What Did You Hone Today?

[drmoss_ca]

I couldn't wait two days, so the 5/8 SuperGnome was honed on the coticule with the same progression and stropped. The shave was even better than yesterday's Loup et Bellier. Shorter stubble from a single day's growth, but also the pleasing nature of a thicker grind. Very little sensation of being shaved - I'm probably not the only person who, as a child, was handed a safety razor by my father with no blade in it, and he had me shave while he did the same. Well this wasn't that friction free, but almost. I've worked on my best razors with various finishing stones or pastes, and can get get even closer to that sensation-free shave, but this was 90% of the way.

So why did I never discover this before? Some excuses:
- I don't think of a coticule as a finishing stone
- Only in the last few years did I discover the back-and-forth honing under running water trick
- And maybe it's better this time because I'm doing it to razors that have been honed all the way including a finishing stone
- did I get better at honing? Probably not in the last couple of years, and I've been honing for nearly twenty.

I'm encouraged to go further still. I took out a 6/8 SuperGnome (I have two and I never liked them like the 5/8 version. Possibly the steel change was responsible. I have asked TI if they can clarify which kind of steel was used in them) and put it on the coticule today, so tomorrow I shall see how it goes. After that? I'm pretty sure I once tried a Livi with a coticule-only hone, and found it a bit rough. But Damasteel is tough rather than hard (difference). I think I'll keep at this for a while.

Chris

 

[drmoss_ca]

The 6/8 Super Gnome gave an average shave, not as effortless and free of sensation as the last two, but there again, I never did like it that much, and this as good as I have ever got it. I wonder if a second go on the coticule will make it as good as the others? I've honed one of the 7/8 TI Eagles today, and it feels as if it will be the sharpest so far, but it always did take a great edge. Tomorrow I'll find out for sure. If this keeps up, I may get into the seven day set of 6/8 Eagles.

 

[Bogie]

I think you were on to something a few posts back when you queried different steels and how they sharpened and how they felt on the shave. I've always thought Sheffield steel was a bit more forgiving than German steel and that Swedish steel fell somewhere in between. I have several Japanes blades and the steel seems different but I can't articulate why ,other they seem somewhere in between them but probably closer to German steel. I'm partial to Sheffield blades, but all can be excellent blades depending on their grind and composition. It is interesting that a number of English blades from some sources are, ground in Germany or made in Germany, but marketed by English purveyors as house blades.

 

[Bogie]

BTW, beautiful set of blades!

 

[drmoss_ca]

The 7/8 Eagle wasn't quite as sensation-free as the 5/8 Super Gnome, but it was just as close. Going to try my luck tomorrow with the oldest Livi, a briar-scaled, riveted 7/8 Blue Tongue.

Chris

 

[drmoss_ca]

I'm puzzled and delighted, both. Delighted as the Livi came out as good or better than the TIs honed this way. Damasteel is funny stuff, very tough, but not of ultimate hardness. Likely scores higher for being malleable and ductile than hard. And yet, once sharp, you can shave with it for months. A great and comfortable shave, very smooth. Two tiny weepers, despite my careful technique, testify to the sharpness.
Puzzled, as I think I have done this before and not been impressed. So am I, doing just what I have done before, suddenly better at it? Or is there some counterintuitive factor here, where a razor gets honed all the way to the very finest of hones, and then shaves better when taken back a step or two to a humble coticule? I can see some experiments that might throw some light:
1. hone a Livi all the way to my best stone (Chosera 1k, Belgian Blue, Coticule, translucent Arkansas, surgical black Arkansas)
2. hone a Livi the same way but stop at the coticule
3. compare the above razors with the current one, which has been through 1, and then the coticule part of 2.

I probably don't need option #1: I have done that many times, and today has shown me that option #3 is better. The interesting question is whether #2 or #3 is best? The expected, or the surprise counterintuitive?
Or shall I just enjoy what I have? I'm afraid the itch for knowledge is going to take me deeper. And if #3 turns out best, how to explain it? A wise medical researcher once told me not to ask any questions I wasn't prepared to answer (and I think trial lawyers have a similar saying, except they have to know the answer in advance).

Chris

PS A Livi using the same kind of Blue Tongue (later versions had a kind of sparkle to the steel, and I think the composition may have changed) has had a new bevel cut and gone from the Chosera 1K to the Belgian Blue and then the coticule. Comparison shaves over the next couple of days.

 

[drmoss_ca]

So the ebony-scaled Livi gave me a very close shave, but just a bit "scrapy" - it feels like the blade will need to be stropped a few times to calm that edge down a little. So I don't need to come up with an explanation for why it is better to hone all the way to Arkansas level and then go back a step: it works just as well to stop at the coticule. I must be doing something just a bit better than previous tries at doing this.

C.

 

[drmoss_ca]

Two more shaves to report. A second go with the ebony Livi showed that more stropping has calmed the edge, and it was smooth and comfortable. Then I waited two days and honed my second 5/8 Super Gnome (Chosera 1k, BB and coticule using the method described above). Stropped it well and just had one of the best shaves ever! Sensation-free cutting, and super smooth afterwards.
This is interesting, as this particular Super Gnome came after my original and has a laser-etched tang, rather than stamped. Even so, it was before the 'Carbonsong' steel (which may just be a new name for the old Sheffield silver steel rather than a new steel altogether. Maybe just sans lead-hardening, which is frowned on for health and safety reasons by the EU.) I never liked it as much as the original, and it never seemed to get as sharp, but now it has. That's probably the Chosera responsible, rather than stopping at the coticule, as I never had the Chosera back in the olden days.
So I now have two 5/8 Super Gnomes that are excellent. I think I have two more 5/8 in storage, and the less satisfactory pair of 6/8 Super Gnomes could go back and start from scratch on the Chosera. They may end up as good next time, as I just coticuled them last week. I have another TI half-hollow too, the budget version "1937 Spécial Coiffeur." I could make a seven day set of TI half-hollows!

 

[drmoss_ca]

Honed the 6/8 Super Gnome from scratch, and it was indeed very good. Not quite as good as the second 5/8. For tomorrow, I have taken the older 5/8 Super Gnome through the full set (Chosera, BB, coticule). It always was a better shaver than the newer one, and maybe it will outshine it now.

C.

 

[drmoss_ca]

And it did outshine the newer 5/8 Super Gnome. The small stiff half hollow blade goes through stubble with that same quiet cloth-tearing sound that you hear from a big wedge. I'm going to say something I've said before: I could live happily with these razors. I guess I'm either lucky (or confused and unfortunate) to have so many razors I can say that about!

I'll stick with them for a while, and when the honing hug next comes upon me, I'll be trying out the stopping-at-the-coticule method on some others.

Chris

 

[drmoss_ca]

Another shave of two-day stubble to report, using the newer TI 5/8 Super Gnome. The razor has lost the brand-new edge feel, after being stropped three times, and is as close to the old one as makes no difference. I'm going to try an extra step just for fun, although I don't really feel the need to improve on perfection: a few strokes on the coticule with the glycerine/water mix I use on the Arkansas stones. I have read of people using oil, glycerine, or water-based honing solutions to get an extra fine edge on a coticule-honed razor. Will it add anything for me? We'll see.

C.

 

[drmoss_ca]

On the WTG pass I didn't feel or see any difference, but going ATG it was nearly without sensation. So, yes, the glycerine and water finishing stage on the coticule does add a little extra finesse to the edge.

Chris

 

[drmoss_ca]

Turns out I repeated myself today, deciding to try a coticule-only shave with one of the two Dovo EnVogue stainless razors that were my first straights, twenty years ago. They felt pretty sharp, so I just did the coticule under running water and then with glycerine and water. Stropped and used the one with blonde Micarta scales. Pretty nice, not quite as close as the SuperGnomes, and with some cutting sensation. End result very smooth though. I vaguely remembered I had liked them more during the Great Honing than I had back when I didn't know anything, so I looked them up. For some reason I had done exactly the same thing back in this post.
So I re-read what I'd written. I don't remember most of it, as I was in a bit of a whirl, trying to get honing done and perfected before going in for the transplant. Looks like I found the coticule-only shave was improved by adding either a black Ark or the 2k-lapped Spyderco UF, but I'm not sure I ever discovered if one was better, or if using both, what the order should be. I seem to have had the impression that the UF was a much faster hone and should the Ark be used after it, it would take a long time on the hone to improve things.
So having honed two razors of the same kind the same way today, and shaved with one of them, I have taken the other for a quick visit to the UF and tomorrow I'll see how it compares.

 

[drmoss_ca]

I don't think the UF added anything. My face was a tiny bit sore after the shave, but it was a consecutive day shave, not my usual (these days) two-day shave. I'll stick with the Super Gnomes finished on the coticule for now.

 

[drmoss_ca]

I don't seem to be able to help myself, and I took out the 6/8 Super Gnomes and re-did them on the coticule under running water. No glycerine, no UF, no finishing at all. One of them just gave me a superb shave.

 

[drmoss_ca]

And the second did well, also. So I dug out the other two 5/8 SuperGnomes and sharpened them on the Chosera 1k, BBW, and coticule as previously described. For the first times in a few years I also bought another razor from eBay, another 5/8 Super Gnome. It is an older one with the stamped tang, rather than the laser etched, but I'm not sure that means much as all my laser-etched Super Gnomes are STAMPED on the back of the tang with the factory number '275'. I don't think I was that smart 18 years ago when I recommended the Super Gnome to everyone, just lucky. Especially not smart if it has taken me 18 years to realise how lucky I was then.
I'm sad to discover that Thiers-Issard have discontinued all their half-hollow blades! Such is fashion, and I've written before that the fad for full-hollow blades was exactly that: a marketing arms race where one manufacturer claimed to have a sharper blade and the others had to follow.
I had one other half-hollow TI, other than the Super Gnomes, the "1937 Special Coiffeur" which I always suspected were Super Gnome seconds. Certainly mine had thin scales that have discoloured and become warped. But I honed it up and had a superb shave from it. So sensationless it was sensational, if you see what I mean! I'll have to heat and straighten those resin scales.
There are still a few out there to be had new, as at the Superior Shave, in white or black scales. These are 6/8 versions, the last 5/8 from knifecenter is on its way to me, and Superior Shave doesn't ship to Canada, so my hard luck might be your good luck! Anyway, I'll have a seven day set of Super Gnomes shortly (the seventh is coming from eBay), so it would be greed to collect more.

 

[drmoss_ca]

Blasted eBay razor is a disaster. It's been honed to death, unsuccessfully, as it's as blunt as a butter knife. It's now 4/8 instead of 5/8 and has been turned into an irregularly curved smile. I've had four goes at honing it on narrow hones with x-strokes and it still won't cut. "Shave ready" indeed!

 

[axeman556]

Finished up the royal razor tonight! This gorgeous Japanese swedish steel gem took a wonderful looking edge with a near perfect kasumi finish. Went thru the shapton progression 1k thru 8k , moved to brick jnat for a nagura progression and then finish on some mizu tomo slurry. So far from my testing these tomos I cut are winners! More on that tomm when this puppy gets to fly threw some whiskers!

 

[drmoss_ca]

Having got the half-hollows as I like them I moved on. It's been nearly three years since I last honed and used the Zowada damascus razors:





So I have so far used two, and did nothing other than strop them. If I thought the TI half-hollows were good, these are showing me all things are relative! Very smooth, very close, and something else I've missed with the little 5/8 razors is having a decent sized shank to hold on to. Thin blades with thin shanks are fiddly for older fingers.

 

[Lou Mowan]

This might make a sticky thread if any mod sees fit...

I'm working through all my straights, trying to get each as good as possible to make their eventual sale more respectable, as I'm in the somewhat odd position of planning for an uncertain future. After three or four months of a new razor being honed each day, the end is getting close - I have about 30 Solingen razors to go, maybe five more TIs and a few Sheffields. Frankly, I'll be delighted to go back to the favourites, after all this chopping and changing.

In preparation for the next couple of days I honed two TI Super Gnomes today. Both 5/8, one old enough to have a stamped shank, and the other bought to make a pair has a laser etched shank. The original black and white celluloid scales have been replaced with TI olivewood scales courtesy of Ray DuPont. The older of the pair has a special place in my heart, as it was my favourite razor back in the days when I mistakenly thought I understood what I was doing; it appears in The Art of the Straight Razor Shave (and yes, mods, that's a link, but a reputable one!) quite a lot. Having been humbled by time and experience, all I can say is that no one else knew what they were doing in those days either! Later on, I bought a pair of the much later issued 6/8 Super Gnomes, and they'll be up next. I'm ashamed to say I had to use some home made green paste on these blades as they had acquired a few rust spots during their exile in the basement. It takes off superficial rust wonderfully.

Here they are, with a hint as to how I honed them:

View attachment 2748

Ray Dupont, brings back good memories