Thread: HART Razor

Originally Posted by riooso

I truly like the Hart that I have. It has taken some time and effort to dial it in. The toe had sharpness problems and it does have a smile. I have since re-honed it and have started getting it dialed in.

• Day one; Stropped it and the shave was only ok. I have a heavy beard and I have developed a very light touch so a sharp razor is a must.
• Day two; Using one layer of tape I re-honed it using 600, 1000 Shapton, Coticule with slurry till smooth, 8K, Coticule with just water, 16K Shapton, 0.5 and 0.25 diamond pastes on a paddle then 10 laps with 0.5 Chromium on a paddle and a 100 laps on a strop. The shave was a little harsh but a very good shave.
• Day three; shaved with my Le Grelot to give my face a rest.
• Day four; I gave the Hart 50 laps on the Chromium paddle and 200 laps on the strop. The shave was incredible! I have not had a better shave, ever! A ten is,well, a ten! It was smooth and the razor cut perfectly from heel to toe and my face showed it!

I personally like the feel of this blade in motion and the shape is to my liking. It has a confident feel without being to overpowering, probably because of the weight of the razor is a tad lighter than the Le Grelots that I am used to using. I will see in the coming weeks how the edge holds up, I am hopeful. If she holds up this razor will be at the very top of my rotation, and I have been blessed with some very nice shavers.

Take Care,
Richard

Well my hopes have been tempered. Shaving for seven days straight I am finding that my edge broke down. I am getting micro chipping and some of the chips are comparatively large after I looked at the edge with a 30X magnifier. I have been mindful that some have posted to be wary such a shallow bevel angle. I have touched up the blade using a Coticule with water, 16k Shapton and then finally a pasted paddle strop. We will see. Does anyone here have any suggestions about a fix?

Later,
R

Originally Posted by riooso

Well my hopes have been tempered. Shaving for seven days straight I am finding that my edge broke down. I am getting micro chipping and some of the chips are comparatively large after I looked at the edge with a 30X magnifier. I have been mindful that some have posted to be wary such a shallow bevel angle. I have touched up the blade using a Coticule with water, 16k Shapton and then finally a pasted paddle strop. We will see. Does anyone here have any suggestions about a fix?

Later,
R

If you suspect that the weakness is due to the shallow bevel angle, you could use multiple layers of tape (as suggested above) to increase that angle.

Originally Posted by holli4pirating

If you suspect that the weakness is due to the shallow bevel angle, you could use multiple layers of tape (as suggested above) to increase that angle.

I would say about 3~5 layers of tape to bring it to a 'normal' range edge angle. Nothing to much to worry about but not everyone's optimal honing solution.

Mine's breaking down after 5 shaves with the same symptoms. Mine's ground to 13.1 degrees which I think is the primary cause - that's just too narrow for the edge to hold up. If you've got one, could I get you to measure your razor across the spine and from the side of the spine to the edge (not from the center of the spine to the edge) using a micrometer.

From my calculations, a layer of 3m electrical tape will add between 0.5 and 1 degree of angle, depending on the circumstances. If you just put it on without any stretch, and only do a minor touch-up then it will add about 0.95 degrees, if you stretch it then that will reduce the additional thickness considerably, also if you keep the tape on from lower grit hones all the way through the finishing hone then you can easily wind up with only a half degree or less depending on the level of wear. With multiple layers of tape obviously the wear estimations only apply to the outer level of tape, and imperfections in applying the tape mean that you should measure the taped spine when you finish honing in order to get an accurate angle calculation - don't just multiply 0.007 x twice the pieces of tape.

Given that taping the spine isn't a universally acclaimed honing technique I'm disappointed that the Hart seems to need it in such exuberance.

How are you figuring out the angle?

Anyone have pics of the blade next to a well known razor for us to look at? I've seen pictures of the hart but you can't really get a good feel for the blades scale < 1 point for stupid pun.

Originally Posted by ZethLent

I would say about 3~5 layers of tape to bring it to a 'normal' range edge angle. Nothing to much to worry about but not everyone's optimal honing solution.

Doesn't it make it more difficult to strop properly?

Originally Posted by mparker762

Mine's breaking down after 5 shaves with the same symptoms. Mine's ground to 13.1 degrees which I think is the primary cause - that's just too narrow for the edge to hold up. If you've got one, could I get you to measure your razor across the spine and from the side of the spine to the edge (not from the center of the spine to the edge) using a micrometer.

I will do it tonight when I get home from work.

Take Care,
Richard

Sort of. You have to add tape every time you do it...just a pain.

Originally Posted by riooso

Doesn't it make it more difficult to strop properly?



I will do it tonight when I get home from work.

Take Care,
Richard

Originally Posted by Visibility

Sort of. You have to add tape every time you do it...just a pain.

Do you have to? http://straightrazorpalace.com/advan...yers-tape.html

Thanks Ben

Originally Posted by Visibility

How are you figuring out the angle?

Measure the width of the blade from the honing mark on the spine to the edge (across the side of the blade, not through the middle to the back of the spine). Measure the thickness of blade between the honing marks on the spine - this measurement is more critical, and should be done at several places on the blade, then averaged.

Given W= width of blade, and S=thickness of spine, both as detailed above, then the imaginary line from the edge through the middle of the spine describes a right triangle with the line S, with hypoteneuse W. The height of the side of this triangle this is described by S is 1/2 S, so sin(a) = (S/2) / W. Solving for a gives us arcsin((S/2)/W). This angle is the angle for one half of the blade, so we must double that for the honing angle of the entire blade. This gives us the final equation:

A = 2 arcsin((S/2)/W), alternatively
A = 2 arcsin(S/2W)


This is also useful for figuring out the maximum contribution of electrical tape to the honing angle. For my Hart, for example, this works out to 0.99 degrees as a maximum - stretching the tape will reduce this, as will any accumulated wear from the hone.

Edit: With 4 layers of tape you should be ok stropping on a hanging strop, but go much beyond that or keep the strop too tight and you'll run into problems. Stropping on a paddle is likely to be iffy at 4 layers of tape.

None of this excuses making a razor that requires prosthetics in order to take a reliable edge.

Originally Posted by mparker762

None of this excuses making a razor that requires prosthetics in order to take a reliable edge.

If layers of tape (even one) is what it takes it is a serious design error for Hart. I would hope that they would take a look at it and make the required changes in their future production to correct the situation. Sort of equivalent to removing the 'new posts' button on the tool bar above.