What did you hone today?

9/8 Osiris Bladesworks Sumingashi...it’s on deck!

The edge was just fantastic off of the yellow-orange JNAT with this Koraat 14 2.0. However, I have the second JNAT, and I just wanted to see if the blade prefers one edge over the other. 

It isn’t a scientific process, but I will also be using the Ethos DBV2 again later today in order to compare.

Vr


Matt

Andrew afforded me the unique opportunity to purchase the two Russian straight razors from the pass around, and I am going to be putting them through their paces to see what’s what.  Thanks again Andrew!


The first is the damascus razor made out of three different steels with approx 2600 layers.

I checked the bevel near the edge with a 30x loupe after each stone in the progression, and what I found surprised me.  After I set the bevel on my Chosera 1k I checked, and did not see the typical scratch pattern.  In fact there was barely any scratch pattern to note.  I could only see a very very faint and consistent pattern...not a single rouge scratch, and nothing that approached anything that looked like deep.  After the 4k it was even less, and after the 8k...nothing.  It was pretty neat.  Since this is my first damascus razor I had no clue what to expect.

The razor’s bevel near the edge appeared stunningly pristine under the 30x loupe, and the HHT was silent and effortless.  In fact, as I was dropping the hair on the edge, one time it caught me by surprise!

At any rate, I guess tomorrow’s shave, and the next couple after that will tell the tale!  So far so good!


Vr

Matt

Sweet photos Matt, I can see how people really enjoy honing their razors. I think it is pretty cool to see how often you can do it. Thanks for sharing in these posts in the thread

Sweet photos Matt, I can see how people really enjoy honing their razors. I think it is pretty cool to see how often you can do it. Thanks for sharing in these posts in the thread

My pleasure Zac!  Honing is quite a nice hobby in its own right, and I find myself tweaking my process quite a bit as my skills and stones evolve.

I will probably shave test the razor above either later this evening, or sometime tomorrow!

Vr

Matt

Touched up a Machida kamisori on a couple of nakayama kiitas, also hit a Tosuke kamisori with some fingerstones, and set the bevel on another Tosuke kamisori with a chosera 1k before I called it quits for the night 

2nd of the two Russian razors.  This is a BIG razor that I am affectionately referring to as my Sweeney Todd razor.  The bevel near the edge, and edge look immaculate under the 30x loupe, and the hanging hair test was an absolute breeze.  Note the fineness of the hair used...it was so beautiful it was ridiculous.  I plan to use this tomorrow.

If these two razors hold these edges through the rest of this month and December, they will be quite special indeed!

Vr

Matt

Glad you got those razors Matt. How maneuverable is the bigger Sweeney Todd razor to you? I wasn’t very comfortable with shaving with that so I only used the Damascus.

Zac,

Thanks!

I actually just finished another beautiful shave, and I used the Sweeney Todd.  It is a very fun razor to use, and will be rewarding to master.  It felt great in the hand due to the curve of the tang, and the cleverly placed jimping.

The razor was plenty maneuverable, but I did have to be a little bit more aware because of the length of the cutting edge.  That is not an issue for me, because I truly enjoy the zen, mindfulness, whatever you want to call, it of shaving with a straight razor.

The problem is stropping...due to the length of the blade and it’s slight smile, it’s a pain to strop, and there is a greater risk to scratching/nicking the leather.  The work around that I have come up with is that after using it, I will strop on the linen, then do 10-15 laps on the Naniwa 12k, and a couple on a natural finisher.  I will see how this works, and figure it out as needed!

Vr

Matt