Thread: Art of Shaving - cheapest place for "singing" TIs?

Originally Posted by Seraphim

Good news/bad news perhaps?

Nice to have hard steel. PITA to have hard steel....

That's it exactly!

[quote=SteveS;252131the idea is you start the stroke with the heel (and spine) in contact with the hone. As you pull the blade through the stroke, you rock the blade forward to move the point of contact from the heel to the toe. At the end of the stroke, the toe is in contact with the stone.[/quote]

OK ... that actually sounds very difficult. I'll soak the 4k/8k tonight and give it a try. Thanks for the tip!

Originally Posted by igitur55

OK ... that actually sounds very difficult. I'll soak the 4k/8k tonight and give it a try. Thanks for the tip!

Nah, it's not that difficult. Just watch which part of the blade is pushing/undercutting water as you rock through the stroke. Like all honing, it takes a little while to build up the muscle memory to do it consistently, but you'll get the hang of it quickly. Luckily, the steel in these things is so hard, you'll get lots of practice on the way to getting it sharp!

That was really helpful! Using rollnig Xs, I was able to completely hone the heel. The toe is looking better, too, although it is not quite there yet. The middle of the blade is as sharp as ever. More 4k/8k pyramids tonight, I think! That steel is hard!!! Still, I feel like I have had a major honing breakthrough in this experience! Thanks, SteveS.

I just posted my first review on this site-it was for a TI Evide Sonnant Extra 5/8. Having honed it before shaving today, I can say I was more than pleased with the shave as well as th ease at which I was able to get a keen edge.Buy one-you'll like it.

I finally got round to finishing the honing job on my Art of Shaving Thiers-Issard straight. Stropped 10 laps on Jemico red paste, 20 laps on linen and then 50 laps on the leather. The shave was VERY easy and totally enjoyable. I gave myself a nice little nick on my neck in the "usual" spot, but I gotta blame myself for that one. Can't wait for my new strop to come, and strop it on the Chrome Ox!

UPDATE:

Originally Posted by SteveS

I'm going to send this one back and get another, hopefully, with a fairly well-set factory bevel. I expect the new razor Friday and aim to get it shaving this coming weekend.

The replacement razor arrived Friday and I started working on it this weekend. This one came fairly dull, but with no noticeable warp and a decent bevel. After less than 45 minutes on my DMT 1200, the razor had a good bevel and it was sharp enough to pop arm hairs. But not for long. I went next to my Belgian Blue, with a light slurry and the razor soon got duller!

I washed off the slurry and did two or three hundred laps more, but was not able to get it sharp again. Out of frustration, I went the coticule, where I did a couple hundred laps with slurry and the same number without and got nowhere.

I decided to see how it would respond to the Norton 4K/8K. I got to do about 50-75 laps on the 4K (before dinner was ready last night). It's still dull, but, what's really amazing, is that that number of laps left hardly any steel on the freshly lapped Norton---perhaps only 10% of what I'd typically see after that number of laps with a Solingen blade. I say again: this thing is made of hard friggin' steel!

Any particular tricks for honing really hard steel, gents? I'm using very light strokes, a (slightly rolling) x-stroke and leading with the heel. I don't see any micro-chipping or other problems under my 20x loupe.

Originally Posted by SteveS

Any particular tricks for honing really hard steel, gents? I'm using very light strokes, a (slightly rolling) x-stroke and leading with the heel. I don't see any micro-chipping or other problems under my 20x loupe.

SteveS - just from my own experience with the AOS TI straight, I would recommend going all the way back to the 220 grit for a couple of rolling passes. Then on to the 1000 before progressing again to the 4k/8k. The going was so tough with that razor, that I actually tried a "light" pyramid on the 220/1000 before several pyramids (light and more intense) on the 4000/8000. Can't hurt, surely?

I received my double-sided Jemico strop paddle last night, and gave the AOS TI a few laps on CrO and then lots on the leather. It's hair-poppin' good!

Good luck!

Originally Posted by SteveS

UPDATE:



The replacement razor arrived Friday and I started working on it this weekend. This one came fairly dull, but with no noticeable warp and a decent bevel. After less than 45 minutes on my DMT 1200, the razor had a good bevel and it was sharp enough to pop arm hairs. But not for long. I went next to my Belgian Blue, with a light slurry and the razor soon got duller!

I washed off the slurry and did two or three hundred laps more, but was not able to get it sharp again. Out of frustration, I went the coticule, where I did a couple hundred laps with slurry and the same number without and got nowhere.

I decided to see how it would respond to the Norton 4K/8K. I got to do about 50-75 laps on the 4K (before dinner was ready last night). It's still dull, but, what's really amazing, is that that number of laps left hardly any steel on the freshly lapped Norton---perhaps only 10% of what I'd typically see after that number of laps with a Solingen blade. I say again: this thing is made of hard friggin' steel!

Any particular tricks for honing really hard steel, gents? I'm using very light strokes, a (slightly rolling) x-stroke and leading with the heel. I don't see any micro-chipping or other problems under my 20x loupe.

I guess it doesn't like slurry so much, eh?

I think hard steel like that is in need of a diamond dope-slapping! Your DMT 1200 was doing it's job, so you need to back that up with a DMT 8EE maybe, or some diamond lapping film (my favorite!) You can get diamond lapping film here:

This thread is really tempting me to go out and get one of these hard "new steel" razors, even though I truly do not need another razor right now ...
(anybody believe me when I say that?)

I have a TI from AoS and I'm pretty happy with it. It also hones up nicely with just one pyramid on the 4k/8k and 40 or so passes on the Chinese 12k. Holds a nie edge for about 20 or so shaves. It is also balanced very very well and almost floats through your fingers ans you maneuver the blade.

Worth the cash.

I noticed that my TI is stamped X instead of Q. Is there a difference?

Doug