Kinfolk re do

I think I used the Arkie, which is turning out to be quite the finishing stone, too early in the progression yesterday and the edge didn't hold.

SO: re dull and
 Norton 4  k lots of circles, half strokes and X strokes. Not so keen, weird and after I got it pretty sharp did a few more laps of it dulled? on a 4k? strange. SO

Cretan hone on BBW slurry circles and push strokes surprisingly keener

Norton 8 k X strokes. definitely advanced the edge

Arkansas with dmt slurry x strokes and sharper still

WT with DMT slurry , edge went BACKWARDS  so this is less fine than Arkie.

Back to Arkie, edge back :))

Escher on slurry , 20 laps then finish on water 20 laps

buffalo 50 laps
palm 20 laps

then I re did another russian like this



Cretan on dmt slurry = 3-4 k


BBW on BBW slurry= 4-5 k


Les Lat Coti with slurry and then water = 6-8 k


Translucent Arkansas= 8-10 k


Escher on Water = 10+ k


we'll see tomorrow.
I like using the natural stones as much as possible. the synthetics just feel icky and get so nasty as you completely opposite the natural stones. The exception is the Chosera 800k. I love that stone, It feels like its a natural one

SHAVE REPORT:

THIS WENT PERFECTLY! ONE HALF PASS AND I KNEW IT WAS KEEN! VERY NICE!

Kinfolk bevel reset and translucsent Arkansas

One of Morgan's blades he's never sharpened, a 5/8" Kinfolk.Decided to play around a bit here too:

Chosera 800 with 600 grit slurry  LOTS of circles, half strokes, push strokes, X strokes, etc. This took far longer to even nudge arm hair than I expected.
Used the thumb nail test instead and then it grabbed all along the edge I went on

Cretan hone on DMT slurry( another experiment)
circles 5 laps, then 30 push strokes then 20 X strokes
got much sharper much faster!

Translucent Arkansas hone with slight dmt slurry
this got sharp FAST! wow,I've never really used this before in a progression and have read that it's a low grit stone but it sharpened the blade fast! lots of X strokes

BBW on slurry: 3 sets of circles. edge went BACKWARDS!?!  The arkansas is a finer edge for sure. back to the arkie for 20 laps of  x strokes on water. back to KEEN as well.

Vintage La Petite Blanche coticule with les lat slurry X strokes  for 20 laps, rinse blade 10 or so more laps then on water 20 laps
very keen

feel like I shouldn't go on but want to use a finishing stone so
Uchigumori on water
20 X strokes doesnt test well, this could be a first for this stone

oozuku 20 X strokes on water. edge back up

30 linen
40 buffalo
20 palm

see tomorrow.

SHAVE REPORT:


ALMOST THERE. GOOD BUT NOT GREAT.STARTED REALLY WELL BUT COULDN'T DEAL TOO WELLWITH THE CHIN STUBBLE. THINK IT NEEDS TO BE SHARPER SO BACK TO THE 8 K THEN THE SS 12 K SYNTHETIC AND THEN ONTO THE ESCHER. 


VERY HAPPY THOUGH CONSIDERING THIS THING HAS NEVER BEEN SHARPENED! I THINK JUMPING TO THE TRANSLUCENT ARKIE TOO SOON THROUGH OFF THE PROGRESSION


PS
TOUCHED UP THE '55 RUSSIAN ( BRIDGE MODEL) WITH OOZUKU WITH TOMO SLURRY FOR 20 REPS THEN 30 REPS ON WATER AND MAN IT WAS PERFECT THS MORNING! SHARP AND SMOOTH.

Supreme Custom Wedge Bevel reset

This is a great vintage 4/8- 5/8 american brand wedge that Morgan gave me this year that has given me fits honing it from the start. Wedges are notoriously hard to  hone and this one proved no different. I tried various coticules, slates and j nats but I had never taken it down to the bevel as it seemed to have a decent one but it never seemed sharp enough and the finishers didn't quite do the job.

After I put it on the Escher the other day and STILL got tugging and pulling I decided to start from the ground up. I have NEVER been disappointed  when I re do blades this way. It seems the only way to really make sure they are sharp enough to benefit from a finish stone anyway.

SO:

Chosera 800 first with no slurry and then with 600 grit nagura: this took awhile to get to shaving arm hair. lots of circles, push strokes and X strokes. the slurry is a must though it seems

Cretan hone with BBW slurry: just on a whim, never tried this before and it worked GREAT! The cretan supposedly hones according to the grit of the slurry and this seems to be the case here.  more circles then push strokes then X strokes.
I was going to use the Norton 4 k but decided to test this out instead. I great medium grit natural alternative.especially with the BBW slurry.

BBW coticule on BBW slurry : same very nice
Coti side of BBW on water 40 X strokes : very keen Now! Feels like I could shave off this.
La Vienette bout on water: just 'cause it was close 20 X strokes . keener

Norton 8 k on water : just as a  grit check . 30 X strokes. definitely advanced the edge. Nice

Nakayama Asagi on slurry; back to circles then dilute to 40 laps on water

SUPER KEEN!

30 on linen
40 on Buffalo
20 on Palm

SHAVE REPORT: PERFECT!
best this blade had ever shaved me. Almost a one pass shave. no tugging, no pulling no effort and silent like a wedge should be. very happy! Just goes to show the Escher is nice but not everything :))

Revisor #2 on Escher /water

touched up the identical twin of the 6/8 Revisor pictured below ( only difference is jimps on top of tang) with the Escher with just water.
A solid edge to begin with, this should be the good test for the pure finishing quality of the Escher.
50 laps on water
30 on linen
50 on Buffalo
30 on Palm

Shave Report:


Could be the best edge on this EVER! Like butter, even on the tough chin stubble.I played with the new Barhmann edge for the second pass but stopped half way through to finish with the Revisor. The Barhmann was ok but a little tuggy even though I finished that on the Escher on water as well. Just wasn't sharp enough to begin with I think.

Revisor 6/8" on Slates

This is perhaps my favorite blade. If I had to chose only one to leave the house with in an emergency this would be in the top 3.It just 'fee's right in the hand and shaves like a champ. Hones easily and holds the edge for a long time. But it was a bit touchy today and I wanted to re do it and finish on the Escher to see if it likes that stone.

I mean it should, the blade is German and so is the stone :))
Dull on glass

Chinese 12 k with WT slurry Circles. three rounds and test. shaving arm hair already :))
C12k :20 push strokes
C 12 k 20 X strokes  no dilute


WT base with BG Escher slurry ( light- man I love to make slurry:)) I usually overdo it )
20 X strokes and test: good. dilute one drop
10 strokes and dilute
5 strokes and dilute
4 and dilute
test - great


15 x strokes on plain water test = better


YG Escher on BG slurry
15 X strokes and dilute one drop
8 and dilute one drop
5 and dilute
4 and dilute
3 and dilute
20 on water and test : Awesome!
20 more on water


30 on linen
40 on buffalo( this thing is finally breaking in!)
30 on palm

tests are fantastic. we shall see :))

SHAVE TEST


VERY GOOD. STILL MAKES A LOT OF NOISE AS I SHAVE BUT IT IS SMOOTH AND SHARP. WILL TRY IT'S BROTHER AND SEE IF THAT ALSO MAKES SO MUCH NOISE.COULD JUST BE THE GRIND BUT NOT SURE. ANYWAY THE FINISH WAS AWESOME.

'69 Puma 5/8 on synthetics and Escher

Decided to stop messing about with this damn Puma and get the freakin thing sharp before I decide to finish it. I did this the easiest way I know how; with synthetic hones. My trusty Norton 4/8k got to come off the bench and play for a change.

Soaked it appropriately and then went to work on the 4k side with 25 rep push stroke laps. Not sure how many I did but at least 8. It was grudgingly cutting hairs so I did a few more and then went to the 8 k

Lapped it first so I had a bit of a slurry going and that worked well. X strokes here for20 laps then test: keener! so 20 laps more. Nice edge already. Could shave off this with a good stropping.

Then onto Morgans Shapton 12 k SuperStone, lapped first and then 20 reps of X strokes and test. Very Keen and Sharp! How easy :))
20 more X stroke laps and then onto the Welsh Thuringian and BG Escher slurry( light)
15 X strokes then a drop of water dilution. 10 more X's and then another drop. 5 more then a blade rinse, 5 more then a full rinse of blade and stone
Keener still , on the right track and this tells me this combo is DEFINITELY higher grit than 12 k as the Shapton is a known quantity.

20 laps on water on the WT finished it.

Then onto the Escher
Light( very) slurry with the BG escher slurry stone and X strokes. 15 then a dilute, 10, dilute, 5 rinse blade, 5 rinse all. test= Nice! hairs falling pretty quietly!
20 laps on water test = better
20 more laps

30 linen
40 buffalo
30 palm

datsit/

SHAVE TEST;


PERFECT PERFECT PERFECT!!!  can hardly believe it.This thing has never shaved this well for me! sharp and smooth. nothing else to say. 

My Escher is here!

My piece of honing history arrived today and I got right to playing with it. It's a yellow/green( more green than yellow) Escher ,one of THE most celebrated finishing stones. They aren't making any more of these as the mine is closed and there will be no more to be had.This is as rare as it gets.

I've never used one but I've shaved with edges that have been honed on them and they have been spectacular. These edges are supposed to be the smoothest and sharpest that can be had. We'll see but I am seriously stoked to have one and get to experiment as them.

I've a blue green Escher  slurry stone, not as fine as the yellow green one and its' already made a huge difference in the finished edge of  the few blades I've used it on.

Here's tomorrow's test blades:

Ebenholz: finished on Escher on water
Revisor 6/8" finished on Escher on water
Puma 5/8" dulled and honed on C12K with WT slurry, then Welsh Thuringian with BG escher slurry , finish on Escher on water
Russian 5/8" same as above. C12k into escher on water finish




SHAVE REPORT:


EBENHOLZ; ABOUT THE SAME STILL JUST ABOUT PERFECT :))
REVISOR: GOOD BUT NOT PERFECT. NOT SURE IF JUST THIS TOUCH UP WAS ENOUGH. MIGHT HAVE TO RE DO
5/8 PUMA NOT VERY GOOD. I REMEMBER THIS WAS A PROBLEM BLADE FOR ME BEFORE HAVE TO CHECK WHAT I DID.(http://choosestrength.blogspot.com/2012/01/58-puma-1969.html)
5/8 RUSSIAN: EXCELLENT. AS GOOD AS THIS BLADE GETS.


CONCLUSION: I STILL HAVE LOTS OF WORK TO DO TO REALLY GROK THIS STONE AND EXTRACT IT'S POTENTIAL. IT WILL BE FUN THOUGH:))

Thumb notch Revisor on Oozuko and Ebenholz C12k/escher

Decided to play around a bit today ( it is, after all EXPERIMENTS in honing) and put the Thumb Notch Revisor extra back on a Jnat
I dulled the blade on glass and then went to my Oozuku stone ( love this one!) with slurry from Morgans Nakayama slurry stone. Made a great slurry fast and cut fast as well. Started with push strokes for 40 reps then tested.
Excellent, sharp keen and smooth already. Nice.
Rinsed the blade and did 10 more laps then onto tomonagura slurry for another 20 X strokes, another blade rinse, then 10 more on very light slurry.
Then 20 strokes on the tomonagura stone on water
30 on linen
40 on buffalo
20 on palm

then I really got adventurous with the ebenholz
Chinese 12 k with Welsh thuringian slurry
push strokes for 40 reps tested
good.
dilute and again 20 reps on light slurry
20 X strokes on water.
test = good


onto WT with Escher slurry
circles until slurry thickens then rinse blade and repeat
test= good.
dilute again onto water then
20 X strokes on water
20 X strokes on escher slurry stone
30 linen
40 buffalo
20 palm


we'll see tomorrow


SHAVE REPORT
EBENHOLZ WAS PERFECT!!! CRAZY TOO, AS I COULDN'T REMEMBER WHICH STONES I USED TO HONE IT AND THOUGHT IT WAS ON A JNAT! SURPRISE SURPRISE IT WAS MY C12K, WELSH THURINGIAN AND ESCHER COMBO. 


BASICALLY A ONE PASS SHAVE! NO REPORT ON THE REVISOR BECAUSE I NEVER USED IT. I WAS ENJOYING THE PERFECT KEENNESS OF THE DOVO AND HOW SHARP AND SMOOTH IT WAS. DEFINITELY HAVE TO REMEMBER THIS COMBO

Revisor thumb notch and Ebenholz Dovo on coti on oil

Todays honing and tomorrow's line up:

Revisor thumb notch. This was fair keenness and a good candidate for a touch up. Used the WT with Escher slurry and it worked again! Great sharpness and seeming smoothness. Did X strokes of 30, then rinse blade 10 more x strokes, then rinse blade and stone then 40 laps on water
30 on linen
20 on bridle
40 on buffalo
20 on palm

Next up:

My dovo ebenholz 5/8 on my vintage coti with camillia oil on top. Never used oil for sharpening and I've read that coticules were meant to be used with water, lather or oil. Didnt have mineral oil or honing oil so I used the camillia oil that I used to keep the blades from rusting while they rest.No strop on purpose as I want to see what his edge by itself is.

Test are good, we'll see tomorrow. Great fun! Love to hone:))

Also up, day two on the Super Gnome, we'll see if the edge holds. stropped it on  linen and buffalo.

SHAVE REPORT


DOVO EBENHOLZ; NOT BAD BUT NOT SIGNIFICANTLY DIFFERENT THAN A COTI ON WATER.DEFINITELY NOT WORTH THE TROUBLE OF USING OIL. WILL RE DO THIS TODAY WITH JUST COTI AND WATER AND SEE IF THAT ADVANCES THE EDGE.SAME COTICULE.


THUMB NOTCH REVISOR.: EXCELLENT! SHARP AND SMOOTH. DANG NEAR PERFECT. COULD BE A TOUCH SMOOTHER SO I WILL PUT THIS ON A COTI AS WELL TO SEE IF IT ADVANCES


SUPERGNOME; HOLDING UP PERFECTLY FROM JUST THE STROP. STARTING TO REALLY LIKE THIS BLADE.


DATSIT


TOUCH UP 2
PUT THE REVISOR ON THE UCHIGUMORI FOR 40 PLUS LAPS ON WATER WITH NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE IN TODAYS' SHAVE,IF ANYTHING A LITTLE LESS KEEN. 
GOING TO RE DO THE EDGE FROM THE START ON A JNAT AND SEE WHAT THAT BRINGS


EBENHOLZ PUT THIS ON THE LES LAT COTI AND BOUT AND WASN'T VERY GOOD AT ALL. TOO MUCH PULLING. DID A TOUCH UP ON THE SWATZ HONE WITH LATHER AND THAT HELPED A LITTLE BUT NOT MUCH, THIS TOO WILL GO ON A JNAT LATER.


THE PINS ARE LOOSE ON THIS BLADE AND IT'S HARDER TO HONE AND STROP. HAVE TO GET THAT FIXED.

Super Gnome and new Russian touch up

I love everything about this blade except how difficult it has been to hone it sharp! The weight the heft and balance the look; everything else is great. But today was different. I tried it first on Morgans  Nakayama and nothing.

Then I had a brilliant idea; use it on the Welsh Thuri and use the blue green escher slurry stone! It worked great! Cut fast and left a very keen edge. I did a rinse dilute and finished on 40 laps on water.

then 30 on linen, 30 on buffalo, 30 on english bridle and 20 on palm and this morning is was PERFECT!!!

Every blade likes a specific type of stone, it seems. Nice

Second touch up was my new Russian '65

Put this on my Deep rock coti with light Les Lat slurry into a dilute. 40 laps on water and this onto my little Les Lat bout for 40 laps on water also

This ALSO was PERFECT! SO nice that I am finally getting the hang of all these coticules. The edges are so so smooth even though they don't test as well  pre shave. but they do the job. This little bout cuts fast on water and still leaves such a smooth edge.

Super Dorko and Kings Pride

 Let me just say that I LOVE this Super Dorko of Morgans. Love love love it.It's 7/8" square point, full how ground MONSTER that feels perfect in my hand , takes an edge easily and shaves like a dream.

This one was not that dull when I got it so yesterday I just touched it up on some coticules on water. First up was my Deep Rock Vintage coticule which I appreciate more and more every day. I do think there is something unique about these old rocks; what, I don't know but they are very consistent and very good.

I used just water and did 49 X strokes. I could tell the blade liked the stone. It tested very well so then I went to my other vintage Coticule, my La Petite Blanche.
Also on water. I could tell it worked well here as well

Another 40 X strokes.

Shave today was very good. very smooth and sharp.
So of course I wanted to see if I could get more from the edge so I took out Morgan's Nakayama and built a very light slurry here.

30 X strokes and tested. Duller. Ok. Started a dilute and things started to get keener again.

I kept diluting until water and then 40 X strokes on pure water. Test are very good.

30 laps on linen
40 on english bridle
20 on palm
 Hair dying quietly.

Nice

It's all about finding out which stone does what to which blade.

Next up Kings Pride  a big 13/16 German blade that does not sit well on any hone and is, well, a bitch to sharpen. Warped or uneven blades always are but this one is just barely.I touched it up yesterday as well on the nakayama and the oozuku and got a very decent shaveable edge so tonight the experiment was coticule with LATHER on it rather than slurry or just water!

Used light proraso lather on my Deep Rock coti and started with X strokes. Didn't add enough water so I had to lighten it up into a dilute. tests were ok. Then finish with plain water on the coti and the same 30 linen, 40 leather  20 palm

leg hair tests were very very good

we shall see :))


SHAVE REPORT;


TWO HOME RUNS! THE DORKO WAS THAT MUCH BETTER AFTER IT'S TURN ON THE NAKAYAMA. MUCH LESS 'NOISE' AS I SHAVED TODAY COMPARED TO YESTERDAY AND THAT MUCH SMOOTHER. JUST ABOUT A ONE PASS SHAVE.


THEN THE KINGS PRIDE WHICH I FINISHED ON THE DEEP ROCK COTI WITH LATHER DILUTE WAS SIGNIFICANTLY SHARPER AND SMOOTHER THAN BEFORE. STILL HAD SOME ROUGH CHIN PASSES THAT IT CRUISED OVER. NICE TO KNOW THEY BOTH WORK


NOW TO PUT THEM BACK INTO PERFECT SHAPE TO RETURN.

C Mon blackie

This one gave me some trouble for some reason. the first attempts I tried to do a multi stone approach with the jnats as last time the oozuku worked really well. But I think my standard for a shaving edge has changed since then,lol.

I used the Nakayama 2 with soft uchi slurry, then onto the oozuku with tomo slurry and then oozuku with water. So far so good and the edge was advancing nicely. THEN I got greedy and used the uchigumori with karasu slurry and the DULLED it!?! How the hell did that happen?

I tried to revive it with uchigumoro on just water but when I shaved with it yesterday morning it just wasn't sharp enough and pulled a lot. So yesterday afternoon I dulled it on glass and  started over with my friends nakayam asagi and his slurry stone ( not sure what it is).
WOW!

Just like on my japanese chef's knife this thing got sharp in a hurry! I kept it on the slurry, refreshing with water a few times as it got too muddy and then with another slurry rub but it sharpened up VERY well VERY quickly. Some blades just like some stones better and this one liked the asagi quite well

I finished it on the small oozuku on water and the keenness advanced even more. excellent. Some laps on english bridle and then on my buffalo strop and some on the palm and that was it.

SHAVE REPORT:
PERFECT! IN FACT IT WAS SO GOOD I PUT IT BACK UP TO GIVE TO MY FRIEND IN THIS CONDITION! SO NICE WHEN THINGS WORK THE WAY THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO.


NEXT UP KING'S PRIDE RAZOR,REPORT LATER.

Friedr Baurmann and Sohne 5/8" Solingen

What a find! I got this early 1900 blade on ebay for $25 buck and it's a beaut!  Bone like scales square point, extra long tail ( which I love),shoulderless and silver bolsters. Great stuff. PLUS it actually came shave ready, unlike almost every other blade I've gotten off the bay.

I was all set to hone it yesterday when I tested it on arm hair, then looked under the scope and decided to shave with it first. No stropping or anything.

Used it on my first pass this morning and it is a winner! Amazing. Someone knows how to hone. Very very keen and smooth,especially for a small blade, full hollow ground as well. I love blades that look like this for some reason. I can really imagine them in a barber shop at the turn of the century being used everyday.

This is one crazy hobby. Or else I'm just crazy,lol. but I love it.

Flaschner 5/8" French point

Can't get the damn photos to sit correctly for some reason so it's vertical instead of horizontal but no  you get the idea.

This is one of the Flaschner blades I got in Hungary two years ago and gifted to the man who got me into all this straight razor madness :)) He gave it back to me to hone for him and I'd forgotten what a great blade it is; stainless steel french point and probably close to 100 years old and looks brand spanking new!

It was pretty dull when I got it so I decided to try to use just the coticules to hone it.One downstroke over glass to flatten what little was left of the edge and then I began on the stone it is sitting on in the picture, my Les Lateneuse coticule with light slurry.
Man this stone cuts fast and within two laps I had grey swarf!

Five or so sets of circles and it was shaving arm hair so I went into a dilute rinsing the blade every 5 push strokes for a total of 30 reps and then 15 laps on plain water. Responding very well and getting keener so I went to my Le Dressante Bleu on water, another very fast cutter,even on water.

Now onto X strokes and even on water it was cutting and bringing up some swarf!
30 X strokes and decided to finish on the La Verte on water as well
40 laps later and it seemed very keen.I did 20 laps on the La Petite blanche just for fun too:))                               
 40 laps on my new buffalo strop and 20 on palm and it was done.

SHAVE REPORT:
Perfect! very sharp and coticule smooth! I did use it on the second pass but it took the remaining chin stubble left from the first no problem. Nice.