A couple of weeks ago, I picked up the pictured four razors at a Parisian flea market. My reason for doing this is that I would like to practice setting bevels and honing with them before it is time for me to hone one of my newer razors, so that I will know what I am doing when the time comes. In the first pair is a rusty one marked "Solinger Stahl" that appears to be 6/8. Next to it is a Solingen blade made for Omega. In the second pair is a true frame-back blade marked "Paris-Express" made by Ch[arles] Poincet (model no. 1500?) with rather warped horn scales. Next to it is a Thiers-Issard no. 275 at around 5/8.
Thus far, I haven't worked on any of these, apart from the Omega-Solingen. As bought, it was very tarnished, to the point of being nearly as dark as the Poincet horn scales. I have spent around three hours rubbing it with Puma metal polishing paste using 000 and 0000 steel wool and cotton tufts for it to arrive at the shinier state it has now. The result has revealed an overall surface pitting that won't go away unless more drastic measures are taken, although there is absolutely no rust, so I think I would rather just hone it now to see what happens. The Poincet and Thiers-Issard blades are in much better shape and will need just a slight amount of polishing, while the rusty Solinger promises to be another polishing adventure.
As for honing, I have two Japanese combo stones: 1000/6000 and a 1200/8000 for setting and refining the bevel. I also have a small Belgian coticule and a Thiers-Issard paddle strop with their diamond paste on one side and CrO2 on the other. A local dealer here claims that I can use the 1000/6000 and then finish with Cr02, which strikes me as too abrupt, but I am interested to try it just to see what happens there. Otherwise, I would be inclined to go 1200x, 8000x, Belgian coticle, diamond paste, CrO2.
So in posting this long message, I suppose my questions are first, do either of these seem like a good sequence to follow, and second, is it a losing battle to try to shave with the surface-pitted Omega?
Thus far, I haven't worked on any of these, apart from the Omega-Solingen. As bought, it was very tarnished, to the point of being nearly as dark as the Poincet horn scales. I have spent around three hours rubbing it with Puma metal polishing paste using 000 and 0000 steel wool and cotton tufts for it to arrive at the shinier state it has now. The result has revealed an overall surface pitting that won't go away unless more drastic measures are taken, although there is absolutely no rust, so I think I would rather just hone it now to see what happens. The Poincet and Thiers-Issard blades are in much better shape and will need just a slight amount of polishing, while the rusty Solinger promises to be another polishing adventure.
As for honing, I have two Japanese combo stones: 1000/6000 and a 1200/8000 for setting and refining the bevel. I also have a small Belgian coticule and a Thiers-Issard paddle strop with their diamond paste on one side and CrO2 on the other. A local dealer here claims that I can use the 1000/6000 and then finish with Cr02, which strikes me as too abrupt, but I am interested to try it just to see what happens there. Otherwise, I would be inclined to go 1200x, 8000x, Belgian coticle, diamond paste, CrO2.
So in posting this long message, I suppose my questions are first, do either of these seem like a good sequence to follow, and second, is it a losing battle to try to shave with the surface-pitted Omega?
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