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- #21
Keeping at it and I think I am making progress. Honed an old Gold Dollar today after killing the edge. Found out some interesting things- the bevel was not well- set in the first place and I actually took several laps on a Chosera 1000 to get it reliably and easily cutting the skin on a tomato. Normally I would start on much finer films or the Jnat directly but obviously this razor was not ready for that and all effort in the finer grits or on a Jnat were wasted. Lesson 9385 learned..... maybe. As the old honing hands say, set the bevel, then go back and make sure you set the bevel. Then test it on a tomato skin to find out 1) if the bevel is really set and 2) where the not- quite- set areas of the razor are. On the Gold Dollar, both the toe and heel resisted while 75% of the middle was outstanding.
The second of today's lessons was that at the end of the dilution cycle on the Jnat, after a bunch of laps the razor / stone interface got very smooth feeling, as if the stone was no longer cutting. Very little physical feedback from the stone although my hearing is sufficiently damaged that I am not sure if there was any 'hissing' while doing laps on the stone or not. Anyway, probably 30 laps on the stone with no drag at all and off to linen and leather. About 30 laps on both and the razor tree- tops with the very best synthetic edges I have been able to generate. Shaving test tomorrow. Riding high on my newfound "skill", I grabbed a T.I. and did the same process. Somewhat disappointing because while it will tree- top, it does this considerably less aggressively than the Gold Dollar. I know T.I.s are more abrasion resistant so I did extra laps. The first cycle was actually pretty poor so I went back and again honed the razor from a light slurry to a nearly water finish with better but not outstanding results, again using the tree- top test. Will also shave with that razor tomorrow.
It seems I am making progress, have not become disillusioned yet and am still finding this interesting and fun. The plan is to carry on until a great shave results- so far, they have been fair- to- lousy to very good but not yet excellent.
The second of today's lessons was that at the end of the dilution cycle on the Jnat, after a bunch of laps the razor / stone interface got very smooth feeling, as if the stone was no longer cutting. Very little physical feedback from the stone although my hearing is sufficiently damaged that I am not sure if there was any 'hissing' while doing laps on the stone or not. Anyway, probably 30 laps on the stone with no drag at all and off to linen and leather. About 30 laps on both and the razor tree- tops with the very best synthetic edges I have been able to generate. Shaving test tomorrow. Riding high on my newfound "skill", I grabbed a T.I. and did the same process. Somewhat disappointing because while it will tree- top, it does this considerably less aggressively than the Gold Dollar. I know T.I.s are more abrasion resistant so I did extra laps. The first cycle was actually pretty poor so I went back and again honed the razor from a light slurry to a nearly water finish with better but not outstanding results, again using the tree- top test. Will also shave with that razor tomorrow.
It seems I am making progress, have not become disillusioned yet and am still finding this interesting and fun. The plan is to carry on until a great shave results- so far, they have been fair- to- lousy to very good but not yet excellent.