Thread: HONING ART?

I dont think it matters wether this was to eliminate a chip or if it was done intentionally, the end result is a great smiling blade that forces you to use a good scything motion, if the blade shaves great it is far from ruined, it may not be to your personal liking, but evidently someone loved it!

Originally Posted by Disburden

Well, I just posted this thread on coticule.be because we were discussing smiles on razors. I found it surprising because Bart mentioned how the razor was ruined and honed to pretty much unstable quality. You can see it over there, I just found it interesting that over there this razor is ruined but here people find it great.

This blade is shavable based on Sham's description and obviously can continue to be made shavable. I can say that I definitely would not be trying to get one of these shave ready from scratch on a Coticule ...... Could be done though. Just a matter of time......... lots of it.

Have fun,

Lynn

I was thinking the same thing, "What a monster to hone" But it sure looks great to me

While I do agree that the blade has a wonderful profile and should shave great, I think that the blade profile is more likely to have been arrived at by chance, than by intent.
You can see fron the hone wear, that this was originally one of those old wedges which larger at the toe than at the heel. You can follow the even hone wear right up 2/3 to 3/4 of the way along the blade, from heel to toe following the original blade profile. The hone wear at the toe end is then much heavier than on the rest of the blade. This seems to be the norm for old razors. In this case the toe heavy honing has resulted in a wonderful profile as opposed to a pretty useless blade, partly because of the original size of the blade, mostly because of its original profile, and partly just pure luck in my opinion.

Beautiful blade Sham.

I love that blade but boy would it be a bear to hone from scratch!

Originally Posted by nun2sharp

I dont think it matters wether this was to eliminate a chip or if it was done intentionally, the end result is a great smiling blade that forces you to use a good scything motion, if the blade shaves great it is far from ruined, it may not be to your personal liking, but evidently someone loved it!

Forces? That blade wont allow you to do anything else but scythe.

Originally Posted by Disburden

Well, I just posted this thread on coticule.be because we were discussing smiles on razors. I found it surprising because Bart mentioned how the razor was ruined and honed to pretty much unstable quality. You can see it over there, I just found it interesting that over there this razor is ruined but here people find it great.

For the record:

Nick indeed posted about this razor on Coticule.be.
You can read the thread here.

I said that I don't consider this "honing art", but rather unskillful honing. I did not use the word "ruined", as Nick stated in the previous post. In fact, I even wrote that it could be a decent shaver, and no, Mr. Abrams, that would not take me "lots of time". Unless you'd find 15 minutes a long time.

I like the shape of heavily smiling razors, and I also like the way they shave. But this is ugly, introduces unnecessary honing difficulties, and most likely also edge longevity issues (probably not a worry for someone with a large rotation). If it was done to hone past a missing fragment at the tip of the blade, it's just one more reason why I consider "breadknifing" to be a blessing at times.

Best regards,
Bart.

I am sorry If I used the incorrect words as in ruined about the razor. I was meaning to address the issue of the razor being consider unstable (The steel of the razor) by your post on Coticule. Be.

The reason I was finding it something to mention on both sites was due to the conflict of opinion that the razor was considered "Skillfully honed" but considered badly honed on a different website. I found it some what confusing and could confuse someone that is new to honing also.

Originally Posted by Disburden

I am sorry If I used the incorrect words as in ruined about the razor. I was meaning to address the issue of the razor being consider unstable (The steel of the razor) by your post on Coticule.be.

No problem, Nick. I just wanted to point out that my opinion was more nuanced than your choice of words suggested.

Originally Posted by Disburden

The reason I was finding it something to mention on both sites was due to the conflict of opinion (...) I found it some what confusing and could confuse someone that is new to honing also.

I agree with that. On Coticule.be, I tried to elaborate on my objections as detailed as possible. These are all honest concerns, based on what I believe to know about honing. People can and should always make up there own minds.
I have no problem with that. If you guys believe the honing history of that razor suggests "state of the art", that's fine with me.

Kind regards,
Bart.

I am going to lock this thread as once again it is not worth the argument.

Thanks.

Lynn.