0.5, 0.25, and 0.1 balsa impregnated with diamond and it brought the edge up to par.... Maybe even better than I had it originally.

Anyway, I did a 4 pass shave and it worked very well. A great shave.

Try about twice that many, on the .5µ until you get that edge dialed in. Watch the pressure. Once you are amazing yourself, you can back off the .5 and .25µ and just do the .1µ after every shave. Remember, .5µ grit diamond paste is roughly 30k grit, and it is half buried in the balsa, so you aren't removing very much steel at all, and it takes a while to reach peak sharpness. Once you do, the fine grit alone can maintain it nicely. Over the next few sessions you should see continued improvement.

Originally Posted by CrescentCityRazors

Try about twice that many, on the .5µ until you get that edge dialed in. Watch the pressure. Once you are amazing yourself, you can back off the .5 and .25µ and just do the .1µ after every shave. Remember, .5µ grit diamond paste is roughly 30k grit, and it is half buried in the balsa, so you aren't removing very much steel at all, and it takes a while to reach peak sharpness. Once you do, the fine grit alone can maintain it nicely. Over the next few sessions you should see continued improvement.

The edge was much improved even with the 50-60 laps. It was passing my pre-shaving tests with flying colors and the shave rates with some of the best.

I will certainly try to dial in the edge even more. The problem is I only have one face and use a non-disposable edged straight a couple/few times a week. I also have a dozen or so more razors that I get to experiment with, especially with my new Naniwas - I have been using film since 2011. So I have a lot of variables to dial in - from my honing technique, to maxing out each stone on each razor. I should have enough to keep me busy for a while.

So many razors...

So many stones...

So little time...

(Heavy sigh)

Shave 14:

Tried Slash's suggestion and did 60 more laps on the 0.5, 0.25, and the 0.1. In fact tried it on three of my razors that have been refined by the Method edge. Not sure it added anything to the edges this time. In fact, my near wedge might have lost something - but I have found it doesn't react as well to the really fine pastes.

Two pass shave on the Union and all is well. Did a good job.

Shave 15 / 2nd shave without Method touch up.

took out the union today after leaving it alone for my other razors lately. I did not use the Method last time to re-evaluate the longevity of the edge. Two pass shave was very good.