Another New Henckels

Just got my new production 6/8 Henckels Friodur from cutleryandmore.com. It's not my anniversary yet, so the wife won't let me have it yet, but I got to fondle it for a few minutes.

Quick impressions: the text on the shank isn't stamped which is disappointing but not surprising. Other than that, this thing looks and feels like the old friodurs. White plastic scales with the twins logo on it; the shank has jimps on the underside and is smooth and round on top; and the blade is that stiff full grind that the Friodurs are known for. It doesn't look like a relabeled Dovo to me, but the proof will be the shave. I'll have photos and shaving impressions next week. I've got old Friodurs in 5/8 and 7/8 for comparison purposes.

edit: It did not appear to have seen any sort of hone at the factory; at least there's no discernable bevel, which I suppose is further evidence that it's not a relabeled Dovo.

Congratulations in advance!

If it says Friodur on the shank you can be sure it is a Zwilling or Henckels Friodur.

You seem to have more Friodurs.

I am having trouble to get them really sharp. HHT: splits hairs, does not cut them straight through or only after first splitting them for 1-2 millimeters. How do you hone them and what hone do you use?

Friodurs are some of my favorite razors, I think this one makes five for me (4/8 - 8/8).

As to the honing, have you ever tried shaving with yours? The HHT isn't some oracle. A razor can fail the HHT and still be shave-ready.

I currently use the Norton 4k, the translucent arkansas, and the 1 micron paddle. But I previously used only the 4k/8k. Barber hones have worked as well, as have the shapton ceramic hones. The trick for honing these razors is to not be afraid of pressure - the steel is very hard and needs it.

I too picked up a new Heckel's 6/8 Friodur from cutleryandmore.com. It's a beautiful razor, very well made. However, I second the comment about the lack of hone on these things. They're as dull as butter knives. So dull in fact that if you try and shave with it, it will not even "catch and pull" on your whiskers like a dull razor usually does, it will just glide right over the top of them without doing anything, like shaving with a popsicle stick. I made around 20 passes on the Norton 4000 and it had pretty much no effect. I'm actually thinking about throwing a used 500x belt onto my belt sander and putting a proper bevel on this thing in a few seconds.

The Henckels Fridour has some very hard steel. Do not be afraid to be aggressive with the bevel formation and the honing. Start with a 1000 grit then go to the 4k. The number of laps will easily be in the 100+ range.

Or send it out to a honemeister and let him do it...

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Originally Posted by randydance062449

The Henckels Fridour has some very hard steel. Do not be afraid to be aggressive with the bevel formation and the honing. Start with a 1000 grit then go to the 4k. The number of laps will easily be in the 100+ range.

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Does this mean it needs refreshing far less often?

I think the tactile feel of my Friodur's is excellent. My 5/8" is one of my favorite razors, and is distinctly different from the rest. It was a bitch to hone initially, but once I got it right, it I loved it. And yes, it stays that way longer too IMO.

Michael and Randy - do you recommend pressure all the way through the finishing stones for a stainless Friodur? My first one is on the way, a 7/8.

Larry - I think you should be required to post on every thread, preferably on every page. :D

--Dave

I use pressure at the beginning of each grit, tapering off to none at the end. I don't use the pyramid system so I don't know how pyramid honers handle friodurs; maybe Randy can address this.

They do keep their edge a long time. Most of my carbon steel blades need at least a few laps on a paddle, arkansas, or barber hone every 3-4 shaves, but the friodurs last about a week before needing a refresh, though they do need more laps. The big advantage of friodurs for me is the better fin stability during the shave, though some of my very hard carbon steel razors like the TI Pierre, Heljestrands, and Wacker hold an edge nearly as well. The Wacker is much trickier to hone than the Friodurs, but the TI Pierre and Heljestrands seem to take an edge very easily.

I generally use a diminishing pressure approach no matter what honing style. This applies to a new razor or an Ebay/antique store razor. Not to a razor that was previously shaving sharp and simply needs refreshing.

Like Randy, I don't use pressure on refreshes, only for more major honing work.

My lovely and totally cool wife gave my the new production 6/8 Henckels Friodur tonight. Photo is here, for those who need to see it.

It seemed a bit harder than the Crowley Friodurs, more in line with the old henckels friodurs but a bit harder still. It took some serious time on the 4k to get a clean bevel (you can probably still see traces of the magic marker on the blade in the photo), and probably twice as many laps on the 8k as I've ever needed on any friodur. It came off the 8k shaving sharp, but because it was so hard I decided to go to the 8k shapton for 20 laps or so (8k shapton is finer than the 8k norton) before going to the 11k boron carbide persimmon paddle. Because it was so hard I decided to take it all the way to the chromium oxide paddle, I'm hopeful that it will hold up as well as the TI Pierre-forged LE.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mparker762

My lovely and totally cool wife gave my the new production 6/8 Henckels Friodur tonight.
It seemed a bit harder than the Crowley Friodurs, more in line with the old henckels friodurs but a bit harder still. Because it was so hard I decided to take it all the way to the chromium oxide paddle, I'm hopeful that it will hold up as well as the TI Pierre-forged LE.

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Sounds like they haven't forgotten how to make these, looking forward to the post-shave report.

I bought one of these in the eighties. I like the box, mine came with a horrible grey plastic box that was way to big, would fit one of Josh's 9/8 razors comfortably.

Shave report is in the SOTD forum. But I will say that the evident hardness during the hone was verified during the shave, this blade is extremely hard and maintained a hair-popping edge all the way through the shave. Most of my blades won't do that with a .5 micron edge, it's just too delicate. The only other blades I own that are in the ballpark are my Wacker Stippleback (b*tch to hone, and a singing blade so it's tricky to shave with) and my TI Pierre-forged LE (easy to hone, and a half hollow so it's stiff and easy to shave with).

I'll have to shave with it some more to get a better idea of how it fits in the rotation, but it's almost certainly towards the top.