New York 6/8 touchup, Revisor thumb notch 3 coticule progression

Decided to play a little tonight. First I touched up my pretty sharp tonsorial gem New York 6/8 ( not 5/8 as  I have been writing) spike point. I am getting very comfortable with all the blade sizes and shapes now and the spike point or the square point doesn't scare me anymore.

One, I'm honing so much that my fine motor skills with the blades is getting much better, two I have  over 200 plus shaves in now. that helps.three, I am learning my beard and my face.

SO first  the touch up:
taped the blade and did 30 X strokes on the Les latenuese bout  on water. Rocking and popping arm hair. leg hair suicide. Just what I like. I am amazed at this blade I got for $15 on ebay. it's a great shaver.

I am also happy I got over my unicot prejudice.  the edge is AWESOME! IN the shave kit for tomorrow. Just a few strokes will show me.

30 laps on linen
40 laps on leather.

Next Revisor 6/8  with the Thumb Notch. This blade is almost too nice to use! I hold it in too high esteem and forget it is just a tool and is made to be used. not looked at. So I dulled the ( mediocre) edge ( I know it's my edge but it's an old one; and I"ve grown as a honer :))

Start
Deep Rock Belgian Coticule with thick slurry with the same coloration bout ( pink lines/ yellow coti)
2 sets of 30  circles and it's already getting metal shavings. This is a REALLY fast cutter. Same color as my Nouvelle Vein bout.
Refresh slurry  and do two more sets of 30  circles. Left side was shaving arm hair well but right edge wasn't so I refreshed the slurry again and ended up with 6 total sets varying between X strokes and push strokes, trying to make better contact with the hone on that side.

That seemed to work, cutting right side arm hair fine

Les Latenuese coticule and raised milky slurry with tononagura bout ( les lat)
(THIS IS A DIFFERENT ORDER THAN THE ORDER I USED BEFORE THAT WORKED SO WELL. BEFORE I USED THE LA VERTE FIRST AND THEN THE LES LAT, AS A FINISHER. THAT WILL TURN OUT TO BE A BIG DIFFERENCE IN RESULT)


30 reps in sets of 5  very light pressure, seems keener on the arm but with the sweet coticule smoothness, I know it's not true but it seems I can't cut myself with a coti edge( somewhat the same with the Jnat but not as much.I have MUCH more latitude that with the synthetics.

La Verte with DMT slurry
10 sets of 3 X strokes, diluting every 3 reps, then 10 sets of X strokes on plain water. One side is still not right.
30 push strokes on water on the la Verte. Still not enough.


Onto the Les Lat on water


3 push strokes on water and it's keen. So the Les Lat IS a finer stone than the La Verte. This proves it for me. ( at least my stones).
30 laps linen
40 laps leather


poppin' :))




So what did I learn?


The pink yellow coti's I have are great cutters, starters, next up is the La Verte with DMT 600 slurry THEN the Les Lat. Just like with the JNats, the slurry fineness order makes a difference. And  1200 DMT slurry just makes a grey mess and doesn't bring out the harder stone particles and I don't know why.


The 600 works fine for tomonagura. weird.We'll see tomorrow but I think this progression gives the same sharpness/ smoothness as the unicot. One stone or three? does it make a difference? How do I want to play today? One stone and three bouts or threes stones? Only the final edge matters,really :))


Shave Report:


pretty much all three very good. The Brown russian 5/8 that I honed on Nakayama weeks ago has held up. very sharp smooth AND QUIET.  The 6/8 New York that I touched up on the Les Lat was PERFECT! The tape really worked. Perhaps I need tape on the thicker spined Revisor as it was sharp enough but very NOISY. and not as smooth as I wanted so:


20 push strokes on the Oozuku on water then 15 slow X strokes on same. THERE'S the quiet smoothness I wanted. Crazy.What a difference! Definitely a finer stone


so the order could be:
vintage coti thick slurry
la verte milky slurry
les lat light slurry to dilute
jnat on water as finisher.


will re dull and try that today.
 BUT overall very pleased with all blades and edges.

New York 6/8"blade second shave report

Want to see how the edge retained with the unicot so just 40 laps on leather before the shave. Have to say it sounded worse than it shaved. I mean it sounded like it wasn't going to be a smooth pass but I could have gotten away with just the one pass.no problem. still very smooth and sharp.

I know that shouldn't be a surprise but I seem to be able to dull my edges in just one shave. Perhaps my shave teshnik is getting better. going to do a few ( taped ) laps on water on this on the La Verte this afternoon just for fun.

Ralf Aust and Tonsorial Gem Unicot

I decided to sacrifice the Ralf Aust edge for the experiment as it is closest and  size shape and grind to the new blade.The Aust edge was good but not perfect so no worries.

Oozuku Asagi
Ralf Aust dulled on glass

soft uchi slurry
3 sets of 30 circles shaving arm good start.

switch to hard uchi slurry and push strokes
30 reps in sets of 5
cutting sharper so move on

Tomonagura slurry made with DMT 600
15 X strokes diluting every 5
10 more push strokes diluting ever 5 again

Tests are good


Water only
30 push strokes in sets of 5 slow

30 laps linen
40 laps leather.

we'll see :))

La Verte Unicot

continuing on with the 6/8 New york blade I decided to give the unicot a try. this might be the only way I can really get the sharpest edge out of a coticule. For now at least

tomnagura slurry on La Verte with dmt 600
One piece tape
3 sets of 30 half strokes( not circles)


rinse all
50 X strokes in sets of 5 slow as well some pigtails and some regular X strokes

test is excellent!
30 laps linen
40 laps leather.
seems very sharp.we'll see

SHAVE REPORT

Perfect! Started with the Red Russian which I did a 3 step progressions with the Uchigumori stone and it worked UNBELIEVABLY WELL. Silent and sharp and smooth.Standard 3 nagura , soft for circles, the hard for push strokes then instead of the Karasu I used a DMT nagura slurry of the Uchi stone itself,
I figure what is hard than that? tomonagura into a dilute and X strokes and WOW it went well.
Did the first sideburn and put it up, it was so obviously perfect. nice

 Clausberg 6/8 also was PERFECT on the La Verte Unicot and perhaps this IS the way to use the coticule. I can't seem to get this edge with the straight dilucot but man this was sharp and buttery. Nice


Ralf Aust on the Oozuku went perfect as well . 3 blades three home runs. Very happy.

One stone hone, the coticule version

I think I figured it out. 

Got my $15 'Tonsorial Gem" 6/8 Ebay razor today ( Clausberg, New York probably 1930's or so) and the blade looked great but wouldn't shave arm hair.

I've had two successes with my Jnat three slurry stone progression and I wanting to try it on a coticule but wasn't sure this was the razor to start with.

The bevel under the scope was uneven with lots of misdirected scratches so I thought about the 1k king and the4 kg norton but wanted to try it with my one stone hone project

worked great! very happy with the results. now that I understand which level of slurry produces approximately what grit level I can plan accordingly, as to what effect I am trying to achieve.

I decided to swith slurry stones here as well going from the softer one to the harder les lat but used  dilution for the last progression

Belgian Deep rock vintage stone

heavy slurry

3 laps of 30 slow circles, shaving arm hair already

slurry got dark quickly

refresh with totally new slurry

2 laps of 30 slow circles

shaving better( refreshing the slurry at the bevel setting level seems to be important in this technique.Don't want the slurry to get too thick or will dull faster it seems.

5 total laps of 30: 150 reps

Les lat light slurry ( 3-4 swipes)

30 push strokes in sets of 5

testing sharper already

Water

15 X strokes

30 push strokes in sets of 5

Testing very well but want to finish it more on the hybrid side of the les lat bout with water

 Hybrid Les lat

30 push strokes in sets of 5

Ok so I broke from the one stone hone but it's still a coti.

KEEN

35 laps linen

45 laps leather.

Nice:)) We'll see tomorrow but I am VERY pleased that this method seems to transfer from the jnats to the cotis! 

SHAVE REPORT

Good but not great. certainly shave ready and got the sides and neck verywell on the first pass but the  goatee/chin area proved tough. I touched up with 40 laps on water with the La Vert and the second pass was better but not perfect.
Even cleaning up with the safety razor on that area proved tough so maybe it's just a hard stubble day :))

going to go back to light slurry on the la vert and dilute and see if I can get it sharper.

redo report
3 push strokes on La Verte misty slurry made with DMT 1200 so it's la vert slurry. much cripsier
then,5 dilutes with one finger drop every 3 laps, 15 reps.
then 30 push strokes on water. seems much sharper but will see tomorrow. no strop

Revisor 5/8" and Naka 2

Since I had such great success with the original protocol and the original Nakayama Honyama stone I had to see if I could reproduce it with my second Nakayama stone, bought because I love the first one so much, I wanted a back up. last effort sucked but I think I know where I went wrong.

I am really liking this one stone from start to finish idea; figuring out how to 'figure it out"

Nakayama Honyama 2 Revisor 5/8 ( new)
dull blade

heavy slurry with Soft Uchi
3 laps on VERY SLOW circles( get a really nice, sandy, smooth grit feeling from this stone)
shaves arm hair no problem :))

Hard uchi slurry ( really take my time to build up some, it's slow)
30 push strokes in sets of 5
sharp ! arm hairs above skin

Karasu slurry ( so light)
15 x strokes diluting one finger ever 5 X strokes
wash stone
15 push strokes on water

feels and sounds sharp on leg and arm hair

30 laps linen
40 laps leather

One blade tomorrow. we'll see. I do love my Revisors,time to play with the good blades.:))


SHAVE REPORT
PERFECT!ONE STONE HONE.PRETTY CLOSE TO A ONE PASS EFFORT. SHAVED EFFORTLESSLY AND EASILY.ALMOST SILENT, WHICH TELLS ME A GREAT DEAL. SHARP AND SMOOTH IS THE GOAL.


NEXT UP : SAME PROGRESSION ON THE OOZUKU WITH ANOTHER REVISOR AND THEN ONTO THE COTICULES AND FIGURING THE ONE STONE HONE WITH THOSE STONES.

65 Russian Re Re Do with tried and true 3 step progression

This was driving me nuts all day and I couldn't wait to get home to fix it. It was an OK shave but considering this was from Sham and came to me with the best edge I had ever felt before ( his escher no doubt) I had to get it better than this.

So I decided to do the one routine I KNOW always works; at least it has so far: my Nakayana Honyama #1 and three uchigumori slurry progression.

Although I haven't shaved with it yet it seemed to work like a charm

dull blade on glass
soft uchi slurry, thick
4 sets of 30 circles and test. shaves hair and already has crispy sound on skin!
2 more sets of  30 then 20. test. better.
( just like usual! with this stone)

Hard Uchi slurrymedium
45 reps of push strokes in sets of 5 reps no refresh
test better still. nice!

Karasu slurry
15 X strokes and test. sharper!
 Dilute every 3 X strokes
another 21 reps.
test leg hair. very keen

30 laps linen
40 laps leather.

SHAVE REPORT:


PERFECT! ABOUT TIME. THE NAKAYAMA #1 AND THE PROTOCOL WORKED LIKE IT'S SUPPOSED TO. SHARP AND SMOOTH. ONLY BROUGHT ONE RAZOR TO THE SHAVE AND THAT'S UNUSUAL THESE DAY BUT I'M GETTING BACK TO IT. ONE HONE AND ONE RAZOR, THAT'S WHAT I WANT.
I DON'T WANT A 15 DIFFERENT HONE PROTOCOL, I WANT TO GO FROM DULL TO SHAVE READY WITH ONE STONE AND HAVE THE EDGE LAST .


NOW TO BE ABLE TO DO THE SAME THING WITH A DIFFERENT JNAT HONE. TONIGHTS PROJECT
WHEN THE BLADE IS RIGHT MY TECHNIQUE GETS BETTER,LOL

Sham Russian Re Do and Unicot on smiley russian

was itching to get back to my hones today and fix those edges from this morning.

first up the Sham '65 Russian  

Uchigumori Stone and 3 nagura progression
dulled on glass
Soft uchi slurry
3 laps of circles. shave hair! nice
2 more laps not better but not worse (?)

hard uchi slurry
30 reps push strokes switching every 5 reps 
test hair,popping


DMT nagura slurry ( first time for this) 
lots of uchigumori slurry
15 X strokes diluting every 5 then test
sharper
dilute even more than
15 more X strokes on water
very keen leg hair suicide. nice


30 laps linen
40 laps leather


should be good tomorrow.


smiley russian with spine wear on la dressante coticle
started off with dilucot
milky slurry x 30 half strokes 2 laps then start dilute
diluting one finger drop every lap( 30 strokes)
slurry depleting too fast dressante is a FAST cutter.
7 laps or so


cutting arm hair ok


tape blade
rinse blade but not coticule, add one drop water
15 X strokes on slurry
rinse coticule
50 laps on water
sharp


30 laps linen
40 laps leather


test is ok but not perfect


30 push strokes on la verte on water.


crispy hair cutting


we'll see soon.


SHAVE REPORT:


SURPRISE SURPRISE. THE 65 RUSSIAN SHAVED POORLY AND THE RECAALCITRANT RUSSIAN UNICOT SHAVED GREAT! HAD TO FINISH WITH THE UNICOT BLADE AS THE 65 RUSSIAN WAS JUST TOO CRISPY. NOT BAD BUT NO WHERE NEAR AS SMOOTH AS IT SHOULD BE. THE UNICOT BLADE WAS SILKY. COTICULES :))

Nakayama Honyama 2 and Oozuku progression

got my beautiful new Nakayama Honyama from Takeshi at Aframes Tokyo in record time so I knew what I was playing with this afternoon. Wasn't at all pleased with the edges from the single slurry dilute on the Uchi yesterday so I decided to go back to what I know works with the Jnats and go from there

3 slurry stone progression on Nakayama Honyama 5/8 Sham Russian
soft uchi slurry
3 laps of 30 circles; shaves arm hair already! a fast cutter for sure
1 lap of 20 to be sure test good but I could have stopped at 3

hard uchi slurry
30 sets of 5 push strokes
very crispy
10 X strokes
5 push strokes light pressure

cutting leg hair perfectly

karasu slurry to dilute
sets of 5 X strokes with one finger drop of water
30 X strokes
20 X strokes on pure water

40 laps on leather everything's good but I'm not sure I got it perfectly sharp at stage one. we'll see

Oozuku Asagi and Dovo Ebenholz 5/8

soft uchi slurry
3 laps NOT cutting arm hair( this is definitely a slower cutter)
4 more laps shaving well now

hard uchi slurry
30 push strokes in sets of  5
test just ok (I'm not sure the oozuku is a one stone hone. at least not with this method)
15 more push strokes

karasu slurry to dilute
25 X strokes diluting one drop  every 5 reps
not impressive
15 more X strokes to plain water
30 X strokes on water test

eh...

30 laps linen
MUCH better
40 laps leather
even better still

we'll see tomorrow.

SHAVE REPORT:


ONE FOR THREE. THE DOVO SHAVED GREAT, THE SHAM AND THE RUSSIAN WERE WAY OFF. THE SHAM SHAVED PRETTY SHARP BUT PULLED TOO MUCH AND WAS NOT SMOOTH AT ALL. I REMEMBER TAPING THIS BLADE TO GET IT TO WORK LAST TIME AS THE SPINE IS VERY WORN DOWN.WE'LL SEE LATER TODAY
NICE TO SEE I CAN GET A GREAT EDGE OFF THE OOZUKU BY ITSELF THOUGH.THE STROP REALLY MADE THE DIFFERENCE BUT I DON'T THINK THE OOZUKU IS A STAND ALONE STONE FOR ME THOUGH. MORE OF A FINISHER.

Another Russian 5/8" test on the Uchi

This time with just ONE Nagura slurry into a dilution. Same great results! I dulled the blade second from the left on top( one I bought from Sham, with his great Escher hone on it, long gone of course :(()

Soft uchi slurry
3 laps of 30 slow circles: shaving arm already! but do another 30 to really set it. sharper.

then instead of going to the hard uchi slurry I just started diluting one finger drop every 5 X strokes until I got to 35 X strokes and tested leg hair. Very sharp. Nice

continued with dilution every 5 push strokes for 30 reps then test, very keen.

wiped off stone with finger ( but didn't rinse) and wiped off blade. add more water. 30 more push strokes adding water every 5 reps. this helped, there was ostensibly no slurry on the stone but it was still slicker than if I rinsed it.

tested: very sharp popping hairs.

onto Oozuku on pure water:
30 push strokes in sets of 5
test: perfect sharp

35 laps on leather. test. DONE! Nice.

now onto test the uchi with the chu nagura slurry and see if I can get the same result.

Uchigumori stone/ Dovo Ebenholz 5/8 blade
Chu Nagura slurry

build slurry with Chu; easy, lots of it.
3 laps of 30 circles, again shave arm hair
1 more lap of 30 onto dilute

one finger load of water every 5 push strokes 35 total reps test
sharper!
onto X strokes and more dilute every 5 reps for 25 reps
wipe stone off with finger
10 more X strokes
rinse blade add water
20 push strokes adding water every 5
test: very keen!

onto Oozuku on water
30 reps of push strokes test sharp but not perfect
40 laps on leather still not perfect
back to stone
20 more push strokes on water test: now it's popping correctly.

test tomorrow!

nice to now it will work with just one slurry stone AND a different one at that. Will see how it shaves tomorrow.


SHAVE REPORT


NOT SO GREAT. THE SHAM RUSSIAN WAS SHARP BUT NOT SMOOTH AT ALL.ACTUALLY STOPPED AND DID 30 PUSH STROKES ON THE UCHI ON WATER AND THEN 10 X STROKES AS WELL, THAT DID THE TRICK. WEIRD. I WONDER IF THE OOZUKU IS WHAT NEEDS THE SLURRY TO BE SMOOTH.


THE DOVO WAS MUCH BETTER BUT STILL NOT PERFECT. PERHAPS IT NEEDS THE NEXT SLURRY STONE FOR SHARPENING/SMOOTHNESS. WILL PLAY WITH IT LATER.


FORGOT TO ADD THAT I DULLED AND RE HONED MY BLACK RUSSIAN AND DID A ONE STONE/SLURRY DILUTE ON THE NAKAYAMA( !) WITH THE SOFT UCHI STONE ONTO A WATER AND THAT WAS THE KEENEST AND SMOOTHEST OF ALL OF THEM TODAY.


PERHAPS:
NAKAYAMA WITH SLURRY TO SHAVE
OOZUKU WITH SLURRY TO WATER
UCHIGUMORI ON VERY LIGHT WATER TO DILUTE?

Playing with the Uchi

Did a lot of playing with my new uchigumori stone this weekend

first up my Dovo Forestal which was very sharp:
I just did a test hone with my Dovo Forestal starting with a Chu Nagura slurry first instead of the soft uchigumori and it did not cut anywhere near as fast. The uchi got to shaving arm hair in three sets of 30 circles and with the Chu Nagura it took ten and it still wasn't as sharp. I then went onto a slurry of the uchigumori itself using a 1200 DMT as nagura instead of the hard uchi slurry stone I used previous.

Again slower than with the hard uchi slurry. I actually stopped at this point, re dulled the blade and went back to the original protocol. And again with the soft uchi I got arm hair shaving in three sets of 30 circles, then onto the hard uchi slurry with 35 push strokes and it was keen. A karasu slurry ( very light, can barely see it but it makes the stone slick, almost slimy ) and X strokes diluting every 5 reps then 4 then 3 then 15 X strokes on pure water.

The same result, popping leg hairs perfectly.

I don't know if the water actually works as well, I seem to lose the slick feel of the stone that I get with even light slurry. will shave with it tomorrow.


SHAVE REPORT:
 It went very well, sharp and pretty smooth but just to see I did 30 push strokes on the Oozuku Asagi on water and re tested and it was perfectly smooth AND sharp. Nice to see. No stropping. That might have helped as well. I think the it's better to finish on a light slurry with the Uchi and then go to the Oozuku or a hard coticule on water to finish. As noted above I seem to loose the slide with just water on the Uchi


Boker Edelweis


This already had a Uchi edge which I tested softening with my La Verte. 30 push strokes on water and this was smooth and sharp as well. Nice to know also that I can mix the coticule and the Jnat together in one hone session and it will compliment each other


vintage 5/8 puma


ah yes, the problem child. redid this completely with my Jnat 3 stone protocol on the uchi and finished on water on the uchi and it shaved like a dream today! Just the one sideburn pass but I could tell the problem was solved. Nice.


Now, what to hone next ?:))

Uchigumori is here.

My Uchigumori stone is here and it's a beauty! I was worried about this as it's used primarily as a polisher for samurai swords and I didn't know if I paid too much for a stone that I wouldn't get much use from. So I decided to put it right to the test today and promptly dulled my Boker Edeweiss( with an already keen edge :(() and used the same protocol as I did on my Nakayama Honyama stone;

I shouldn't have worried; this thing is better than all of them and seriously fast!

dull blade on glass

First up Stage One

Soft uchi slurry ( made lots easily)
4 laps of 30 circles and test arm hair. shaves already!


onto stage two: hard uchi( basically tomo nagura: the same stone!)
30 push strokes in sets of five test hair cutting very easily but I can tell it could use some more
15 more push strokes and test; way better, MAN this stone is fast!

Stage three karasu slurry dilute


15 X strokes diluting one drop every 5, then 4, then 3, the 2 sets of 2 and test:


sharp but almost too noisy and crisp


onto water
30 X strokes and test, very keen
15 more X strokes and test popping easily


60 laps on leather. smoother.


will see if this will actually benefit from a coticule finisher. shave test tomorrow.!


either way I got a great stone!


SHAVE REPORT


I DID GET A GREAT STONE! THIS THING WORKED LIKE A CHAMP.SHAVED WITH THE BOKER EDELWEISS 5/8" AND IT WAS EASY. CRISP AND SMOOTH EDGE. ALMOST A ONE PASS SHAVE.NOT TOO SHARP AS  I WAS WORRIED ABOUT. ANOTHER WINNER!

Another try at the 5/8 Puma

Spoke with the owner and he confirmed that this 5/8 Puma has been a weird duck for him as well. I suspect that one side the grind is thicker than the other just by how it lays on the stone but I wanted to get it really as ready as I could before I gave it back to him and yesterday's effort wasn't enough.

I want it both sharper and smoother so I went back to the coticule. I choose my La veinette bout and started with a light slurry. I started diluting almost immediately( after 4 X stroke) and kept diluting one finger drop every 3 laps. 4 dilutions and  12 laps later I tested.

one side much keener but the right side wasn't even 'cutting' hairs at the toe in some place while others were keener too. I went to full water and  did more work on the right side and that didn't help much.


needed more 'square footage' than my bout was giving me so I switched to my Les latenuese rectangle( love this stone).

Started with a very light slurry ( les lat as well) and went immediately to a fast dilution to water in very few laps. did some extra circles at the toe on the right side only. working

8 x strokes on water only. enough

tested both side good. :))

5 rep downhill ladder of push strokes on my little les lat hybrid bout which is a GREAT finisher on water. Just wish I had a chunk of this full size.

then a 4 rep up hill push stroke ladder on the hybrid side on water as well. tested

popping arm hairs on both sides. nice

35 laps on leather.

shave test tomorrow. I guess it just might work out to combine jnats and coti's in the same honing session. especially on water.  Love my stones.

HAD continues

I love my Nakayama Honyama SO much that I had to get a bigger chunk :)) I have FIVE stones coming:


1) a king 1000 bevel setter
2) my Uchigumoro finisher
3) a Tam O'Shanter slurry stone
4) the Nakayama above
5) a Cretan hone from a friend in Greece!!

I hate to admit it but I am a collector now it seems. Rifstonian indeed:)) I now have more stones than blades and that's a great thing.

5/8" Puma 1969

I forgotten to hone this last of morgan's seven day set a very nice 5/8" Puma which has  69 on the tang( I'm assuming it's from 1969?1869?) I tested it last night and it was popping arm hairs left and right so I did nothing with it and just shaved with it this morning.
Very strange as it acted sharp but shaved poorly. LOTS of tugging and pulling so I put it away and honed it today.It got the Nakayama Treatment.This works EVERYTIME.  Love it. it's my go to protocol when I want a razor shave ready fast.

Just wish I could get the other stones to work as well

Dulled blade on glass
soft uchi slurry, lots of it
5 sets of 30 circles and test; not yet refreshed three times!( its' thirsty)
4 sets of 30 half strokes; shaves arm hair
- it seems that the blade doesnt lay very flat it must have a warp of a bit because the circles weren't getting great full edge contact when that's my go to move for full contact. Half strokes and pushes with two hands on the blade to maintain toe as well as heel contact

hard uchi slurry
7 sets of 5 push strokes no dilute shaving leg hair well

karasu slurry , dilute to water, first every 5 laps then every 3 until 10 laps on
30 x strokes very keen
15 more on water only

Oozuku stone
15 laps on water.less keen on the hair


Nakayama stone
10 x strokes on water. Keenness back

30 laps on leather test good
20 laps more test better

done! we'll see tomorrow.

SHAVE REPORT:


This was much better but for some reason I just don't like this blade. It shaves well enough but it has a strange feel. It pretty much got everything on the first pass with no tugging or pulling,even the chin but it's not as smooth as I would like.Perhaps it will like a few laps on a coticule. One more try,


One the other hand the second pass with my brown russian was amazing. Still holding that incredible edge with just  15 X strokes on the La Vert( funny has that has turned into one of my favorites:)) and it was crazy good.

Wacker touch up

The damn thing wouldn't get out of my mind so I decided to try to fix it now.Since it basically wasn''t sharp enough I decided to go back to the nakayama with slurry and sharpen it more before moving on. I did NOT re dull it but wanted to see what happened from there.

reading up on honing wedges it seems that because the spine is so thick many use electrical tape to change the angle of the blade on the hone and put more pressure on the edge. I think I wasn't paying enough attention to what the edge was moving around on the hone and I think that's why it "looked" right under the microscope but didn't get quite sharp enough.

This time instead of circles I did push strokes then X strokes paying complete attention to making sure the slurry got distributed along the entire length of the blade; for every stroke. I could see early that it wasn't easy to do and I probably rushed it a lot this morning missing a lot of contact with the blade/stone.

soft uchi slurry on nakayama
sets of 5 rep push strokes for 35 reps
test leg hair;getting better refresh slurry and continue
4 sets of 5 rep push strokes on slurry. really easy to miss toe part. concentrate!

test is getting better
new slurry with hard uchi
25 X strokes and check. sharper
15 more X strokes and check best yet

switch to karasu( as I did on my best result with the brown russian)
5-1 reverse pyramid X strokes  then 1-3 uphill ladder
start dilution every 3 reps
then every 2 reps wash blade
2 more strokes
wash stone
10 more X strokes
check leg hair
very crisp


Oozuku on water
15 x strokes test very keen
20 laps on leather

we'll see tomorrow :))


SHAVE REPORT:


EXCELLENT! SHARP SMOOTH AND EASY SHAVE. THE SWITCH TO REALLY WATCHING THE EDGE UNDERCUT THE SLURRY I THINK MADE ALL THE DIFFERENCE.FIRST PASS WAS ALMOST ALL I NEEDED


TESTED THE BROWN RUSSIAN WHICH STARTED ALL OF THIS AND IT STILL HELD A PERFECT EDGE! NO STOPPING AT ALL SINCE LAST SHAVE AND IT WAS JUST AS GOOD OR BETTER THAN THE WACKER. NICE.

Honing Sunday

Wow I got a lot done this morning. First up was a touch up on  morgan's Dorko 7/8 big blade. Didn''t need much at all, just did 30 x strokes on the Oozuku on water and it was popping hairs like crazy. 30 laps on leather and I'll shave with it again in a bit.

Now came the 'project', the 6/8 Wacker Wedge. I've heard about how hard wedges are to hone so I was a bit trepidatious so I brought out the big guns, the Jnats. I've also realized that my bargain priced Nakayama Honyama is a pre finisher at best( no wonder it cuts so well) as it is pretty soft given how easily and quickly it absorbs water. good to know

Wacker 6/8 wedge
 Started off on the Nakayama building the slurry with my Chu Nagura( which I haven't used before). Did  four laps of 30 circles  and tested arm hair.Not really working so I switched to the soft uchigumori for another four laps of  30 circles and tested. shaved arm hair well . washed the stone and rebuilt the slurry

30 reps in sets of five push strokes, not really improved shaving arm.

rather than go even further backwards( I'm finally learning :)) I switched to the hard uchigumori slurry  and did 25  X strokes with an improvement in arm hair cutting . Did another 25 X strokes, lighter slurry. not much better than before.

went to 15 x strokes on water and things start happening. I guess I can overdo slurry on the jnats just as easily as on the coticules. popping leg hair easily. nice

onto the Oozuku asagi on just water. 30 X strokes on water. great cutting 30 laps on leather and that's it. will shave test in a bit

Red Russian Re Do

wanted to test out my multi coticule approach so I dulled the Red Russian 5//8
 Started out with my Deep Rock Vintage coticule. built slurry with similar coticule bout( has same side line colorations) makes slurry very easy. Regular milk consistency.

2 laps of 30 circles and slurry started turning grey. nice! kept going, tested arm hair after four laps, not cutting but getting the crispy sound that says it's getting sharper.refresh with new milky slurry and do another 2 laps and re tested. cutting leg hair easily so onto

La Dressante and thin slurry ( same bout)

30 push strokes in sets of  5 push strokes. refreshed slurry once as it dried up after about 15 strokes.cutting hair better so I push it and do another 10 reps with mainly water.not much improvement( of course)

so I go on to La Veinette and water
45 X strokes on la veinette brought it right back up. did another 15 and it improved still. NICE!

6 laps on leather and will test in a bit.

Haven't done much honing on my coticule bouts lately and it as nice to see how well the dressante and veinette works. as well as my multi cot progression. Fun! again have to remember to NOT use too much slurry or go too far with any one progression.

SHAVE TEST:

FIRST UP THE RED RUSSIAN.VERY GOOD BUT NOT QUITE AS SHARP AS WANTED. VERY SMOOTH BUT I WANT MORE FROM A FIRST PASS. I PULLED OUT THE LA VERT AND DID 30 X STROKES ON WATER. WHAT A DIFFERENCE! I NEVER REALLY "GOT" THE LA VERY BUT I DO NOW: A VERY HARD STONE THAT IS A GREAT FINISHER BUT ALSO BRINGS UP THE EDGE VERY QUICKLY ON WATER.

WACKER WEDGE
GOOD BUT NOT GREAT EITHER. 30 X STROKES HERE AS WELL ON LA VERT AND BROUGHT THE EDGE UP CONSIDERABLY AS WELL. SURPRISING THAT THE LA VERT WORKED JUST AS WELL OFF A JNAT EDGE AS IT DID ANOTHER COTICULE.

DORKO 7/8"


FINISHED WITH THIS AND IT'S A BEAUT. NICE AND CRISPY EDGE BUT SMOOTH TOO.


GOING TO WORK ON THE WEDGE A BIT MORE AND RETEST TOMORROW.

Arm hair Hara Kiri

Another great big blade from Morgan for me to play with. I was going to dull and rehone it but when I tested it it was popping arm hairs like crazy. The damn things were committing suicide so  I figured why bother and would just shave with it today.

Well it does to show me sharp doesn't always means shave ready. I didn't even strop it and it was a bit tuggy at the chin SO I took out my La Vert and did 30 X strokes on water on it then 30 on linen and 40 on leather and it shaved GREAT! Love these big blades now and this one is for sale on Herbert Wackers site. It's seriously pricey but it is beautiful and shave like a dream

Now I realize it matters now how big the blade is, you only shave with the Edge :))Great shave day already.

The Reluctant Russian and a synth/nat synthesis.

I just haven't been happy with the edge on my no date/name back russian 5/8 and it's taken a beating we me trying jnat protocols, working it on the coticule and then some combination of both.

both nothing's been working and I realized I should go back to basics and start over,setting the bevel on the 1 k  and then moving up making sure the damn thing is SHARP before I try to finish the edge.

I've been confusing sharpening and smoothing out the edge but now I'm clear. One can sharpen with coarser stones (of either natural or synthetic material) using slurry's on the natural to lower the grit and cut steel or use just lower grit natural stones or the synthetics.

I started with the norton 4/8 k stone and thought I should give that a try to regenerate this blade.It kept coming up smooth but not sharp enough.

And then I read this:

Originally Posted by CyiDev 

I redid my razors today using Wid's recommendations of 1,3,8,12k then JNAT. I also used what he said I should be looking for. 1k = shaves arm hair. 3k = shaves arm hair no pressure used. 8k = shaveable (used my hair on my hand to determine). 12k = mirror finish. JNAT I did his method and than varied on it for the other razor to being only 100 x strokes. The one using his JNAT method shaved pretty good. I nicked myself on my mustache area but did notice the blade was shaving better than before with less work. I have decided to sell my Naniwa's (there in the BST forum) and enter the coticule world. That way I can concentrate on one specific stone at a time.

on Badger and Blade forum it made sense. Instead of doing all the lower grit work on the jnat or coticule, which works on some of the blades I've done, just set the bevel and basic sharpness with the lower grits and synthetics and then get to optimum smoothness via the better natural stones.

So that's what I did but I got a little crazy :))

dulled blade on glass

5 laps of 30 circles on 1 k dmt stone, not shaving arm hair yet.

5 laps of 20 push strokes on 1 k shaving hair with some pressure

norton 4 k horizontal strokes with both hands guiding 35 laps on water

shaving arm hair with no pressure.

norton 8 k on water,30 X strokes with light pressure on blade

sharper but not enough

20 more laps

sharp enough

Chinese 12 k ( I've missed using this beautiful natural stone. there is a real prejudice against it vis a vis the jnats and coticules and I've been guilty of that snobbery as well. It puts a sharp finish edge on a blade, just not a smooth one but it is keen)

 sets of 5 push strokes 45 reps lots of water.

cutting leg hair easily but I can feel the difference between the coti and the jnat edges and these. these are not anywhere near as smooth; but if I don't stay in the sharpening stage long enough in a dillucot or multi cot approach it's smooth but not sharp enough.

It's all coming together.

Then; Oozuku on water

30 X strokes on the oozuku, test leg hair. nice and crispy. excellent

The onto the Vintage Coticule ( I told you I went a bit nuts. Soup to nuts :))

30 X strokes on this on water too. Feels much smoother.

30 laps on linen

50 laps on leather. Feels pretty good on the leg hair. we'll see tomorrow.

SHAVE REPORT:
THE MULTI STONE APPROACH WORKED LIKE A CHARM!! SHARP AS HELL and SMOOTH AS HELL. DID ONE PASS AND PUT IT UP . MISSION ACCOMPLISHED . AND THE COTICULE WORKED FINE AFTER THE OOZUKU STONE. I THINK THE KEY IS DOING THEM ON WATER TO GET THE HIGHER GRIT AND POLISHING ( SMOOTHING) EFFECT.

I THINK I FINALLY GOT THIS THING UNDERSTOOD.USE THE RIGHT TOOL FOR THE JOB

Super Puma

I thought my RAD was over, I have 21 great blades  AND I didn't think I liked big faced blades like this 1937  7/8" Puma, but this blade has changed my mind!
First off the thing wasn't that dull when my friend gave it to my but he said I could do what I want with it so I decided to not just touch it up but to put a brand new edge on it.

I was hoping I could get as good an edge as the one I was taking off:))


But it didn't come off easily and it took two full downward stokes on glass to get it to stop shaving hair and still it sounded crispy on my skin.

Nice steel and man that thing is hefty! Great feel and balance to it. I  touched it up on the Ozuku asagi last night on water and tested it this AM and it was awesome! One side pass and I put it down as  I knew I would get to re do it tonight.

Went with the stone combo I know works so I brought out the Nakayama and the soft uch slurry

watery slurry on Honyama
4 laps of 30 circles and test arm hair: shaving crisp already!  So I didn't press it and switched to:
more watery slurry with hard uchi
30 laps of push strokes very light pressure switching ever 5 reps.
tested: sharp!
15 more laps
sharp but not that much sharper

decided to NOT use the karasu slurry and just go to water on the Honyama
15 X strokes and test. Nice and keen
20 X strokes and test sharp but not much sharper. time to go on.
( in retrospect, since I was going onto the ozuku with water to finish I probably SHOULD have use the karasu slurry with an immediate dilution every 3 reps.- next time)

decided to add the Ozuku on water
15 X strokes and test.
crispy crazy
10 X strokes
hairs committing suicide:))
Love this blade. Can't wait to do three passes tomorrow :))

SHAVE REPORT:


lol, change of plans. I was going to just test the black russian but it was going so well I finished with it. It wasn't 100% but I decided to try a few extra laps on the la vert( 15 X strokes) and it was noticeably keener so I did another 10 and it was very nice. So I did the first two passes with that. I tested the Puma and it cleaned up the chins and tough areas no problem what a great blade and the edge was awesome as well

Coticule Home run!

My success with the Japanese stones has only heightened my frustration at not being able to even close to the same edge with any of my many coticules. After two serious successes with the Jnats tonight I was determined to figure out these damn coti's!

I have tried the dilucot and unicot methods and while I CAN get a good edge with the unicot I would like NOT to have to tape the blade to create a secondary bevel. I know it works and I ALSO know it's possible to get a great edge without doing so. I need to Master this.

My approach tonight mimiced the jnat approach but instead of using one base stone and multiple slurry stones I used multiple coticules and varying amount of slurry. Same but different.

dulled my 1955 Moscow blade with the Bridge on the face.

built slurry with les lat hybrid bout to milky consistency on vintage combo coticule
5 laps of 30 circles and tested
arm hair. cut but not enough so
4 laps of push strokes and half strokes( 30)
refresh slurry when it thickens to maintain milky consistency going off this principle

Cutting SPEED:

• heavy, almost paste-like slurry: 1000 - 2000 grit.
• regular, milk-like slurry: 4000-6000 grit
• thin, misty slurry: 8000-12000 grit
• water: 16000 grit - or even slower.

Just like you refresh the slurry on the Jnat when it thickens too much.

tested leg hair: Very Good! Definitely getting keener and sharper

Switch to La Vert with lighter misty slurry again built with les lat hybrid combo stone

push strokes in sets of five refreshing slurry twice to keep it watery.

35 sets

tested arm hair YES getting sharper still

( it seems the real problem was letting the slurry get too thick and not refreshing it enough)

wash both

15 very slow, VERY light touch X stokes on Les Latenuese stone on water.skating on the blade.

tested arm hair. Popping like a jnat stone!

15 more X strokes and test again

even better

30 laps on linen

30 laps in leather and test: great!

30 more laps on leather.

we'll see tomorrow but what a win for me. It's been many moons since I've been trying to figure these guys out

as usual I have to do things just a bit differently than others. 

that's fine as long as it works in the end.

KEENNESS level

• heavy, almost paste-like slurry: 600 grit, although less aggressive because the absence of a sawtooth pattern
• regular, milk-like slurry: 2000 grit, although less aggressive because of the absence of a sawtooth pattern
• thin, misty slurry: 6000-8000 grit
• water: 10000 - 15000 grit

SMOOTHNESS level

• slurry: surface looks sandblasted on a micro-scale
• very thin slurry: can be used to tone down harsh edges, very friendly for sensitive skin.
• water: will add smoothness to the feel of almost any other polish level without removing keenness up to 15000 grit.

SHAVE TEST: perfect!!!! classic coticule goodness. very sharp but buttery smooth. Best coticule edge ever. did most of the shave with this blade

C Mon Blackie/ Ozuku Asagi

Next up is the C Mon Blackie what looks like a 7/8" blade and a blackened tang. I really like this blade and can't wait to shave with it tomorrow morning, despite it's large size.It just feels good in the hand; very well balanced.

I was going to just repeat the Nakayama hone as I know I can get that to work now but decided to try the Ozuku asagi and see if I can get the same results with it.

Dull on glass one downstroke

build slurry with soft uchigumori stone. Slurry comes up very quickly and there is  a lot  of it.

5 laps of 30 circles and test arm hair. Is actually shaving! last time it took 10 laps on the ozuku but I decide to do one more set of 30 and test. crispy sound and shaving/popping hairs already. Amazing!

Now onto hard uchigumori slurry and push strokes and dilution every 5 laps. Did 25 laps and tested. Less sharp. looked back on records to see on the second stone I didn't dilute and did 45 laps. build back up slurry and do ten more laps.
Sharper. ten more laps then onto Karasu and THEN dilute. look first.

decided instead to use a dmt 600 and use that as the nagura using the Ozuku slurry to see. Built a milky medium slurry and then went to dilute every 5 X strokes. 15 laps and less sharp.

Wash off everything and go to water laps.
15 X strokes on water and things are popping again. weird.

so it's:
soft stone slurry no dilute/refresh as needed til arm hair shaves easy.
hard stone slurry no dilute/ refresh as need til sharper
karasu into immediate dilute or just to water
30 laps linen
50 laps leather

will see tomorrow.

Shave test : Home run!!! Perfect. Amazingly sharp and smooth. Had to put it down after one pass so I can give it back to my friend in this condition. Crazy good.

King's Pride Razor

A very generous( and trusting) friend of mine lent me one of his seven day sets to hone for him and what a gift that is! No having to dull my own razors to practice. PLUS he has one incredible collection.

First up, a  60 year old 6/8" Kings Pride that he says is his best shaver.

it was shaving leg hair but very rough
dulled on glass

5 laps of 30 circles on Nakayama Honyama with Uchiguori slurry.
Shave arm hair crisp like on the brown russian! amazing!

Next up, hard uchi slurry

light slurry and 45 push strokes. test leg hair. sharp. 15 more. sharper. now onto karasu slurry but an immediate dilute down to water ,unlike first time where I stayed on slurry too long and it didn't really get sharper.

medium slurry and 30 X strokes, check leg hair and it's crisp! 15 more X strokes and done. 20 minutes.

Check the edge under the scope and it's almost obscenely perfect! Amazing. This better shave good tomorrow but I know it will!

SHAVE REPORT:


Perfect! I had planned on only testing shaving this bad boy but it was so smooth I did the whole first pass with it. and I could have stopped there. Nice shaver. A bit large for my face but what a great edge!
Second pass with the black russian and it was good but could have used more stropping which I didn't do :))

Great fun!

Black Russian/ Osuku Asagi hone

I wanted to re do the great edge I got from the Nakayama progression and find out whether it was just luck or something that actually worked and was repeatable but I also wanted to see if my ozuku asagi worked as well. So I combined the two and did the same( well, basically) protocol with the asagi as the main hone but the soft and hard ichigumori as the slurry's.

dulled razor one stroke on glass

soft ichi slurry. 5 laps of circles, tested arm hair( this is where the nakayama shaved) crispy but not quite.
4 more laps of pushes. shaves arm hair well > NICE!!!!

clean everything. build slurry with hard ichigumori. sets of 5 push strokes(this is my favorite stroke; best hone contact and consistency of movement- my half strokes never work well)

shaving well. no dilution

have to get fancy. try 20 X strokes on hard les latenuese coticule on water

dulls. ack

back to hard ichi slurry very very light
15 X strokes, keen again.

start dilute and every 5 push strokes, one spray. getting sharper


finish on water on osuku . popping arm and leg hairs

30 laps on linen
60 on leather.

very quick too, about 30 minutes from dull to sharp. not bad. definitely different than the Nakayama but the same protocol worked again. Nice!

Second blade Flaschner soligen

La Dressante on water. 30 push strokes
Les latenuese on water   30 push strokes
Hybrid side of Les Lat on water 20 push strokes.

It started off pretty sharp but got very sharp and keen
30 laps linen
40 latps leather

will shave with it tomorrow.

Shave report


Blade one Black Russian: honed from dull on Jnat and two slurries:


AMAZING!! Perfect! Whoever says not to dilute on Jnats doesnt have my stones.This took a little more strokes than the Nakayama but not by much.


Blade two Flaschner  4/8 touched up on La Dressante


very very nice. using coti's with water for touchups makes the most sense.


Blade Three: Flaschner solingen yellow scales


touched this up with just osuku on water shaved like a dream.


Three blade shave this morning, lol. Nice!

Guess what's coming?

I got a great deal on this Uchigumori hone. I know it's a sword polisher mainly but I don't care. I have  slurry stone made from this rock and it's a great finisher. If it's good enough to polish a Samurai sword it should be ok for my razor.

Santoku

My newest addition to my blade collection. An Japanese all purpose kitchen knife.Santoku.

Chu Nagura

I really lucked out. I bought what I thought was a Botan Nagura from JapanWoodworker and it ended up to be a Chu Nagura. I only got a 1.5 inch block of it but it's the same stone as in this video

It's a very strange looking and beautiful stone and cuts very fast on water and makes a ton of slurry on any other stone.

Finally my vintage coticule from Greece is here!

man, this took forever to get here but it was worth the weight.This is a pre 1940 coticule that is a natural combo with a Belgian Blue Wetstone on the bottom and a great pan holder box that it came in. the box is pretty rough but the stone is GREAT GREAT GREAT!

Very creamy surface and raise an easy slurry with my les lat stone. It has a middle layer that looks very much like the middle layer of my les lateneus stones.this is a very fast cutter and I decided to test out  another dilucote on the stone after re watching Barts video on how to do the dilucote.

The techniques in the video are much different than in the written instructions and now I see where I was going wrong. In the video he starts diluting after just two laps of 20 ( not 30) and keeps diluting the entire time.

this might be the key to getting sharpening without so much dulling; wisking away more and more "free" garnets and going more the ones embedded in the surface of the stone. we'll see but that's how he does it in the video. No stay on slurry til it cuts arm hair.

So I did that, diluting from just two laps in and back 6-8 laps it was starting to shave arm hair nicely so of course I kept on going. Dulled it. Ack

SO BACK on LIGHT slurry into IMMEDIATE dilution figuring this was what is responsible for sharpening and it worked ; back to more crispy shaving arms. rinsed off blade and went to 10 laps X strokes.

rinsed coticule and went to sets of 3 push strokes on water for very light 8 laps or so.

then cleaned everything and tested leg hair. shaving nicely so

40 laps on water. retested leg hair- better.
20 more laps on water NO pressure, skating over the stone. Love this part the best :))

30 laps on linen . leg hair test better
40 laps on leather. leg hair much better
20 more laps on leather. Done.

we'll see tomorrow.

Also touched up the brown russian with 30 X strokes on Nakayama with tomo slurry. this bout looks like it could be the same stone- just a little greener. love it


SHAVE REPORT:

Double score!!! First off, the new coticule worked GREAT and I got a very very good first pass with the russian red that I re honed( again) on it, using JUST a dilutcote( my own version, which is the second score). When I've gone too far on a coti and it goes from sharpening to dulling on a thickening slurry, all I have to do is  go back a bit to a new  slurry AND IMMEDIATELY START THE DILUTE.
At least that's what worked yesterday.
If it's the diluting slurry that indeed sharpens then that makes sense.

The other score was that I touched up the brown Russian on the Nakayama with the tomo slurry stone and that popped up in keenness as well!  Nice when things work.

Now, enough with the russians and onto my revisors, at last!
 Want to play with the Ozuku next.