well done Mike puts my set to shame! wish i had your skills going into my set. fantastically done my friend
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well done Mike puts my set to shame! wish i had your skills going into my set. fantastically done my friend
Absolutely awesome set
love the complete set up and the engravings just finish them off spot on
great idea with the made in 1900 rebuilt in 2015 in the box also
top shelf mate
Cheers gents, and thanks. Learn from you all as I hope some of my stuff lends ideas back.
:chapeau
Just got some thuri's so two of them will be finished on these new, to me, stones.
Thank you for a totally awesome trip through time to the present, by way of your shop skills!
I enjoyed and learned from the threads!
~Richard
They are just S.T.U.N.N.I.N.G!
Incredible work. Beautiful 7 day set. It's threads like this this that make me feel more adventurous to try my own projects. That set gives me something to aspire to.
Feels really quite good to think that this thread may help others to take the plunge on some restores.
Thanks all for the feedback, truly appreciative of your kind words and observations on the work.
I have just finished honing all 7 days and test shaved two days growth in sections with all 7. Was a two pass shave where I used all seven on different facial areas either with or against the grain over the shave.
Happily, and surprisingly they all passed the test enough to go into rotation for full shave reviews. Surprising because I still struggle achieving a good edge by my own hand on British thicker blades, or I did until this round of blades.
Evidently I finally cleared the 'setting the bevel' hurdle. In great part thanks to some tips from wolfpack on the stones I was using before, and tape cadence during honing.
Basically I started all of them with three layers of good .010 thick 3M tape and a carbo 152 barbers hone. When the edge was starting to come together and grab my thumb pad I removed a layer of tape and moved to another barbers hone. From there, improved the edge and developed the bevel a bit more till biting the thumb pad all along the edge than remove the second layer and move to a 1k. Stay on 1 layer and the 1k for 40 circles with pressure, and slurry, than 40 X's. Dilute the slurry and 40 light circles than 40 light X's. From there to the Norton 4/8k for all of them staying at 4k till I was really happy with the entire edge, then 10 light circles then 10 X's on the 8. Than I mixed it up for finishers.
Sunday= Charnely Forest x 100X's
Monday= Zulu Gray x 100X's
Tuesday=Cnat x 100X's
Wednesday=Coticule x 40X's-slurry to clear
Thursday=Grecian Natural x 50X's-slurry to clear
Friday= Escher x 40X's- stc
Saturday=Thuringian x 40X's-stc
Will be fun to really study the different finisher effect on reasonably identical steel. Some of the bevels did not end up being 'pretty'. But they are all straight on the business side of them, and it would clearly seem, that is all that matters..
Cheers.
Wow, Wow, Wow Mike. You did a fantastical job on all of it! Razors, box, brush, engraving are all superb. Can't wait to see them at the next meet. You better hold on tight cause I'm willing to bet Colin's going to be after them! :rock:
Thanks Andrew. Felt great to be done the honing. My wrist is actually a little sore tonight after a week of restoring edge work. It takes so long to get that first new bevel after all that steel polishing, but you know too well.
The fact that they all shave nice is an extra yee-haa.
Going to repin Thursday though. Seems to catch if I'm not careful closing it, even after some coaxing with the ball peen. One out of seven isn't a bad average, but still, I want em perfect.
You are right about Colin, haha. He's probably got a few 7 day sets in the making in that mad travel case of his though so we can always work something out.
;)
Three more pages I can't wait to post a reply.... wow right on man! Really good work! I've been building a set of blades to make a "7 day 7 different manufacturer wedge set".. and this job you've done is kicking me in the butt to do it!!!
You have pushed the envelope further, no turning back now! Lol
Man what the heck have I been doing.. need to get to work!
Thanks for the inspiration and ideas..
Also, the box, maybe I missed it, but did you make it from scratch? Dang dude! I also like how the razors lay to the side. And also the built in... rebuilt in.. really like that touch.
Can I copy? :D is that rude or out of form? Such good ideas! I'm sorry but I can't help but ask.. some ideas take the shame out of imitation...
Hey Mike, copy, trace and ask away. Happy to share.
Regarding the box, yes, I sized it after a cigar box basically, a kit built from basswood hobby sheets I bought at Michaels Craft Store. Great source for balsa to make your own paddle strops as well, but I digress.
The angled racks are pine 2x4's ripped in half lengthwise then cut to fit. I drilled 7 evenly spaced 1/2" holes through them both then cut my 90's and 45's on those holes with my table saw to create the razor seats.
Then I stained them with black ink, not stain, and clad them in felt using contact cement to hold it tight to the wood. Wanted to make the box from the same ebony as the brush and scales, but just ran out of good lengths.
The set layout was inspired by, and reminds me of an old set of fine english cutlery my Grandmother used during the holidays.
Hers had red felt, but I wanted to keep this all base black. Clean and simple. I threw a couple of desiccant bags in the space under the blades as well.
Cheers and thanks for asking.
:chapeau
Right on man, definitely going to implement some of those ideas.. the brush is a good touch, I thought about having a 7 day with brush and bowl but felt it would be too bulky and so somehow I crossed out both brush and bowl from the idea, but think that it looks great with just the brush!
Bass wood, I've thought about that, great wood its light weight and strong enough especially with coats of finish.. somehow I always forget about that wood because my mind gets hung up on exotic woods... SO this is a good lesson: there are many options so don't let the way we think it NEEDS to be suffocate the perfectly viable options!
I've thought about using balsa to make a strong and light weight box.. what I planned on was getting the hardwood of my choice, cutting it fairly thin but not veneer thin, and sandwiching balsa between it. Done right the box would be very strong and light weight. Used the same concept working on boats building with foam board and fiberglass.
But there I go again, just keep it simple and make something of good quality.. "Too much mind Daniel-san"
I thought of including a small bowl in the beginning as well but also, because of the bulk decided against it. I didn't want to spend more time on the case than the razors as at the end of the day, it's just a box. And if I travel for a week, I wouldn't bring this, it's more a stay at home in the shave cave kind of item where all the skuttles and soaps are anyway.
I'm working on a weekend travel kit now with a pair of matched German blades, it might have some balsa in it when I'm done.
Cheers.