Notes From The Edge

[Seveneighth]

Atoma 400 - hoping that's the correct one.

I only use them with synthetics.

My DMT Extra fine is a great bevel setter. That and the Extra Fine are good for sorting out really awful bevels.

 

[Seveneighth]

Played around with one of the ZYs again today on a very slow coticule. I might try it later. It still isn't drawing well on the strop - so my head says it isn't all that.

 

[Seveneighth]

Is that tape on the blade? To protect what? Good idea if so.

Nice looking razor.

Happy shaves,

Jim

Just realised I didn't reply to your question - it's gold leaf or something - just decoration. I'll try to post a close up in better light at some point.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

My coarse stone is the Shapton 320. It is so coarse it feels rough to my fingers. I'm very careful with it but find a few very light laps quite useful on occasion.



Since I've acquired this stone my life has involved less time spent on the Chosera 1K. I see no downside to the 320's use, at least how I use it.

I know it's a dangerous stone improperly used.

Sounds like you have a similar tool.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Somerled]

Atoma 400 - hoping that's the correct one.

I only use them with synthetics.

My DMT Extra fine is a great bevel setter. That and the Extra Fine are good for sorting out really awful bevels.

400 grit is what the Naniwa flattening stone is supposed to be, so that would make sense.

I have a 1k Naniwa for my bevel setter, not sure I like it much though. But It's all I have, unfortunately.
It just seems a bit soft to me, maybe I'm imagining things. But I have to flatten it after every use.
Might try the Extra fine Atoma instead.

I've not been buying many razors of late, so my 1k doesn't get a lot of use.

 

[Seveneighth]

My coarse stone is the Shapton 320. It is so coarse it feels rough to my fingers. I'm very careful with it but find a few very light laps quite useful on occasion.

View attachment 1054290

Since I've acquired this stone my life has involved less time spent on the Chosera 1K. I see no downside to the 320's use, at least how I use it.

I know it's a dangerous stone improperly used.

Sounds like you have a similar tool.

Happy shaves,

Jim

Have you checked the edge with magnification? I would be nervous about it chipping.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Have you checked the edge with magnification? I would be nervous about it chipping.

No, I've not, not with more than a 10X LED loupe. Yes, I'm nervous about it, a bit. But, again, I don't use it all the time (of course I don't). Only when there are chips or a lot of metal needs to go, and, even then, very lightly and for not many laps at all.

Let's say I need to remove x amount of metal. I might remove 0.6x with the the 320 and then move to the 1K Chosera. By the time the Chosera has finished the job there's little to no evidence the 320 was employed. Even less by the time the 3K SS has done its job.

Of course, I'm still nervous about it. It could very obviously ruin a blade.

I'm not currently using magnification all that much and nothing beyond my loupe (which is marked at 20X but I think it really is 10X as that's how it seems to compare with my other, better quality, loupe which is 10X but not lighted). I'm not using the Plugable USB microscope. The view with it is helpful sometimes but I think it makes me concerned about stuff which really is not relevant to the shave. I could be wrong here of course.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Seveneighth]

400 grit is what the Naniwa flattening stone is supposed to be, so that would make sense.

I have a 1k Naniwa for my bevel setter, not sure I like it much though. But It's all I have, unfortunately.
It just seems a bit soft to me, maybe I'm imagining things. But I have to flatten it after every use.
Might try the Extra fine Atoma instead.

I've not been buying many razors of late, so my 1k doesn't get a lot of use.

I have the Naniwa. I am not a big fan. It is so quick I easily make a mistake and it can go REALLY wrong before I realise. The Naniwa to me feels like I am honing on a block of sandpaper. I know I am in the wrong because everyone else loves that stone. I have the Shapton 1K. The 1K Shapton feels kind of dead. I did not like that, so I convexed it and now it makes a good convex bevel setter, which is much more fun to use.

I read a post where @Gamma was talking about the Shapton 1.5K, and recommending it, although I think that was because the Naniwa was crazing. But like everything Gamma recommends - it's excellent. Somehow it seems worlds apart from the Naniwa or the 1K Shapton. The 1.5K Shapton has a liveliness, and is the closest synthetic I have used to a natural stone in feel. Well that's how it feels to me.

Personally I prefer to set a bevel on a natural stone. The Gwespyr is lovely. It produces a very even and neat scratch pattern. The bevel looks like it has been powder blasted under magnification, which means the next steps in the progression are really easy - nice if you are using a natural progression on slow stones.

I have been using the synthetics more recently partly because I realise that I am missing out not learning to love them, and partly because I just wanted to get the bevels done on cheap nasty razors - Gold Dollars and ZYs.

I am actually enjoying honing on the Shapton 1.5K.

 

[Seveneighth]

No, I've not, not with more than a 10X LED loupe. Yes, I'm nervous about it, a bit. But, again, I don't use it all the time (of course I don't). Only when there are chips or a lot of metal needs to go, and, even then, very lightly and for not many laps at all.

Let's say I need to remove x amount of metal. I might remove 0.6x with the the 320 and then move to the 1K Chosera. By the time the Chosera has finished the job there's little to no evidence the 320 was employed. Even less by the time the 3K SS has done its job.

Of course, I'm still nervous about it. It could very obviously ruin a blade.

I'm not currently using magnification all that much and nothing beyond my loupe (which is marked at 20X but I think it really is 10X as that's how it seems to compare with my other, better quality, loupe which is 10X but not lighted). I'm not using the Plugable USB microscope. The view with it is helpful sometimes but I think it makes me concerned about stuff which really is not relevant to the shave. I could be wrong here of course.

Happy shaves,

Jim

I suppose logically it's always better to have a stone that can do the work, rather than increasing pressure? I am sure your approach has merit.

 

[Somerled]

Personally I prefer to set a bevel on a natural stone. The Gwespyr is lovely. It produces a very even and neat scratch pattern. The bevel looks like it has been powder blasted under magnification, which means the next steps in the progression are really easy - nice if you are using a natural progression on slow stones.

Periodically I do a search for Gwespyr and turn up nothing. Must be one of the rarest stones on the planet.

I don't have a lot of use for a bevel setter right now. Maybe I'll get myself a Shapton 1.5k - I'm assuming it's one of the glass ones?

Last bevel I set was with one of my coticules. Took a fair bit of work, but got there in the end.

 

[Seveneighth]

Probably not rare, just not identified. There are so many oil-encrusted stones that could be anything.

Nice work - setting a bevel with a coticule. Some coticules are more work than others when it comes to bevel setting.

 

[Seveneighth]

Shaved again with the white handled ZY today. Hmmm. Not much improvement. I need to take a close look at that edge to work out what is going on. Not happy with it yet.

 

[Seveneighth]

I don't have a lot of use for a bevel setter right now. Maybe I'll get myself a Shapton 1.5k - I'm assuming it's one of the glass ones?

The Shapton is a KUROMAKU Pro stone - blue box. Under £40 on Amazon right now. Mine has a mottled pattern - could almost be a synthetic Tam O' shanter!

 

[Somerled]

The Shapton is a KUROMAKU Pro stone - blue box. Under £40 on Amazon right now. Mine has a mottled pattern - could almost be a synthetic Tam O' shanter!

Cheers! Going to have to wait a bit though.
Nothing in my wallet left over from Christmas, except for a few moths

BTW, Naniwa and Shapton have different methods for calculating grit sizes. The Shapton at 1.5k is probably less than the Naniwa 1k. Plenty info online regarding this. Didn't want to link any external sites.

I read about this on B&B when I was about to buy my Naniwa set. Can't find the posts though.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Cheers! Going to have to wait a bit though.
Nothing in my wallet left over from Christmas, except for a few moths

BTW, Naniwa and Shapton have different methods for calculating grit sizes. The Shapton at 1.5k is probably less than the Naniwa 1k. Plenty info online regarding this. Didn't want to link any external sites.

I read about this on B&B when I was about to buy my Naniwa set. Can't find the posts though.

Yes, there's a hard to understand chart somewhere, but it does have the information.

 

[Seveneighth]

Yes - have the t shirt on that one. When I first bought stones I mixed and matched before I was aware of the differences. Ended up buying a full set of Shaptons and Naniwas to sort out the mess

 

[Seveneighth]

3rd attempt with the white handled ZY on the stones.

Better than the last shave. Still not what I would expect from a stainless blade. I am about to give up and resort to a method progression. Beginning to think a coticule just won't work on this steel.

I guess the razor is progressing in the right direction...

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

3rd attempt with the white handled ZY on the stones.

Better than the last shave. Still not what I would expect from a stainless blade. I am about to give up and resort to a method progression. Beginning to think a coticule just won't work on this steel.

I guess the razor is progressing in the right direction...

I've forgotten what you've done so far.

What about bread-knifing the edge and then doing the burr method of bevel setting? Generally if I'm getting nowhere fast it ends up being a bevel problem. I suspect that's been your experience and observation, too.

I know I can set the bevel on the flat coticule but I don't because I don't want to use the stone all up on tasks of that sort which I find easier on synthetics.

Read yesterday of using the Washita as a bevel setter. I see no reason to think it wouldn't work.

Using the Chosera 1K as a bevel setter and using the burr method I've sometimes had to do upwards of 400 strokes per side of the blade to get a good burr everywhere on the edge. However, once it's done you know you have a bevel.

It's not a lesson I've completely learned (I'm afraid), but if the bevel isn't right I've not gotten anywhere. I think you know this, too.

Could it be an angle issue as in the spine is too fat or too thin thus the angle of the bevel isn't going to be optimum?

I have only one ZY razor but it seems like pretty decent steel to me. I mostly have used it as a learning tool rather than a shaving razor so it's not like I know anything about them.

I'm not sure why you want to fool around with the ZY and Gold Dollar razors, but it's really none of my business except for curiosity. Plenty of guys like to mess with them, but I don't quite get it. Of course, I have more than enough trouble with "good" razors.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Somerled]

Couple of years ago I bought a few GD's and an unmarked Chinese stainless razor. Never really did much with them, after deciding that vintage was the best way to go.

During the Christmas holidays I thought I would hone up the stainless one and maybe make a nice set of scales for it. After about an hour on the 1k I gave up. It was probably removing more stone from the 1k Naniwa than steel from the blade. Even with using a sharpie on the edge and spine, it was acting strange.

Then I looked down the blade to see if it was off true.

Don't know if you can see that. But it most definitely has a major flaw, as in it's bowed.

That's it with Chinese blades for me. Not worth the effort.

 

[AimlessWanderer]

Looks like that needs a spine set, as well as a bevel set