I've been resurrecting a sad old 5/8 Genco Head Barber I found in a box. Honed past the pitting and got a nice bevel, then tinkered and tinkered with the final polish. The Naniwa12k was OK but didn't really feel special; Thuringian didn't really rock it either. Stropping on 0.5u diamond brought a little snap to it, CrOx smoothed that a little, but it all still left me wondering what was the big deal with Gencos.

After reading NiftyShaving's very good review of the Spyderco UF (it's buried in the recent Musard or Mayo thread) I thought to dig mine out and give it a shot. I most recently used it to flatten my CrOx-treated felt pad, so it's got a good CrOx patina. Gave the Genco 10 laps on the N12k to clear whatever influence all the previous stropping had had, then 30 laps on the Spyderco, then 20 passes on linen and 80 on leather, then shaved.

AHA! So THAT'S the big deal with Gencos. Wow. The easy spots were, well, easy as always, but my chin was made easy too. It's as clean as I've ever gotten it, and even the ATG pass underneath it was gentle.

Tomorrow I'm unpinning the blade so I can clean out the rust around the hinge, then will Renwax the whole thing (including the thrust washers), get some Tuf-Glide on the hinge pin, and call it Darned Good.