2 nice discoveries

[Rick1500]

Came across two nice discoveries while honing and then during the first shave with this Oxford which was taking a little more time to hone than usual.

1) I finally accepted that my Rozsutec is a better finisher than my translucent Ark, it took me awhile to acknowledge this but it became too obvious on this honing to ignore.
I enjoy my edges but using the Ark first then finishing with the Roz made a very nice increase in smoothness which I haven't experienced before, so, guess I have to redo the edges on my rotation before moving on to the next straight waiting to get restored.

2) I haven't gotten the results from my bottle of Jack Black's beard lube I expected so it's just been sitting around, and I've never been overly impressed with my Williams shaving pucks either. So I mixed a couple big squirts of Jack's into the shaving bowl with the williams and it made a big improvent to the soap.

 

[albsat]

So, what is your honing progress now? 1k, Ark and Rozsutec?

 

[Rick1500]

Due to the extra effort this oxford was taking (the edge was very rough) I reintroduced the naniwa 3K I have. I stopped using the naniwa back when I was focusing on edge striations, I didn't like how it looked under the microscope. But there's something about the feel while using it that is very pleasing, the razor seems to glide over it nicely.
When I finished with the Roz and then looked under the microscope out of curiosity I was very pleased with the polished look of the edge, I was expecting more scratches.

Now my progression is bevel set with the Cerex 1k, the naniwa 3k with water, the Ark with a 50/50 water/neatsfoot oil and then the Rozsutec with the same oil mix.

My laps have no sound reasoning, I just had good luck with the number and way I'm doing it so I stayed with it.

Edge leading and edge trailing are both used. The bevel set seems to depend on the razor on how those go.

But with the 3k and up I just do all very light; 20 edge leading then 80 edge trailing then finish with 10 edge leading.

The Roz is my finishing stone, but after that I do 30 laps on a 1/16 thick balsa strip with 50K diamond paste, then 50 laps on a clean leather strop.

Post shave I do 15 laps on an old pair of denim jeans to clean the blade, then 50 on a clean leather strop.

Pre shave, I'll be doing the 30 on the 50k balsa (I say I'll be doing, because prior to this new progression I was doing 20 laps on a 100K balsa preshave)

So far this diamond pasted balsa has kept me from having to put any of the razors on a stone for touch up.

I did find a good way to get the paste on the balsa (from a previous member here).

5 rice grain size dobs of the diamond paste, diluted to mix with rubbing alchohol, then into a small spray bottle and spray to cover the balsa, so far so good, (you do need to be sure it's kept flat while it's drying or it wants to curl).

 

[albsat]

Very nice. I am curious if you would take the same result if you remove Ark from your honing routine.

 

[JPO]

Came across two nice discoveries while honing and then during the first shave with this Oxford which was taking a little more time to hone than usual.

1) I finally accepted that my Rozsutec is a better finisher than my translucent Ark, it took me awhile to acknowledge this but it became too obvious on this honing to ignore.
I enjoy my edges but using the Ark first then finishing with the Roz made a very nice increase in smoothness which I haven't experienced before, so, guess I have to redo the edges on my rotation before moving on to the next straight waiting to get restored.

2) I haven't gotten the results from my bottle of Jack Black's beard lube I expected so it's just been sitting around, and I've never been overly impressed with my Williams shaving pucks either. So I mixed a couple big squirts of Jack's into the shaving bowl with the williams and it made a big improvent to the soap.

View attachment 1923702

If you used the Rozsutec after the 3k, and finished on the Translucent Ark, I think you will change your mind regarding the Ark.

 

[Rick1500]

JPO, that's exactly what I started doing this time since I had already been doing 1K/Roz/Ark/balsa.
I've been very pleased with my edges with that progression or else I wouldn't have continued with it.
So I started this razor with 1k/Roz/Ark, but then decided to throw the 3K into the mix and it did help, but I was still putting the Roz in front of the Ark.

I'd been ignoring the swarf building up on the Ark after using the Roz because it wasn't much, but this razor created even more swarf (I know using fewer stones in my progression is part of the reason).

I noticed this time the Roz was creating no swarf, then going to the Ark it had more pull and began showing I needed more work on the blade. I wasn't expecting this from the Ark, I thought it was a higher grit basically than the Roz. Perhaps it's due to me lapping the stones with my dia flat then using a cleaining stone to smooth them out a bit, then maybe the oil has an affect too.

But my goal is to use fewer stones, not more and still accomplish a good shave.

More research into the various opinions on grit rating for natural stones and due to the wide ranges the Roz and the Ark can have, my best guess so far is that I got a Roz that's on the higher end of the scale and an Ark that's more on the lower end.
Another way to put it if they were grit rated, the Ark is closer to a 6k and the Roz is closer to a 8k range.

The nice thing overall, is the impressively smooth edge that has come from this.

 

[Rick1500]

Albsat, very well could be that taking the Ark out would change things up. Going 1k/Roz/balsa could work, it would take some playing with to see.

From what everyone says the different stone combinations will make different edges so I'm not sure what would happen, it may cause me to grab another stone I'm not using to make it work or perhaps not

Edge dynamics' videos are a good example, he offers edges from quite a few different stones and progressions.

 

[H Brad Boonshaft]

Rick, likely the reason you razor was so difficult to hone is that the heel is in need of heel correction, to move the heel corner about 6mm away from the stabilizer and allow the razor to lay flat on the stone.

You are honing on the stabilizer and the tang, (Red arrows) this is keeping half of the edge off the stone, (Note the very narrow bevel, (Green arrow) at the heel and the beginning of a heel hook (sharp corner). More pressure was used and caused massive wear on the spine and large bevel on the bevel in the middle, where the edge was making contact, (Note the Blue arrows) and caused a frown on the edge, where likely the bevels are not meeting fully. (Note the frown on the edge compared to the red line.

Correct the heel and tape the spine probably with 2 layers of tape to make up for the lost steel. It is an easy fix.

And watch your honing stroke so you are not honing on the tang and stabilizer.

 

[Rick1500]

True Brad. I was focusing more on getting the chips out of the bevel I wound up riding the tang.
And the heel was interesting also, odd how there is barely a bevel on one side, even after I paid close attention to it.
I started over with the 3k and paid close attention to the bevel at the heel.

Yes, the heel still looks off I agree but I wasn't that interested in reshaping it.
There was quite a bit of pitting on the edge and the scales were a little offset so this was more of a beater project, if it didn't make it through the first round I'd sell it. If it shaved, I'd keep it. I've got 30 razors waiting to restore.
I rarely tape, unless it's just a real beauty of a blade.

I wasn't expecting much of a shave for sure which is why I was very surprised it wound up being one of the smoothest shaved I've got, even that heel did great.
So now it's officially in the rotation.

 

[Rick1500]

Very nice. I am curious if you would take the same result if you remove Ark from your honing routine.

Very possibly, something I may try when I finish the ones in my rotation. That would be a jump from my naniwa 3k to the Roz, I'm always trying to get my honing down to a bare minimum of stones anyway.