GD Jnat/1u Film shootout

[Dilbone]

Last night I did enough plain water super light laps until getting some stiction about 20ish in and called it done a few laps later. After stropping this morning the FOFT was improved over yesterday's for sure. This morning's shave was more comfortable than yesterday's, a bump in keen and smooth. Looks like this one prefers to end on plain water...or at least my face does. Yesterday had a tiny amount of AS sting, today I wouldn't call it more than a tingle...a barely perceptible least little bit of something there.

I'm continually amazed at this stone. I'm sure as I make my way through the rest of my razors I'll be taking at least half of them to the Wakasa to give them that bump that I've been looking for for years now.

 

[Dilbone]

I finally moved to the next razor in the rotation. A little wester bros manganese that has given me some great shaves over the years. It was definitely sharp, and during the shave I thought huh, maybe I'll leave this one the way it is. The shave was close, but post shave definitely some AS sting. After some debate I decided to go ahead and hit the Wakasa...
At this rate I can only see my 2 Boker razors not ending up on the Wakasa.

I did water only because it was so sharp already. I did a couple sets of 20 but hadn't gotten any stiction yet. I did a couple descending half lap sets(ax method) and started to feel like I got somewhere. I followed that up with 20ish laps that ended with some stiction like I've been finishing up to this point.

This morning's shave was incredibly comfortable, close, and smooth. Zero AS tingle at all. This stone really is the best thing I've ever honed on.

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[Dilbone]

Got to another Gold Dollar Mod, maybe 2017? I can't remember when this one was done, but it is a great shaver.

I can't remember if it was finished on film or on my coti with baby oil, but I was expecting to be disappointed in the shave and have to hit the wakasa anyway.

To my surprise it was a fantastic shave, similar to the Wakasa but lacking a bit of the smooth face feel to the edge, and I decided to leave it as is with no post shave AS burn.

On to the Genco. Definitely not sharp enough, yet still fairly smooth. Had to be coti finished.
I hit the Wakasa but the next shave, although improved, wasn't as good as the edges have been. It was still smooth but maybe lacking a bit of sharpness. I spent some more time tonight on it and just felt like I couldn't get the hairs to pop like they had been.

This being the 5th or 6th razor on this stone I figured maybe it just needed to be lapped a bit. I did a little lapping with W/D on my marble tile, made some pencil marks and lapped those off then did some more work on the razor. It seems like it brought the stone back. Test shave in the morning.

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[CCR]

Got to another Gold Dollar Mod, maybe 2017? I can't remember when this one was done, but it is a great shaver.

I can't remember if it was finished on film or on my coti with baby oil, but I was expecting to be disappointed in the shave and have to hit the wakasa anyway.

To my surprise it was a fantastic shave, similar to the Wakasa but lacking a bit of the smooth face feel to the edge, and I decided to leave it as is with no post shave AS burn.

On to the Genco. Definitely not sharp enough, yet still fairly smooth. Had to be coti finished.
I hit the Wakasa but the next shave, although improved, wasn't as good as the edges have been. It was still smooth but maybe lacking a bit of sharpness. I spent some more time tonight on it and just felt like I couldn't get the hairs to pop like they had been.

This being the 5th or 6th razor on this stone I figured maybe it just needed to be lapped a bit. I did a little lapping with W/D on my marble tile, made some pencil marks and lapped those off then did some more work on the razor. It seems like it brought the stone back. Test shave in the morning.

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What is the purpose of the notch in the tang of the Genco? I have never seen that before, is it a type of correction for something?

 

[global_dev]

What is the purpose of the notch in the tang of the Genco? I have never seen that before, is it a type of correction for something?

iirc there is an edge guard for this

 

[Dilbone]

So I've been moving my way through my razors...this week has been the Pearl King and the Jones MFG Co. Which was my 2nd ebay cleanup razor from back in 2014.
Both of them gave great shaves, were plenty sharp, but didn't have the smooth buttery feel of the jnat. I really debated leaving them as is. I'm almost certain the PK was finished on 1u film as was the Jones.

The Jones had a significant frown that I honed out but I had a terrible time getting a good edge on it. I finally decided to use a layer of tape and got one of the nicest edges I had ever honed at that point....this is the same finish from 5 years ago.

27laps with the PK with the last few having some stiction

20laps on Jones with the 1 layer of tape.

Now I'm really curious how these will shave. Maybe I'll just do a split shave with these. Next up is the only Torrey I own and it's been a bit since I've shaved with it. I've gotta get on with the rotation...this is taking forever lol

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[Dilbone]

27 light laps with the Pearl King were enough to see a definite difference in feel.
20 laps on the Jones may not have been enough. FOFT was stronger for the Jones but I think the PK felt sharper. May have just been sheer blade heft that made the difference in face feel.
Either way they both still shaved excellently.

On to the Torrey tomorrow.

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[Dilbone]

Great shave with the Torrey this morning, more AS burn than I expected but wow was it a close shave.

I decided to take it to the Wakasa anyway to see if I could smooth it out. We'll see.

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[global_dev]

Nice progression narrative. Whats foft?

 

[life2short1971]

Much better edge this morning, however, after getting some irritation from the less than perfect edge yesterday it was nearly impossible not to have some slight AS burn again today.

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If you would like to send them to me I will put a nice coticule edge for you.

 

[Dilbone]

Nice progression narrative. Whats foft?

Floating Over the Forearm Test, should probably just refer to it as tree topping.

If you would like to send them to me I will put a nice coticule edge for you. [emoji6]

I'm sure there are some coticule edges that are amazing, but overall I've found both coti and thuri edges, while smooth and comfortable, to be lacking in sharpness.
I've thought about sending some razors out to a few folks just to get some perspective with edges from different honers and stones, but haven't gotten there yet.

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[life2short1971]

Probably for the best. I’d hate to spoil you.

 

[Dilbone]

Probably for the best. I’d hate to spoil you.

Don't tempt me...[emoji16]

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[life2short1971]

LOL It's an open ended offer so whenever you have decided that your ready to try something new I am more than happy to help. All I ask is that you cover the cost of shipping. Please? Btw, do you live in the USA?

 

[Dilbone]

LOL It's an open ended offer so whenever you have decided that your ready to try something new I am more than happy to help. All I ask is that you cover the cost of shipping. Please? [emoji14] Btw, do you live in the USA?

Oh yes, I'd expect to take care of the shipping both ways of course. Of the 3 coticules I've owned, 1 seems to be a never fails to give me a nice edge kind of stone, one better at midrange work, and one I got rid of...too small and too many cracks I could feel under the blade. I can coax out a pretty sharp edge by finishing on baby oil with the good coti and uber light laps, but even then it seems to leave me wanting for a bit more sharp quite often.
I'm in northwest Ohio. I'll have to PM you if/when I decide to take you up on this kind offer.

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[Dilbone]

After the Torrey took a trip on the Wakasa this morning's shave was fantastic. I'd still say the sharpness was similar to what it was but the smoothness was off the charts.

On to the next 2 blades to check. Gotta get in 2 a day so I can get back to a normal rotation. So far there have only been 1 or 2 blades I haven't touched up on the Wakasa.

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[Dilbone]

I shaved with this razor that only has Ek-Sel marking and a 19 on the tail. I was thinking maybe it was a case but I don't know. It gave a decent shave and I believe it had been honed on the coticule, just not keen enough when going ATG.

I figured I'd be taking it to the wakasa but I at least wanted to give it a go first. After finishing on the wakasa the tree topping was much improved.
I decided to split shave with another GD I have that I made bone scales for a long time ago out of a dog bone from petco. It's one of my absolute favorite razors. I can't remember how it was finished last however.

Honestly both razors felt fantastic. Very sharp and very smooth. I would have sworn the GD had already been honed on the wakasa, it was that similar. Weird, since there hasn't been a razor yet that has had both the sharpness and smoothness I've gotten from this jnat. I'll leave the GD as is even tho I took a pic of it on the wakasa lol

I believe another genco is up next...


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[Dilbone]

This morning's shave was split between a genco off a coti and a clauss I hit with the wakasa a few days ago, both in bone scales. That clauss has given me issues taking an edge that I like since picking it up.
Both razors felt very similar for this shave. The clauss was the best it's ever been. Sharpness and smoothness were both up a tick on the Clauss but the Genco shaved well enough that I won't take it to the wakasa yet. It was a very close and comfortable shave all around. Tomorrow's shave will be a pair of bokers that both came off the coti in this pic and they are both great shavers.

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[Dilbone]

Yesterday morning's shave was supposed to be spilt between 2 bokers I have that were ebay blades that I did just a basic clean up on just to get them shaving again. They were both finished on my coti and were probably the nicest edges I'd gotten off the coti for sheer sharpness.

After the right side with the one pictured I was half way through the 2nd side before I realized I was supposed to switch razors...too late. I finished the shave and this razor definitely felt sharp. However it wasn't as close a shave as I was expecting and there was some AS burn I was surprised by. Hmmm, maybe these bokers weren't as good as I thought, or the bar has been raised significantly by the wakasa edges. I'm guessing the latter the more I'm seeing from this stone.

I initially thought the 2 boker blades may be the only 2 I wouldn't touch up on the wakasa. I will be touching up the first boker before my next shave, and split shaving with the other boker and get a direct comparison between the coti and wakasa from 2 very similar razors.

In other news, I finally broke out one of the razors David was so kind to have sent me for the Gold Dollar mod comp win. This may very well be the nicest razor I own. Seriously. I did some work on the coti then to the wakasa. Not sure the bevel is entirely set at the toe so I'll go back and make sure it's all good, but this razor is responding very well to the wakasa from the looks of my preliminary work. There will be maiden shave from this razor soon. Maybe after I finish with the other 2 bokers first.

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[Dilbone]

Finally did a split shave the other day with my 2 old bokers...but only on my neck. I decided to no shave November and grow a month long beard to see if it'll keep unlike when I went a month over the summer and had to promptly shave before my daughter's grad party. Anyway.

The extra hollow ground boker from the coti was tuggy to the point of pain on my 5 days of growth. The USS St. Louis boker was smooth as silk off the wakasa. I will now be hitting wakasa with the EHG boker. These 2 bokers I would have sworn wouldn't need to touch a hone but the difference was stark.

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