Thread: Double Treat-Successful Honing, Nice Robeson

Somewhere here I read some good words about the Robeson Shur-Edge razor. I'd actually put a low bid on one on eBay and was delighted to find I'd won, paying about $21 for it, shipped.

It arrived and to my delight, it was pretty nicely cleaned up. The bevel, to my newbie eye, peering through my $12 Radioshack microscope, looked pretty good.

So I decided to hone it, but decided to work backwards. Rather than start with the Norton 1K and progress up through the alternating 4k/8k “pyramid,” I just gave it 10 strokes on the Norton 8K, then 15 on the Naniwa 12K, 40 strokes on the fabric strop and 80 on the leather. The shave test told me it needed more work, but that this razor also had real potential. So I backed down and did a little each on the 4K (very little there), a bit on the 8K, the 12K, a CrOx fabric strop, then the fabric/leather strop.

I confess, this was one of the nicest shaves I've had in my brief career with straights. It's the first razor I have honed that felt like it came from one of the honemeisters. One pass WTG, some XTG and ATG touch up passes, and I was done. Very nice, smooth shave.

I like to think it was my increased honing ability, but maybe it's also the razor. It seemed to like me.

Robeson razors give a great shave. Congrats on a good score. I have several and am always pleased with them.