1936 Le Grelot

A real one. These things are hard to come by and my friend has one and wanted me to play with edge a bit. He said it was dull but it seemed pretty crispy to me on arm hair so I didn't reset the bevel I just touched it up a bit on the jnats last night going

nakayama 1 on light slury 30 X strokes
oozuku on very light slurry tomonagura with dmt 30 x strokes
uchigunoroi on water 30 x strokes
35 laps linen
50 laps leather

passed the hair test well but when I shaved with it this morning it wasn't quite right.I asked my friend if it had been stropped with crX and he said it had. this practice is said to make a more convex bevel which, after time, has to be reset and made wider. I thought this was the case and  decided to reset  the bevel this afternoon

so

King 1 k with dmt slurry
LOTS of half strokes , circles, x strokes in progression. didn't count just kept going til it shaved leg hair easily

then

BBW with tomo slurry
7 laps of 30 rep circles

it keeps surprising me how well the BBW works as a cutter! with no dilute in the slurry as well. Nice.way better in the low grit ranges than the coti.

Deep Rock Coticule with light slurry into dilute
4 sets of 5 push strokes on light slurry then dilute every three reps for5 passes . nearly water by now. rinse everything
 20 X strokes on water

Vintage coti on water
20 X strokes ( my one from greece/ bbw combo)

chinese 12 k on water
20 X strokes ( always makes things keener at whatever sharpness. I love this rock- I got a good one)

La Verte on water
30 X strokes

Les Lateneuse on water
25 X strokes ( lapped it first)

35 linen
50 leather

we'll see !

SHAVE REPORT:


This went great! Got MY edge on it and I loved it. very smooth and keen and did the whole face for a change on the first pass with a single blade so I could test all the areas of the edge .Very nice although it is still not one of my favorite shavers and I can't say why. strange.

Three passes, three blades

Since I have so  many razors these days and since I do at least two passes each shave I've decided to use at least two blades each time I shave. that way I get to play with my razors way more often as well as get to hone them more too.

It's my form of fun :))

Today was a great one as I had two new wedges to play with as well as test out my also new 5/8" Clauberg that I touched up on my les latenuese bout yesterday to see if I could bring up the keenness just a bit

I did 30 push strokes in sets of five on the hybrid side and then 25 X strokes on the coti side and sure enough( on water ) this did the trick as I started out the shave with this blade and it made all the right sounds as it plowed through the stubble rubble:))

Next up was my brand new 11/16" Wade and Butcher ( my First!) from Sheffield steel, that came yesterday, and , like the other wedge that I got from RazorSmith on Ebay came with the best  edge I've felt from vendor next to Sham at Razor and Stone ( who will be supplying my next Wade and Butcher blade next week!)

Smooth and sharp, just how it should be. Sharp by itself is easy. Sharp and smooth is not and this gentlemen knows how to put an edge on a blade.

The W&B was perfect and shaved silently as wedges do. I love the wood scales as well( not cocobolo perhaps rosewood, he's not sure) and it handled like a dream.

DIdn't really need a second pass( just tested the clauberg on the first) but did it anyway cause it's fun:))

The New England wedge cleaned up like a champ and barely broke a sweat, lol. Not much left to do.  Most excellent.

Setting the bevel on the 5/8" Clauberg #3

I'm now convinced that setting the bevel perfectly, so that it's straight and contiguous AND easily shaves arm hair off a 1 K is the key to getting the finished edge right.

So even though the newest claubergs shave was ok I wanted to start over

soak King 1 k for 60 minutes

half strokes for 5 -7 laps
no shaving yet
more half strokes
circles in sets of 30
a bit of shaving
more circles
push strokes in sets of 5 for 30 reps
X strokes in sets of 5
shaving arm hair now!
20 more X strokes
sharp!


BBW side of Nouvelle Vein coti
slurry with vintage BBW
circles for 5-7 sets of 30

keener! man this bbw side( with bbw slurry) always works fast

Vintage Coticule with light slurry from tomonagura
push strokes in sets of 5 for 30 reps
keener!
Vintage coti on water for 25 X strokes

Nakayama #1 with slurry soft uchi
circles for 30 reps 5 laps
keener!

Chinese  12 k on water
24 X strokes
crisp! as usual off this( experiment here- wanted to see if the C12K made it less keen off the Jnat.Didn't nice to know


Oozuku on water
24 X strokes

Uchigumori on water
30 X strokes

35 laps linen
50 laps leather

we'll see tomorrow hair tests are perfect!

the idea was


King 1 k
BBW 3 k
Vintage coti on slurry 5-6 
Vintage coti on water 8-10 k
Nakayama slurry 10-12 k
Chinese 12 k 12 k :))
Oozuku on water 12-15 k
Uchigumori 15 k+


the progression seems to work well


SHAVE REPORT:


I swear I can tell " my edge" from someone else's hone.They tend to feel, sound and shave the same from razor to razor, Except the wedges, they are virtually silent; even the 5/8" New England wedge I just got. But the others I swear I can tell. have to put that to the test one day.


Needless to say the shave went great and the edge was just how I like it; sharp but very very smooth with a large margin for error for nicks and cuts. amazing how the natural stones confer that.


The Clauberg behaved perfectly and left hardly anything after the first pass. Wonderful. Setting the bevel IS the key to the rest of the hone. My New England Wedge worked like a squeegee after that for the second pass and it was awesome. Love these blades awesome additions to my collection.

RAD continues. Vintage New England 5/8 Wedge and 5/8 Tonsorial Gem

I couldn't resist. The top photo is my new 5/8 " Clauberg Tonsorial gem making it my third.They hone and shave so well for $25 I couldn't say no. The scales look to be bone or perhaps ivory. Seated well and the hinge works great; stuff I don't take for granted anymore. A loose sloppy hinge can ruin the whole experience.

The bottom razor is another 5/8" Vintage New England  near wedge blade with English steel. Both are late 1800's and early 1900's. I love owning and using real tools from history.The wedge came basically shave ready and I stropped it 35 times on linen and 50 times on leather, we'll see tomorrow but I can see it has a solid bevel

The Clauberg I'm not so sure about. I think I will have to reset the bevel as it wouldn't shave arm hair when I got it and my honing attempts went ok but I don't think will stick without a new bevel. we'll see tomorrow

todays protocol; on the clauberg

30 reps laps of circles on nouvell vein bbw side with slurry. at least 7 laps and shaved arm hair  barely
 20 rep laps on coticule side with light slurry, not much better.
20 x strokes on water or coti side ( not a fit)
 30 X strokes on La Veinette on water - actually keener
30 x strokes on la verte /better still
30 x strokes on oozuku on water still improving
30 x strokes on uchigumori on water


passing all the tests but I'm not convinced
40 on linen
60 on leather

tomorrow!


SHAVE REPORT:


As expected the Clauberg was so so, a decent shave but nowhere near as crisp as I wanted and when it left chin stubble I put it up and will reset the bevel on the King 1k later today.


HOWEVER the new England near wedge shaved like a dream! Like a real wedge, too, silent and smooth. This is the best shave ready blade I have ever gotten off the bay.I could tell from the beautiful bevel it came with that it was ready. bravo!

6/8 Clauberg Bevel Rest and JNat Hone

As planned I reset the bevel on my 6/8 Clauberg and honed it on my JNats. I never really started from scratch with this one and as it wouldn't take to my touch ups and re do's to get the edge I wanted AND the 4/6 clauberg did so well on the reset I decided to do the same

King 1000 dull blade on glass twice
 half strokes and circles in sets of 30 til it shaved arm hair about 5 sets
bevel already looks polished, I really like this King 1K

Nakayama 1 with soft uchi slurry
sets of 30 circles thick slurry no dilute
shaving arm hair easily

onto hard uchi slurry
30 reps push strokes on sets of 5
keener still

onto hard uchi dilute
sets of 3 X strokes dilute every 3 24 reps

nakayama 1 on water
25 x strokes

tests are good

Uchigumori on water
30 X strokes
NICE!

35 laps linen
50 laps on water

skipped the OOzuki on purpose, haven't found the right part of the progression to put it yet.

maybe this New Yorker like Japan more than Belgium :) We'll see tomorrow.


SHAVE REPORT:


Home run! I guess this New Yorker does like Japan better than Belgium . BUT, I think the real key was resetting the bevel and going from there. Just like the little Clauberg the steel on this razor is excellent and easy to work with; what a difference that makes.
It was sharp, smooth and a very easy shave. Needed no pressure to swipe all the stubble off, almost in one pass. The real test


Second pass was the Vintage 6/8 Revisor which is such an awesome razor. Great shave and way to start the week.

6/8 Clauberg Re do

Dull the blade on glass

BBW coti with Dalmore hone nagura
3 sets of 30 circles test
shaving arm hair well!
go onto

Deep Rock Coticule with milk slurry with tomonagura slurry stone
3o push strokes in sets of 5
backwards! dulling

back to BBW with slurry
2 sets of 30 circles
crisp again
crazy, the slurry doesnt seem to dull on the BBW like it does on the coti side

onto Le Dressante blue/water
30 X strokes
crisper

La veinette on water
15 X strokes
still crisper

La Verte on water
30 X strokes

Les Latenuese on water
30 X strokes

tests are good.definitely the correct progression in terms of grit levels and hardness.

35 on linen
60 on leather

test better. will see tomorrow.

Touched up the new 5/8 Russian ('56)
30 laps on la verte
30 on les lat
35 on linen
50 on leather

seems great but thee is definitely something wrong with the geometry at the toe.just doesn't get as sharp as the rest.

SHAVE REPORT:


Well the 6/8 clauberg was better but not perfect. Not sure why either but it doesn't seem sharp enough. I wonder if I have to re set the bevel? Not sure but will work on it. Perhaps it's just one of 'those' razors that never really get right.We'll see. I am thinking of trying it back on the Jnats first though and see what that brings. It was an 8 out of 10 but that's not good enough.


BUT the '56Russian WAS a 10 and the touch up worked perfectly. Cleaned up , effortlessly, all the chin stubble the clauberg left. Silently, too. Nice. Didn't have any problem with using the toe of the blade either. Nice.

A Tonsorial Gem shave day

Decided to play with both the gems today and see how the edges held up. WOW> that little guy is turning out to be one of my BETTER shavers. Crazy. the edge was just as sharp, crisp and smooth as the other day. I oiled up the sticky hinge and it opens and closes much better although I still need to get it rescaled some day as the old scales are just not right and I have to be very careful as to how I close it.

Way too tight a fit at the end and I'd hate to ruin an edge closing the damn thing :))

It was almost a one pass shave, that's crazy! But I brought out it's big brother for the second pass and it too was just as keen as before. I had a feeling about these German/American blades and I was right. Stellar

SHAVE REPORT


Well too much of a good thing is too much. I over honed the 6/8" yesterday OR it just doesn't like the Jnats as well as it's smaller brother. I put it on a very very light slurry on my Les Lat  for 20 X strokes and then onto the oozuku on water and the uchi on water , all for 15 x strokes each.

Started with it this morning and I could tell from the first stroke it wasn't right. A bit of pulling and left a lot of stubble on the chin. Switched over to the 4/8 Clauberg and it cleaned things right up for the first pass.


wanted to see if it was the coti the 6/8 liked so I pulled out the Deep Rock coticule on which I originally honed it and did 30 x strokes on water and did the second pass


Much better but not perfect so I know what I will be doing this afternoon:)). There seems to be one stone for every blade. Just have to remember not to mess around too much once I find it.

Still did third pass cleanup with the DE to get things right. Also, I used the proraso soap  and I NEVER have gotten a great shave when I use this so perhaps that figures in as well. Got a great lather but no go.


Will dull it on glass and start over with all coti's.


Edit


just re read my honing report and it seems the 6/8 likes the La Verte best. will finish with that today.