Embarrassed by the Duck

[Magruder]

I am embarrassed to be writing this post.

Three years shaving with a straight, and nearly that long doing my own honing. I’ve brought several blades from butter-knife status to good shavers, and I’m now admitting that I didn’t know the meaning of ‘sharp’.

Last month I finally got around to sanding the rust off that Dubl Duck I picked up last winter. After shaving with it, I realized that it was noticeably sharper than any of my other razors.

For several days now I have worked on the two razors that were my go-to razors, the Dovo tortoiseshell and the Geneva Cutlery 6/8, trying to get the the same kind of edge on them that I have on the Duck. With both razors I went through a routine: Hone, hone, shave... nope, not there yet, try again tomorrow. It’s sharp, it shaves as well as it ever did, but it can’t match the Duck.

After several days I had to face the fact that those blades were as sharp as my current equipment could make them. Until I come up with something else, I don’t want to shave with anything but the Duck.

What’s interesting is that the same hones can make the Dubl Duck sharper.

What’s embarrassing is that I don’t think I’ve ever used a blade this sharp. I can get a very good shave in two passes and less than 10 minutes. I have never done that before.

My honing setup consists of a DMT 8000, a well-lapped Swaty, and a Tony Miller pasted paddle with 3.0, 1.0, and .5 grits.

Anyone have suggestions on where I need to go from here? Some .25 diamond paste for the plain side of my paddle strop seems like the obvious thing. I am on a budget. Just started a new job after a layoff earlier in the year, so the expensive items are not possible right now.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Wait, so you sanded the rust off the razor and it's sharper than one of the razors you have honed? That's... very bad.

 

[Redhead]

Hi,
I only have one Duck, a WE no less and it to is wonderfully easy and straightforward to hone. However, I would not jump to the conclusion that you need another piece of equipment because you think your Duck is 'different' from your other razors. Try this when you think your other blades are almost there: use some very watery lather on your Swaty for a few strokes and then try using less than the weight of the blade for a few more. You may have to experiment a bit with some back strokes if you go too far. Then again your bevels might not be as good to start with with your other razors, but that's another problem...

Best,
Red

 

[Magruder]

Wait, so you sanded the rust off the razor and it's sharper than one of the razors you have honed? That's... very bad.

Dang it, man, I was taking a drink when I read that! Now my screen's all wet!

 

[SliceOfLife]

Seriously though. Ducks are (for the most part) very hollow ground. The blades are very thin. After you sanded rust off it's even thinner. The metal also seems pretty easy to cut. This means they hone very, very, very fast relative to even other hollow grinds. My guess is you just are rushing your honing a little bit. Since the duck hones so easily, it still hones up well. The others probably just need more time on the stones to get the same edge improvement. Do a bit more work on your other razors and as long as they aren't pitted on the edge or something like that, they should get much better and be right up there with the duck.

 

[Bart]

+1 on what Ian said. Very thinly ground blades have equally narrow bevels, that easily sharpen up to a high keenness.

Try this: Hone up one of you other razors without using the pasted strop, to the point where it shaves you well. I reckon you finish on the Swaty for that. Next put 2 layers of electrical insulation tape on the spine, and refinish with 10 of your lightest laps on the Swaty. You now have a narrow secondary bevel on that razor that behaves similar as that narrow bevel of a Dubl'Duck. Skip the 3µ and 1µ but give it another 10 laps on the 0.5µ paddle strop.

Kind regards,
Bart.

 

[Munxcub]

Hey Bart,

If you do the taping for the 2nd bevel, would you need to leave the tape on when you go to a pasted strop? My guess is yes... how would that affect regular stropping?

 

[Bart]

Hey Bart,

If you do the taping for the 2nd bevel, would you need to leave the tape on when you go to a pasted strop? My guess is yes... how would that affect regular stropping?

It depends a bit on the kind of pasted strop. If the its a hanging pasted strop the tape is best removed, because the strop has enough give to reach the very edge. The same is true for a loom strop with a not overly tight setting. And for a paddles strop with a lot of cushion.
For paddle strops with little compressibility, such as balsa strops or a thin piece of leather glued on wood, it is best to leave the tape on.
For stropping in between shaves, there is no need to reapply tape.

Kind regards,
Bart.

 

[onimaru55]

I'm curious as to how you set bevels. According to the OP your coarsest hone is a DMT 8k. Geneva razors can be pretty hard steel & I wouldn't like to set a bevel on one with 8k even a DMT. I would look at getting a 1k & 4k or if you like the DMT's get a DMT1200.
If a razor is shaving tho not optimally very often the problem comes back to the bevel.

 

[Magruder]

Bart, I'll give your double-bevel technique a try. Thanks for suggesting it.

It may be a few days, though. After all the test shaves, the last few days have been really nice: I just picked up the razor that I knew was sharp enough. I'm going to enjoy this for a few more days. But the honing bug always comes back.

Onimaru55, you asked how I was setting the bevel. I use the DMT 8K, since that's all I have. Would starting with a 1K (for example) really make a difference in the final result? Sure, the 8K takes longer. But it seems to do the same job.

 

[onimaru55]

Onimaru55, you asked how I was setting the bevel. I use the DMT 8K, since that's all I have. Would starting with a 1K (for example) really make a difference in the final result? Sure, the 8K takes longer. But it seems to do the same job.

1k will only make a difference in speed when restoring damaged edges & in extreme cases less than 1k is desirable. If the razor is near shave ready tho a DMT8k will serve you just fine even if a little slow in some cases.