Thread: Ordered a NOS Friodur

Well, it arrived. I don't have pictures at the moment, but it looks good.

I do think it was a second - it came with some hone wear, which was not even on one side ( larger flat area in the centre on one side ), suggesting maybe that the grind was off? Also, some of the scratches on the spine where the edge was scalloped haven't been polished out. Nothing is hugely misaligned though, which is good.

I also found it tricky to get the hone to contact the heel on the return stroke, so I gave it a little roll, even though the blade is mostly a straight edge. Does that seem reasonable? It has taken a nice sharp edge though. ATG on my top lip was a breeze!

The bevel wasn't set at the same angle as the hone wear, which seemed odd. I didn't tape, instead I took it to the 1000 grit Norton to re-set the bevel, then to the 4000 for a few strokes, and then onto the BBW with slurry then coticule with water.

The scales are obviously not original or matched to the blade. The wedge sticks out on one side, and they aren't really deep enough at all for the blade - when closed, the heel is almost level with the bottom of the scales, which seems a little dangerous to me. They aren't the same as in the picture, suggesting they are whatever was to hand.

I am finding stropping harder, I think because the spine is wider than I am used to, meaning that I need to re-learn to rotate the blade further to get the edge to contact the strop.

I am happy though. It feels stiffer than my old Bismarck 5/8, and the bigger blade seems to suit me.