Thread: What is your sharpest shaver?

Tough call. I have 3 that stand out from the rest, a 8/8 Spanish point hollow grind Dorko, 8/8 wedge Joe Chandler and my new production Heribert Wacker 6/8 silversteel wedge. That Wacker is the big surprise of the bunch. Super edge and shaves like a million.

Mine is a 6/8 Wade and Butcher Celebrated Fine India Steel Razor. It is a 1/4 hollow and is finished on a Chosera 10000 and a very fine coticule. The Chosera for keeness and the coticule for smoothness.

Next would be my Ellis Hybrid, which is probably a suped up wapi (1/2 hollow 11/16). What Bill does to them I do not know but it remains in the top few.

Originally Posted by ZethLent

Mine is a 6/8 Wade and Butcher Celebrated Fine India Steel Razor. It is a 1/4 hollow and is finished on a Chosera 10000 and a very fine coticule. The Chosera for keeness and the coticule for smoothness.

Next would be my Ellis Hybrid, which is probably a suped up wapi (1/2 hollow 11/16). What Bill does to them I do not know but it remains in the top few.

I thought the Ellis hybrid was a stainless offering? Which would then rule out it being a Wapi?

Originally Posted by cannonfodder

That Wacker is the big surprise of the bunch. Super edge and shaves like a million.

That does not surprise me a bit. I have two Wackers, and they are both great.
My sharpest razor; that vary from week to week, mostly due to honing.
Right now I would bet it's my Mastro Livi 8/8, honed by Lynn.

My top three (definitely ranked, but it was tough, so I'll give you three instead of one):
First: J. A. Schmidt and Sohne, Solingen, 6/8 extra hollow, honed by Utopian, splits atoms but you can't even feel it!
Second: Friedr. Baurmann and Sohne, Solingen, 4/8 1/4 hollow, honed by hi_bud_gl, couple touch up by me, the best being on a Nakayama, smooth and comfortable
Third: FWE Leader, Solingen, 6/8 extra hollow, honed using cot with slurry, bbw with slurry, bbw without slurry, coticule without slurry, and finished on a Thuringen, smooth and comfortable

Currently, my sharpest tool in the shed is my 6/8 Le Grelot 1/4 grind Carbon steel, though not sharpened by me but by Martin at Rasurpur. Would have to ask him what hones he uses.

As I go through and rehone my 1/4 hollow and wedge (same steel, same maker) the wedge comes noticably sharper every time. Why don't we have any modern wedges being made?

One thing that seperates the wackers in my opinion is the steel is harder.

I have a friodur 8/8 inox and I love the way that steel responds to the hones. Hollow grinds just don't do it for me but oh how I love the steel on these clevers.

Keep it going, what else? I've not heard of some of these razors being mentioned and they are beauty's.

I've gotten razors honed by some of the leading honemiesters and I would say from the results of my shaves I am a fair hand at honing myself but there is 'always a faster gun' and many are faster than me. I would love to say that my sharpest razors are some that I have honed but, living up to my avatar, I cannot say that.

I bought two razors on ebay from a seller known as Cedarfurnitureman. He is a young man from Mississippi named Quinton. He is a forum member as well and his screen name is Razor Talkin. His vocation is making custom furniture out of .... you guessed it..... Cedar wood and his passion is restoring straight razors.

These two razors, bought in separate auctions, are the sharpest I've encountered out of somewhere over 150 that I now have. They happen to be a Shumate Tungsteel and a pre-Dovo Bismark but I'm convinced that it wouldn't matter what brand they were if Quinton honed them.

I was so impressed with the edges that I contacted him and I've spoken to him at length on his honing. I expected to find out that Quinton has many Eschers, Coticules, Nakayamas and such exotic stones and uses some secret techniques. To my surprise he uses a Norton 1k for bevel setting and follows that with the standard Norton 4/8 pyramid he learned from Lynn's posts on the old Yahoo SRP group. He finishes with diamond paste on Balsa with 1.0, 0.5, and 0.25.

I am fond of the expression that it ain't the arrow, it's the Indian. Quinton is the personification of that old adage. With all of our searching for the ultimate sharpening stones and trying this or that method he is getting razors as sharp IME as they can be gotten with that boring old workhorse the Norton 4/8 pyramid .... and a hell of a lot of skill.

Edit; Speaking of the skill, upon Quinton explaining his method I've tried to duplicate his results on my hones and I ain't there yet. I'm going to keep at it though.... you're not a loser until you quit.

That is neat Jimmy, thanks for sharing it

Too bad I can't trade hones for skill

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

He finishes on Balsa with 1.0, 0.5, and 2.5.

Just to clarify. Should the progression read, 1.0. 0.5 and 0.25? Instead of the 2.5 above? Also is this referring to Chrome Ox, diamond paste or both?
Thanks,