A couple of weeks ago I Had decided to buy a razor to practice honing, as the razor I currently use is a TI 1937 Coiffeur which I didn’t really want to be the first razor I put on a stone.
Although my intention was to buy a brand new razor to start on, I ended up winning a decent looking Ed Wusthof that was listed as vintage. When it arrived, it turned out it was brand new and looked like it had never had an edge on it at all. There was no sign of a bevel and I could put a hair over the blade and had to pull with a bit of force for it to “cut”(break). The blade is narrower on the Wusthof and the steel is very light. Just going by the weight and feel, I liked my TI better.
So I put the Wusthof to the side for now and I’ve been looking at various stones, grits, makes, naturals etc. But before I had really looked into stones, I had bought a carborundum 101A razor hone as a touch up stone for my TI. Unfortunately the more I read about stones and carborundums it seemed that purchase was a slight mistake, as almost everything I read said the carborundums were quick but not great stones to shave off of.
I was getting a little impatient just to see how I got on honing and I decided to try the Wusthof razor on the carborundum stone. At least then, when I was reading about all this stuff, I could picture it and maybe get a better idea what I wanted and what would suit me.
I cleaned the stone, rubbed it on wet and dry paper, also taking a bit of the corner off down the r/h edge where the shoulder of the razor would be as I had seen in a tutorial.
I dropped a few drops of water on the stone and started by doing edge leading, heel first X strokes. I could feel a very slight difference on my thumb after around 30 laps but it felt like it was going to take a very long time.
I then done some circular motions on each side for 10 seconds each time on alternating sides. This brought it on quite a bit, so I went back to the heel first X strokes.
It came to a point where it felt sharp but never touched the hair in a HHT, the hair bounced off it. I have a cheap strop which I had pasted with CroX, so I stropped on that around 35-40 laps. This made quite a bit of difference and although it never passed the HHT, it was now grabbing the hair and cutting it sometimes. I wondered if this is as good as I’d get with what I had.
I went back to doing the X strokes on the stone and it felt like it had got sharper on my thumb, but the HHT was a little worse. I wondered if this was due to a burr, so I gave it around 10 spine leading X strokes.
I then stropped on the pasted leather and pasted the linen part of that cheap strop and stropped on that. Then to the Windrose cotton and finished on the Windrose leather. It felt exceptionally sharp and passed the HHT, so I left it at that. Although it felt sharp, I never held much hope that it would shave well, purely due to my lack of experience, the stone I used and lack of progression through stones.
I lathered up as usual and had my TI out ready to shave but gave the Wusthof a try, fully expecting it to be rough, pull etc. I was stunned at how well it shaved. It has a narrower blade than my TI and I think I like the narrower blade a bit better. I done 2 passes and touched up my jaw line. I never needed my TI at all and, although I like the TI as a nicer, heavier razor, the Wusthof felt easier to shave with.
I’ll rotate between the Wusthof and the TI for a while to see how the edge holds up. I winged it so there’s not much detail of stages or reference points, but it gives me a start and confidence that I won’t ruin a razor by showing it a stone.
Although my intention was to buy a brand new razor to start on, I ended up winning a decent looking Ed Wusthof that was listed as vintage. When it arrived, it turned out it was brand new and looked like it had never had an edge on it at all. There was no sign of a bevel and I could put a hair over the blade and had to pull with a bit of force for it to “cut”(break). The blade is narrower on the Wusthof and the steel is very light. Just going by the weight and feel, I liked my TI better.
So I put the Wusthof to the side for now and I’ve been looking at various stones, grits, makes, naturals etc. But before I had really looked into stones, I had bought a carborundum 101A razor hone as a touch up stone for my TI. Unfortunately the more I read about stones and carborundums it seemed that purchase was a slight mistake, as almost everything I read said the carborundums were quick but not great stones to shave off of.
I was getting a little impatient just to see how I got on honing and I decided to try the Wusthof razor on the carborundum stone. At least then, when I was reading about all this stuff, I could picture it and maybe get a better idea what I wanted and what would suit me.
I cleaned the stone, rubbed it on wet and dry paper, also taking a bit of the corner off down the r/h edge where the shoulder of the razor would be as I had seen in a tutorial.
I dropped a few drops of water on the stone and started by doing edge leading, heel first X strokes. I could feel a very slight difference on my thumb after around 30 laps but it felt like it was going to take a very long time.
I then done some circular motions on each side for 10 seconds each time on alternating sides. This brought it on quite a bit, so I went back to the heel first X strokes.
It came to a point where it felt sharp but never touched the hair in a HHT, the hair bounced off it. I have a cheap strop which I had pasted with CroX, so I stropped on that around 35-40 laps. This made quite a bit of difference and although it never passed the HHT, it was now grabbing the hair and cutting it sometimes. I wondered if this is as good as I’d get with what I had.
I went back to doing the X strokes on the stone and it felt like it had got sharper on my thumb, but the HHT was a little worse. I wondered if this was due to a burr, so I gave it around 10 spine leading X strokes.
I then stropped on the pasted leather and pasted the linen part of that cheap strop and stropped on that. Then to the Windrose cotton and finished on the Windrose leather. It felt exceptionally sharp and passed the HHT, so I left it at that. Although it felt sharp, I never held much hope that it would shave well, purely due to my lack of experience, the stone I used and lack of progression through stones.
I lathered up as usual and had my TI out ready to shave but gave the Wusthof a try, fully expecting it to be rough, pull etc. I was stunned at how well it shaved. It has a narrower blade than my TI and I think I like the narrower blade a bit better. I done 2 passes and touched up my jaw line. I never needed my TI at all and, although I like the TI as a nicer, heavier razor, the Wusthof felt easier to shave with.
I’ll rotate between the Wusthof and the TI for a while to see how the edge holds up. I winged it so there’s not much detail of stages or reference points, but it gives me a start and confidence that I won’t ruin a razor by showing it a stone.