The H. Birks wedge I´ve bought from ebay has arrived. It´s the ideal candidate for honing with those diamond pastes (I´ve bought them too). Just waiting for them to arrive to start sharpening!

I´ll post my impressions here too!

I´ve already made 5 glass bench hones. In one of them I´ve glued leather, to use as a leather hone charged with cromox, and the other 4 I´m still figuring out what to use (maybe newspaper, perhaps some surgical tape like micropore).

Quote Originally Posted by ChrisL View Post
For those following this post, to date, I've found the main challenge in my experiments with this to be finding a complimentary substrate which would allow for embedding of the diamonds; substrates previously mentioned that do not allow for any embedding (e.g. glass) resulted in edge damage to various razors while balsa was too soft for bevel setting.

I grabbed a scrap of 2x2 pine from my scrap pile and cut a length about 10" long. For our international members, a "2x2" is a board used in construction and is most commonly found in lengths of 8 feet in any building supply store for about one U.S. dollar. Much like the weight reference to coffee in our country where a "pound" of coffee has dwindled down to around 12 ounces, a "2x2" is now 1 1/2" x 1 1/2 inches in actual dimension. I lapped one surface using 220 grit open coat sandpaper on top of my Woodcraft granite surface plate.

I selected a $10 "WEDGE" razor square point stamped with the name of a barber supply company from Mpls, MN. This WEDGE (which is really what I would consider a 1/2 hollow) has a blade width of 7/16". It's a narrow razor with a standard blade length. This vintage razor, as purchased had an intermittently and only moderately sharp edge. Some areas did cut a few arm hairs while making contact with my arm. I decided then to go to the 7 micron diamond paste (approx 2k grit) to set the bevel, backhoning all the way of course. This razor was a "problem" razor in the sense that one side was flat, the other side had what I call a significant "horizontal cave curvature" (when flat on the wood, the heel and the toe very obviously did not make contact. The 1 1/2" wide "hone" was perfect for this). There was fairly extensive toe wear or "tapered toe" as I call it on that problem side as well. I was pleasantly surprised after several hundred passes with little to no pressure that the bevel was set nicely and the few micro-nicks in the edge were gone. I nice straight edge.

I then went to 3.5 micron (approx 4k) and refined that bevel; this time on a piece of 1/2" birch plywood which I also lapped on the surface plate.. Still.....a nice straight edge with no chipping. Approx 75 passes, again with little to no pressure. The surface of the 7 micron pasted 2x2 and the 3.5 mic pasted birch plywood I pasted were BLACK when I was done. Yup, diamonds cut. After 25 passes on a homemade horsehide paddle strop to prep for a good arm hair test, it passed very nicely. It shaved arm hair easily at skin level and took care of many above skin level.

I then went to 1.5 micron This would be approx 9k grit. I did something different here; I took a piece of the 1 1/2" wide x 12" long x 1/4" thick glass and tightly wrapped one sheet of heavily inked newspaper over it, taping it down firmly. I rubbed the honing oil thinned 1.5 micron diamond paste directly onto the newspaper soaking the newspaper with the mixture and rubbing it in. I don't recall the number of passes but I would estimate around 75 again. Quick strop on paddle strop. Very nice edge. Beautiful under magnification at 40x. Also, no errant large scratches/gouges putting my mind at ease that this paste is of uniform quality without damaging larger unwanted diamond. The edge was so nice in shaving arm hairs above skin level, that I decided to do the following:

I did not proceed to 1 mic and .5 mic diamond followed by chrome ox, cerium oxide, etc. Instead, I took another piece of glass, the same size as above and wrapped one layer of heavily inked newspaper and taped down tightly. I wanted to just "knock down" the diamond edge with plain newspaper. I've always loved newspaper for polishing edges and just can't say enough about it. I did 100 passes on the plain newspaper, then 75 passes on the horsehide paddle strop. Then I could not wait for a test shave. I lathered up at about 11:30 pm last night.

Really, one of the most comfortable and smoothest shaves I've had in a long time. The edge was NOT harsh and to me had surprisingly (or not) similarities to an edge I'd hone off of a coticule or thuringian. Sharp, whisker catcher with virtually no resistance and only minor expected resistance on my chin area. The sharpness and comfort was the same from the first pass to the last. Actually the smoothest I've shaved my chin area in recent memory. I asked my wife to feel my face after I was done. She knows nothing about BBS terminology and she remarked "wow, it feels like our son's ass." (he's 4 months).

The research continues. Since this was of course, only one razor. Even so, one razor that was backhoned 100% from start to finish.

A note or two: At all three grits, the 7 mic, 3.5 mic and 1.5 mic, I did notice a wire edge was produced during the sessions on each grit level. Those that have been honing awhile know that it really is easy as pie to spot a wire edge when viewing a clean edge under a bright incandecent light. I don't need magnification to do that. It's the smallest band of white light seen at the very edge of the edge when you have one. No big deal. When I'd see the wire/burr I would reduce passes to no more than five, then I'd check the edge without, then with magnification. Every time on each grit, after spotting one and checking frequently, I would hone just until the burr was completely gone. Not a big deal. The enjoyable, comfortable and irritation free shave is testament to that.

Chris L