Post your latest progression.

[Image: c12d83100634609b503d10432167e57c.jpg] A quick refresh of a pals razor on a bench Japanese natural stone and it will be dropped off at his house on my way to.....shop......on Christmas eve's eve......pray for me.

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https://youtu.be/0ThOFWTPml0

Before you clean and polish an eBay razor. It helps to see if it will take a bevel set. I left a few bits of cotton on her,I should of cleaned the blade better.my apologies. This shows clean steel meeting from both sides.the stone was a 1,000 grit chosera . (Naniwa professional )

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[Image: 3779ed21537e5e72c0a3da3bd346d5a1.jpg][Image: 6ebabfa8b4aa691443fa9554648279b9.jpg] in the two photos, the first is a bevel set from a 1,000 grit chosera stone.

The second photo is 5 laps on a shapton professional series 5,000 or 5k. The blemish in the photo is rotten steel that hides from the eye using a common 100 power lighted loupe.

After a few passes on the 5k and cleaning the blade well,the rotting steel pops up to your eye as off coloured.

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[Image: 79e7c49ed9a710bc5c6209cbff711e72.jpg] green chosera 1,000 ,Salmon naniwa 3,000 ,Belgian coticule.

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Pulled out my F.W.Engels Special to use next week. Tested by treetoping and it was off and not quite there. Refreshed the blade with a Coticule using oil ( 2/3 baby oil, 1/3 oderless kerosene) until I got a hint of swarf. Finished off with 30/75 on Tony Miller's leather. Back to where it should be.

Wade & Butcher Invincible 5/8 belly hollow

1k diamond plate to clean up the bevel. Soft, hard, and translucent Arkansas stones to clean, polish, and finish. She will get a test shave this evening, I believe...

An afternoon on these,Green chosera 1k,a Naniwa 3k salmon colour, a number 10 bout Belgian coticule. Cheers.

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Simmons Hardware 9/16 near wedge

This was the first razor I bought knowing it would need a lot of work. It didn't take long for me to realize that the work I was putting into it wasn't working. My "skills" were simply not up to the task, and I never got the chips out, and bevel set correctly. So I put it aside. That was about 10 months or so ago.

Since then, I have had several much more successful razors, including some with issues that I've been able to correct. I've soaked in a ton of information from many very generous gentlemen with a lot more experience than myself, and I have had many positive and negative experiences with a variety of razors on a variety of stones, so I brought this one back out to see what I could do with the oil stone set.

I knew the blade was both chipped and warped, and there was uneven hone wear that was exacerbated by my unskilled, and unsuccessful prior efforts to hone it on Japanese synthetics. So I went straight to a Lansky 600 grit diamond plate to get out the chips and try to even out the bevel. It took a lot of work and careful observation, but I managed to get the bevel set clean across 90% of the blade length. There is a little area near the heel that could still use some work, but the rest of the edge is even at the bevel, if a little ugly, due to the amount of wear on the spine.

Followed up with Lansky 1000 grit diamond, Lansky soft Arkansas, Lansky hard Arkansas, and a really clean white translucent Arkansas to finish.

The shave off of it was superb. Extremely clean, extremely close, and a very comfortable shave. I am beyond satisfied with the final edge. I believe the small area near the heel that is not quite on par with the rest of the edge can be dealt with in time, but for a right now, this razor may never be a beauty queen, but she will absolutely sit at the top of my rotation. Fantastic shave, and well worth the effort it took. The spine is ugly, no doubt, and the bevel is fat. But tonight's test shave was absolutely fantastic...

Simmons Hardware 9/16 near wedge

This was the first razor I bought knowing it would need a lot of work. It didn't take long for me to realize that the work I was putting into it wasn't working. My "skills" were simply not up to the task, and I never got the chips out, and bevel set correctly. So I put it aside. That was about 10 months or so ago.

Since then, I have had several much more successful razors, including some with issues that I've been able to correct. I've soaked in a ton of information from many very generous gentlemen with a lot more experience than myself, and I have had many positive and negative experiences with a variety of razors on a variety of stones, so I brought this one back out to see what I could do with the oil stone set.

I knew the blade was both chipped and warped, and there was uneven hone wear that was exacerbated by my unskilled, and unsuccessful prior efforts to hone it on Japanese synthetics. So I went straight to a Lansky 600 grit diamond plate to get out the chips and try to even out the bevel. It took a lot of work and careful observation, but I managed to get the bevel set clean across 90% of the blade length. There is a little area near the heel that could still use some work, but the rest of the edge is even at the bevel, if a little ugly, due to the amount of wear on the spine.

Followed up with Lansky 1000 grit diamond, Lansky soft Arkansas, Lansky hard Arkansas, and a really clean white translucent Arkansas to finish.

The shave off of it was superb. Extremely clean, extremely close, and a very comfortable shave. I am beyond satisfied with the final edge. I believe the small area near the heel that is not quite on par with the rest of the edge can be dealt with in time, but for a right now, this razor may never be a beauty queen, but she will absolutely sit at the top of my rotation. Fantastic shave, and well worth the effort it took. The spine is ugly, no doubt, and the bevel is fat. But tonight's test shave was absolutely fantastic...

Congratulations sir.good job

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I'd just like to add, Chris, that, given the choice, I would always take the workhorse over the beauty queen.  I don't replate my user grade DE and SE razors but some of them are my absolute favorites for the shaves they offer.  So what if they're not ready for their close-up as long as they give me that close comfortable shave.

Congratulations on persevering and a job well done.