Hibbard-Spencer-Bartlett

So, I finally got around to honing the 5/8th HSB spike I won in the Great Missouri Razor Auction...and what a pain it was to hone! Either the blade had a warp to it (not that I could see or the steel was just super hard. Also, there was a weird defect in the edge...and extremely tiny mark, that looked as if the blade had been hit with a harder sharp edged instrument...(visualize a strip of metal flat on a table...now, take a chisel and a hammer and place the corner of the chisel just barely on the edge of the metal strip. perpendicular to the edge of the strip...now tap the chisel with the hammer...the resulting dent on one side and raised mark on the other side of the metal strip is what I had....but just barely visible to the naked eye).

So after some agressive passes on the DMT to get a bevel and then Josh's modified pyramid on the Norton 4K/8K, then 75+ passes on the Belgian with slurry, 75+ o the Coticule, and 30+ on the Escher, I had a nice, mirror edge. Some Maas, green scrubby pad, and a Dremel buffing tip (there was some pitting and some minor rust...then a polishing wheel pad...nice mirror finishe don the blade, clean tang (covered in MOP) and clean scales...then to the paddles and strops!

So, this morning, with a nice lather of Tabac cream, I started shaving 3 days worth of growth. The blade seemed to grag a bit (probably all the whiskers), but rinsed clean. I did my usual WTG, XTG, ATG....

WOW! BBS nearly everywhere, even the difficult parts on my jawline (from whence comes the "WireBeard"). Very nice!

:y