Black ABS honing solution at The Superior Shave

[kohalajohn]

So what is this?


If this is legit and he's not pulling our leg, is this some new hard plastic substrate for honing pastes?

TSS The Superior Shave Expert Honing Solution | 9x11x0.5″, Black ABS {R105} | Arriving January 2021 | ¡100% Made in USA!
$129.00
TSS House Brand Expert Level Single Honing Solution | Requires Additional User-Supplied Abrasives | Buy on Faith or Not at All!
Out of stock
SKU: tssexpertlevelsinglehoningsolution Categories: Arkansas Stones & 'Vintage' Hones, BELGIAN BLUE WHETSTONES (BBW), BELGIAN COTICULE HONES;, BIRCH COTICULE BOXES, BOUT (POLYGON) COTICULE STONES, RECTANGULAR COTICULE STONES

 

[macintoshBR]

Jarrod doesn’t want to make this so public, maybe afraid someone will quickly copy.
From what I understood, it is a concave surface where you can put some powder grit to make and maintain your stones convex, which Jarrod and some others advocate as the ideal honing surface for straight razors, but I’m likely wrong and too happy with my current methods to care about it.

 

[David]

I have an idea but don't want to be called a wanker.

 

[kohalajohn]

yup. I think jarod's pulling our leg.

 

[bluesman 7]

This "Buy on Faith or Not at All!" makes me think it's a joke, but maybe not. A concave surface for maintaining convex hones is a possibility. Might be something that he was working on, and then decided that it was a joke. Either way he's got me watching.

 

[David]

My first thought was lapping film as the abrasive on the concave plate to give it sort of a secondary bevel the way that a dished stone can. I used to have a dished 5” coti that I would finish my 5/8 razors on. Wish I’d kept it because the shaves were great.

There. I’m a wanker.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Yeah I think it's gotta be for films.

Abrasive powder would destroy ABS in seconds.

But Coarse film on a concave plate you hadn't destroyed with SIC would let you maintain (or even create) a convex stone.

9x11" is std paper size... I'd assume also a standard film sheet size?

 

[David]

I think 11x8.5 is what film comes in, but it’s been a while since I’ve bought any.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Ahh you're right 11x8.5" not 11x9"... My bad. Still going with my guess. Film surface for using coarse films to convex stones (basically combining both of your guesses).

 

[Slash McCoy]

If this is for real, it is probably meant for lapping convex stones with sandpaper or for lapping them into convex form in the first place. I believe wetdry sandpaper would be the abrasive of choice.

 

[SliceOfLife]

I mean the selection of ABS means 3-d printed most likely... which would make a degree of sense. If he found that he could 3-d print and get the convexing that I seem to recall was such a challenge to achieve on his large scale setup on a home setup, it'd definitely be a product he'd want to look at.

 

[macintoshBR]

Why would there be a pro and a beginners version (at twice the cost) if the purpose is just to put sandpaper or lapping film on top of it... curious

My guess: likely one version will have a different shape vs the other (spherical vs elliptical for example), requiring different production methods

 

[bluesman 7]

Abrasive powder would destroy ABS in seconds.

Not so sure about that. Telescope mirror grinders use pitch laps. The grit embeds in the softer material and abrades the harder material. Copper laps are frequently used for lapping hardened tool steels for the same reason.

 

[LJS]

Expert Level Single Honing Solution | Requires Additional User-Supplied Abrasives |

Refers to it as a "single honing solution" requiring abrasives, nothing about lapping or other stones.

I am half curious to know but feel zero curious to try. Something novel is always interesting to read about though, so points for that.

 

[Brianskeet]

Jarod has put a lot of time and energy into convex honing stones as being his preferred surface to hone on, so I can only imagine that it is for hone preparation. I forget all the specifics, but apparently it was a very well thought of technique in times past so he did his research and gave it a try and really likes it. I know he has used it with several different types of hones and I imagine any help in getting a stone to come out right would be handy.

 

[kohalajohn]

I think there's a grain of truth here, plus a bit of humour thrown in by Jarod. The pricing at $250 for plastic ABS is the humour.

But yeah, he's been looking for an easier way to create convex hones, for a while. Hand rubbing a big marble slate to create a convex dome on it, and then using that with to hand rub out a dish into another big marble slate with SIC on it, that was evidently a depressingly large amount of labour.

If he's found a cheap source for a concave piece of hard plastic that can take full size sheets of wet/dry, and sells them cheap, that might work. If nothing else, one could clean up and freshen a convex hone without worrying about flattening it.

I already put full sheets of wet/dry on my kitchen marble counter to lap my balsa. Maybe this ABS thing is convex one side and flat the other, so you're good for everything.

 

[LJS]

I realize the convex on those stones is slight, but if you try to press paper or plastic sheets concave they deform and don’t flex to shape. Is it so slight that won’t happen with sheets of film or WD?

 

[lightfoot]

You just lay down sandpaper and keep rubbing until the stone takes the shape of the mold.

 

[LJS]

I understand what was meant by laying the sheet on it. But I am just wondering if that would even work. Sheets are flat and try to make it concave or convex and a sheet of WD of plastic will fold somewhere instead since they are not flexible. So what I was asking is if the convex/concave is so slight that is doesn’t matter and flat paper lays concave? But all just conjecture anyway

 

[lightfoot]

I understand what was meant by laying the sheet on it. But I am just wondering if that would even work. Sheets are flat and try to make it concave or convex and a sheet of WD of plastic will fold somewhere instead since they are not flexible. So what I was asking is if the convex/concave is so slight that is doesn’t matter and flat paper lays concave? But all just conjecture anyway

The curve is so slight that there’s no wrinkles in the paper. I had came up with my own convex mold with more modest means and I’ve never had any issues with the paper buckling. That being said I think I would be willing to buy one of his just to take the headache out of it. The only disclaimer I would like to put out there is that stones prepared with a convex surface are intended for hollow ground razors. Wedge razors do not have enough of a hollow grind to make convex stones a reliable method. But there’s no doubt that the convex surface provides a considerably different experience in terms of feedback on the razors they were intended for.