Thread: The good and the not so good

Just recently completed the few hones that I wanted to restore razors with. Happy to report that bevel setting is going faster with my new chosera 1k rather than attempting on my norton 4k, even if I still have some learning to do.

Anyhoo, Picked up a couple new straights to restore and mess around with and came up with some unexpected results. From right to left I have S.R.Droescher Blue diamond, an unmarked antique shop special, and my first Wade & Butcher off ebay


The Blue diamond is my daily shaver, after a year stint with a beard getting this puppy honed and stropped to it's current state has been a dream now that I have to be clean shaven every day for work. Especially after experiencing the heartbreak of shattering my brand new Revisor 6/8ths a sad sad lesson learned. Even though I love my blue diamond I have a preference for heavier 6/8th's straights.

I purchased the two on the left with the hopes of restoring them, I had high expectations for the wade but sadly I feel I have fallen victim to the flaws of ebay purchasing, though half of the edge cleaned up nicely the tow has too much pitting and despite my laboring does not seem capable of developing a clean bevel. I am hoping that it is just my honing, but looking under the scope the pitting continues all the way to the edge even after copious amounts of material have been removed. Now half of the blade passes the hht and shave test and the rest does not. Perhaps it's because I'm not used to honing a smiling edge.

On the other hand the middle blade, 6/8th's half hollow was sitting covered in active rust at the local antique shop. I purchased it for 5 dollars, no markings on the blade, with the intention of practicing my honing skills. I had absolutely no expectations for it . I didn't even bother to polish the blade up before honing just removed the active rust and started honing away. After more hours than I care to recount it blew me away and developed a wonderful edge. It now passes the hht and shave test wonderfully and is becoming a new favorite in my rotation! A small miracle, who would have guessed.

As another bit of good news I went down to our local leather shop and picked up a strip of scrap latigo for 5 bucks to replace my abused 3" strop. Had him cut it to 2.5" and absolutely love it!

after all the honing and testing people look at me funny when I roll up my sleeves

Haven't posted anything for a while, just wanted to share the goings on in my pursuit of this wonderful hobby.

Thanks for all the help I've received from the members here



Cheers - Sailor