Hello folks,

I have a question.

A while ago I bought a TR Cadman & Sons Bengall. It was cheap at £5 and it was tatty and rusty. I gave it a bit of a clean up with sandpaper and it came up quite good. Then I wanted to hone it. I only had one old stone that I have from way back so I bought one of them Chinese 12k off the bay. So, I then started honing. My old stone is a combination, I have no idea what the grits are so I started on the roughest side to set a bevel. Not sure if I did this right or wrong but I guess right. Anyway, I then flipped it over and honed and honed till it cut arm hair off then went onto the Chinese 12k. I started on this with a heavy slurry and gradually reduced it till I was honing with just water. The razor was sharp and shaved well, better than the Joseph Rogers that I had been using.

So after shaving with this Bengall for a while I thought "can I get this sharper?". Prior to the last half dozen or so shaves I have been giving the razor a hone with just water. I started with 100 strokes in each direction and then I have been reducing this on subsequent shaves. I am now doing maybe 40 strokes in each direction, prior to each shave. I then strop before and after. The thing is, this blade is just getting sharper and sharper every time and my worry is that I will over do it at some point. Is there a way for me to know that I am going to over-hone? I am so happy with this blade that I don't want to spoil it and risk not getting it back. I intend to make this my first candidate for a serious restore, as opposed to the half dozen "clean ups" I've got going on!

One more point. Given that the edge is extremely sharp, how do I dull it before I restore it. I don't fancy having this in my hands and trying to polish it on a bench polisher!!!!!!!!!

Thanks

Pete​