black russian touch up

had some time early so I got to work on the russian.

wanted to  improve the keenness and improve the sharpness so I went to a stone that was a fast cutter on water; the la veinette. 40 laps of x strokes and then 20 little laps on the creamy yellow slurry stone just for fun.

then onto the hard la vert stone. another 40 laps on water and tested leg hair. much sharper and crisper but a little harsh so then 25 laps on linen and 35 on leather. we shall see tomorrow am:))

then got into sharpening my Tanto. This is a cheapo version of the real thing but I love the aesthetics of it. It has stainless steel and is made in China so I knew it would be tough sharpening.

It was moderately sharp to start with so I went to the BBW on the triangle coti and raised a slurry. Still very new to knife sharpening and the requisite angles required so it was a lesson. Got decent sharpness going then overdid it( that coticule slurry dulls SO fast) then I had  a bright idea; use the Chinese 12 k stone with the  different nagura I have and see if that works.

SO I started with the soft one, did lots of half strokes( learning to hone with the left hand on the knives!) and it was getting sharper! Washed that off and went to the middle hard nagura and did the same thing- sharper still! Onto the karasu nagura and was good then jumped the shark :((
Tried to hone it on the chef knife steel but that made it worse so:

My NEW Nakayama Honyhama stone just came in so I decided to play with that on water and it was AMAZING! Lots of fine grit released and with X strokes it just kept getting sharper and keener! Four of five laps and put it away.

Nice. Now onto my Kbar Kukri. THIS will be a bitch to hone :)) but it will be fun playing.

EDIT

Finished the KBar in short order. I used the Chinese 12 k with a progressive slurry starting with my ichimoguri soft nagura and lots of elliptical strokes to get all these curved edges. No dilute but as I felt keeness improving I switched to my mid hardness ichimoguri stone slurry and the same X elliptical strokes. it was a light slurry and I diluted a few times with spray bottle.

Paid close attention to 'moving around the slurry' in a wave formation.Keenness still improving so I switched to the kerasu stone and very light slurry which I diluted each ten reps.Ended up very sharp and keen so I put it away.

I need to stop BEFORE I over hone lol. this was a good night for honing.Been meaning to put an edge on this thing ( and trying to imagine HOW I could) for a long time,

Blades of the Day

Starting with my black Russian 5/8" which I honed last night with a full Dilucot on the Nouvelle Vein alone. This should be an interesting test, never did that before.

Second blade is my new Revisor 6/8" which I just touched up on my Les Latenuese for 40 X strokes on water followed by 20 straight pushes on the hybrid side on water( of course).Then 25 laps on linen and 35 on leather. Popping hairs effortless and smoothly.

Shave report

Black russian

honed on Nouvell vein dilucot:

dissappointing, not quite sharp enough. Kind of did the job but not one or even two pass shave. Missed chin hair pretty badly.

30 x xtrokes on triangle les lat coticule. much better. 30 laps on leather, smoother but not sharper.  will play with the edge today.

Didn't get to revisor finished with DE. no worries :))

Double Arrow blade

Well I got my chinese double arrow blade today and was very happy to have a new honing experiment, But an hour plus into trying to set the bevel and Iim not so happy.

Started out with the BBW as I thought it would be coarser. The blade is a 6/8 inch with a very wide spine and uneven top half of the grind. A very crude blade but that was what I was expecting. it showed up with a factory bevel of sorts but would not shave arm hair at all

Got an easy slurry on the BBW coti and went to work with half strokes ( 30 reps/set) r sets later I tested it and no where near close to shaving arm hair. 4 more sets of 30 and the same result- nothing. ack

set up slurry on the coti side and did the same., same result.

went to slurry on la dressante and same- nothing. a little crispier sound but no cutting  bevel looks great under microscope and by eye but nothing.

add one layer tape. repeat on la dressante. slurry to thick. nothing. again.

then onto water on dressante and X strokes. more crispy cutting sound but no arm hair. Ack

add another layer of tape and same thing.

soaking norton 4/8 k right now to see if that's the deal. will dull and start over. this is one tough blade.

edit

30minutes later I'm set to use the norton and I check the edge, and it seems far crispier on the arm and the TPT! WTH? Still not shaving arm but perhaps I will retape and stay on the coti a little longer before going to the Norton.

The les lat on light slurry diluted to water with two layers of tape.

edit again

tried using the norton 4 k and it made a very ugly scraping sound. ack. tried different angles and positions and it just sounded like shit. So I gave up. It's not me it's the blade.

But I had to get my confidence back so I dulled one of the black russians and set out to do a dilucot on just the nouvelle vein, what I've found to be a very soft stone and not a great cutter on slurry or very keen on water. just average for everything but still very pretty :))

Dulled on glass, one full downstroke. failed arm hair

solid slurry with les lat hybrid bout . great slurry fast and easy.

sets of thirty half strokes switching triangle bout side every ten strokes

slurry turning grey after 4 laps

6 laps and slurry is thickening, test arm hair: passes! It's not me, it's the metal :)) thankyou :))

Rinse blade but not coti, 15 X strokes

rinse blade and coti

50 X strokes on water.very deliberate strokes. Good stone/ edge contact.

shaved leg hair perfectly. yes!
40 laps on linen
50 laps on leather.
Shave ready in 20 minutes

The double arrow is OUT! lol. there is a big difference between cheap and inexpensive. My Russians were inexpensive, the Chinese blade is cheap.Cheap lesson for me.

Also, for honing, the sound and the feel are everything; not the lap count.

Touch up for black russian 5/8 and forestal

had the time to touch up the black russian that I had finished on the Karasu stone and was a bit rough. Did 50 X strokes on the La Veinette on water and it was better but not quite keen enough, so I did a bit more push strokes ( probably 20 each side) then 20 on linen and 40 on leather.

Shaved MUCH better. Still probably needs to be re sharpened on the BBW and progressed up but it was interesting to see how much better the coti was for this

For the Forestal I did 60 X strokes on my fast Les lat coti( triangle) last night on water and then 20 and 30 on linen and leather and it shaved very well today. It is a full hollow and still talks a lot during the shave but it was very keen but smooth.

coming soon!my ozuku asagi!

Interestingly enough I am nicking myself much more with my DE and Feather blade that I use for the last pass than I am with my straights :)) Perhaps I should finish the feathers on my coticules :))

Prep for forestal for tomorrow

50 x strokes on fast triangle les lat on water. then 20 laps on linen and 40 on leather. I'm looking for more sharp smoothness tomorrow.

Hone review

started with the black russian ( second one honed yesterday) and it was ok but just not sharp enough for me. I t did the sideburns ok,no pulling or tugging and even got  the side of the chin but started leaving hair on the front part of the chin.

put it down and finished with the dovo forestal which was sharp and mellow but not perfect either. Going to dull the russian and do it over with the muticot approach starting with BBW til it shaves arm hair, then la dressante for dilution and finishing on les lat and see how sharp it gets.

I guess mixing japanese and european stones doesn't work that well. at least not yet :)0

The Forestal just needs some laps on the les lat or la vert on water. Should be getting my Nakayama Honayama today can't wait!

Experiments in honing.

russian 5/8' blade one

dulled on glass
les lat( my slow on slurry, fast on water one)
tried to make slurry with my soft ichigomori slurry stone. VERY slow going. almost abandoned but stuck through it. took very long to get any slurry at all

five sets of half strokes(started turning grey though, right away) and three sets of circles later barely cuts arm hair.

had to reset slurry twice. still took forever to build it. conclusion: les lat is too hard for ichimugori, OR they just weren't meant for each other :))
 two more laps of circles and shaves arm hair decently but no pop or ping.

clean blade and stone and switch to hard ichimogori stone. same thing. almost no slurry. test it on my nouvelle vein and TONS of slurry, fast. Looks like nouvelle slurry though. If the nagura substitutes are so hard why won't they create les lat slurry? ack

Start dilution. still half strokes. dilute every 30 laps, then 20 then 10 barely any slurry. have to rebuild it again. ack.

then onto honing on the small matchbook hard karasu stone itself. Like on glass. no slurry just water. edge look ed great, sandblasted; under scope-.no microchips..
 shaved some arm hair and wanted more so I finished on the les lat hybrid bout , also like glass and it pinged and popped the arm hairs just like I like

then 30 laps on lined and 40 laps on leather. tested leg hair. nice . sharp and smooth. 20 more laps on leather and in the case.

I know it will shave smooth.

the hypothesis was wrong. I thought using the slurry stone on the hard les lat would bring out the properties of the slurry stone not the les lat but it wouldn't raise any damn slurry!?! trying to emulate the protocol with the j nats as I am getting two this week!!!! can't wait. :))
 The next level of the edge.

SO I dulled another 5/8" Russian and went back to work

This time with the nouvelle vein coti and the soft nagura. slurry in an instant :))


four stets of half strokes and I was ready to test arm hair - it felt right- but gave it two more laps of circles shaving arm hair no problem :)) Nice!! on to the dilution.

same coti but next nagura: the hard ochigomori stone. again, great slurry in an instant but luckily remembered it was supposed to be milky slurry and adjusted.

more half strokes, a few sets of 30 then dropped to 2 sets of 20 then some x strokes diluting every 10 reps.speed up the dilution as I could feel the edge getting close.
rinse blade and did some x strokes ( 15)

rinsed coti and blade and went to karasu stone for x strokes on water.

fucking brilliant. again like glass with light suction, ice skating across the stone. 30 x strokes in sets of 5 each direction and it was shaving leg hair perfectly. in half the time as with the les lat. or less than :))

30 on linen 60 on leather.  I love honing on those little bouts. I think I actually hone better .