global_dev straight journal

[global_dev]

so grabbed the other straight that had been finished on the coticule slab, a beautiful 7/8s size Wostenholm Pipe. a bit of tarnish, but otherwise in impeccable condition, scales shiny and straight, nice and tight pins..

same stuff, MdC, K.Louis ASL, VL Epsilon White Bulb

b o o m

fantastic 2 passer, never even knew the edge was there...

 

[global_dev]

so i got a french near wedge in the mail the other day, 6/8s smiling french point in user grade condition, decided to hone it up yesterday and man, i think my lust/desire for near wedges is close to over... it sucks having to cut a bevel on these,

i got about 4/5s of the blade well done eventually with no tape at the end.. there was a slight spine width issue that was causing the point to be a bit shorter than the heel and that kind of doesn't sit well. not 100% sure how to address that easily.. i mean i know how it's done, just not sure how I am gonna execute it.. knowing it wasn't fully ready, i threw up my arms, sucked it up and stroppped and shaved and just like i expected it was 4/5s honed... the point was terrible... shave overall kind of sucked... 2 passes and it was like i hadn't really shaved...

i knew i was gonna have to go back to the hones, but i didn't really want to to and was hoping i could suffer through it, though i am not really sure why i wanted that.. total lapse of rational thought...

so i hit the hones this morning and added a layer of tape, this razor is not beauty queen and i don't mind the double bevel right now if it works.. started at the 5K and not 100% sure it was enough... 5-8-10-escher to 1 more piece of tape and 20 super light escher passes.. got a decent 2 passer, but still wanting more from it..

i cut a lot of corners with this edge and it shows... moral of the story.. suck it up and do it right (or wait until you want to do it right.)

 

[Lmarkow]

I'm willing to bet you'll have it nailed in no time.

 

[global_dev]

I'm willing to bet you'll have it nailed in no time.

Eventually, but not today..

I wasn't feeling like a crap shoot of a shave so I grabbed a blade that I know has a beautiful edge -

Rich Abr Herder 14 =EL PRINCIPE= French point, jimped thumbnotch and full 14 size in red shell scales

Richard Abraham Herder (branch of Herder cutlery fam)
registered 19th November 1884, Solingen, Rathausstrasse 20-22.
1885 R. Herder
1916 Richard Abr Herder
1936 Richard Abr Herder AG

the brush, i am not so fond of, a C&E Super by Edwin Jagger, same MdC, K.Louis ASL, and some NYR ASB followed by AdP Assoluta

decent lather, weak face feel due to the knot density/length, but 2 fantastic passes and done...

having use this brush and this razor, it makes me wonder what people are thinking when they say why have just one, it's just a brush or razor...

 

[Lmarkow]

Is that Herder new, Jon? I don't remember seeing it before. Simply gorgeous lines on that beaut!

 

[global_dev]

Is that Herder new, Jon? I don't remember seeing it before. Simply gorgeous lines on that beaut!

thanks, i really like this, although i think the pins could be done a bit better..

sadly, no... it just means i might have too many razors, this one came to me in march 2013, i think Joe Edson found it in a shop for like $20, restored and rescaled, and somehow i ended up with it after it made it's way through others ... not sure why they gave it up for sale. this may be the only El Principe 14 or vintage blade like this i have ever seen or heard of.

it made another appearance in feb of 14

it may look different because of the post-processing of the pic. it should be red (see the post links ^).. i was just thinking how quickly time has passed and if i have used this more than a dozen times, i'd be shocked...

 

[Lmarkow]

Awesome razor. The scales are a bit flashy for me, but the lines on the blade itself are just beautiful.

 

[global_dev]

rehoned up the french wedge the other evening and it got to where it needed to be, maybe... nice, but i think it really needs a cleanup and the slighest reprofile of the point.. the shave was nice and close

wed night shave was with a vint. slant.. that sucker is awesome.. probably is at the top of the list of performs in closeness and comfort... a pleasure to use, but just kind of bland to use it all the time..

this morning i used a Gevoso 28 with a finest reknot. beautiful shave, i can't remember if i finished this on a 10K or something else.. i think the chosera 10K based on my solingen comment above (1 of 3 razors).. MdC, Fine Clean Vetiver, it's nice (it grew on me from initially disliking it, not a rebuy though)

then i rescaled a damascus/pattern welded steel Titan into some vintage horn scales probably from the late 1800s or so.. it's a pretty satisfactory blade compared to the GD 66s in the stash.. i refinished the edge from Chosera 5K up to 10K, no real issue on the hones for the stabilizer and it seems to pass HHT pretty well, i'm optimistic, the fit and finish is nice... currently happy, but this one will eventually get modified.. just like the bulk of the other GDs eventually.

we'll see tomorrow how well the edge is...

also picked up a nice vintage F. Herder 77 in cream scales to complement the my other F. Herder 77 in ebonite scales.. this new one is in slightly better shape and probably cost me less.

 

[global_dev]

So it looks like the inexpensive Damascus is a dud in that it's not real PWS.. So I guess that makes it an expensive Chinese razor... It took me a long time to chance it, so it wasn't like I was a bit suspicious.. Regardless, life goes on, razors need honing..

I got to play with ferric chloride etchant and I'm gonna have some fun with it in the future..

 

[global_dev]

just decided to hone up the Herder 77 (cream) from Green brick of joy to set the bevel straight to zulu grey. want to see how this works out..

edit: i've never been terribly impressed with the ZG, so after this last finishing, i refinished the surface with the brown chosera rubbing stone. we'll see if that changes anything.. it's more matte now, but pretty smooth

 

[global_dev]

Decided to start rescaling again, and if course I run out of things to make the process easier. My workshops a mess and I cut way too many corners.

Broke a bunch of acrylic, but finally got it right, learned a lot with the saws, belt sanders, and pinning. It's the little things that make it work, gotta pay attention and remember. Put the Elliot double notch in faux tortoise but the edge was only 60% ready, thick grinds suck... Rescaled a hoppe 14 in nice OEM 14 scales. Finally got around to cutting the shin bone up and was so close to success it was ridiculous, but learned a bunch through trial and error.

Btw, herder 77 edge was outrageous.. Loved it, chubby2best, grapefruit through the fire? Auction soap, fine clean vetiver

 

[global_dev]

decided it was time to revisit the stones today, honed up a Hoppe 14 using just the 5K and Zulu Grey refinished on the chosera rubber.. there was somewhat of a bevel before i started, so i just wanted to see how it would feel on a thinly ground razor and to my surprise i got a fantastic shave, and while the edge was sharp and smooth, it was definitely not buttery in feel, there was like no feedback, didn't really pull and didn't feel velvety either.. RR SoZ & Fine "whatever it's called" that matches that scent.. no real tingle and it was a really nice easy shave,

after that shave, i grabbed the elliot that wasn't fully set and took it back through a chosera progression, the result is a really nice HHT and i'm psyched to give it a go tomorrow.

i have a real tough time, really liking my rescale jobs, i feel like the it's either the point or the pivot area or the sweeps don't look right and then i go and bruk it up... in this case, i feel like the pivot end needs a bit of thinning, it just hit me what this scales look like.. kind of reminds me now of an overripe banana.. i'll never unsee that.. honestly the scales on the Hoppe are an OEM 14 in cream and i freaking love 'em.. they are of the "higher" quality sort with a decent wedge..

 

[global_dev]

so, the TOBS sandalwood is such an awesome cream, i just wish it didn't make my skin tingle. it's not terrible, but it's not super pleasant.

the edge on the Joseph Elliot's is 100%, a charm, the more i look at my scales the more i realize that they are slightly too clunky, even when i think i am shaping them to the same size as my templates..

great shave this afternoon, i'd like to get an early morning shave in soon... it's nice to have some variety in schedule and habits...

i finished the elliot on a escher after the 10K and added a piece of tape for a 10 super light passes.

I was getting tired of seeing a razor sit in my collection without ever having used it.. so rescaled in temporary scales, a 14 subcero, the scales shape are nice, wedge (spacer) is cool, pinned without washers, the scales are just slightly a bit too big all around, but just plain terrible material. i don't think i like the clear acrylic, so i scuffed it up, looks worse, than i permanent markered up the scale in black. originally, i was trying to see if i could implement the shrunken filarmonica scales, but my idea wasn't able to be executed by me in the way i was thinking... and then i kept "implementing" something else.. KISS.. no pic of this yet, sorry.

but here is a pic of today's hardware.

 

[global_dev]

so the temporary scales for the Subcero 14 will be on for a bit until i get a bit better at shaping without the extra bulk that i see (it's not a ton, but it's enough for me to be annoyed at).. pinned thee without washers just to see what it was like.. not too bad, i kind of think the acrylic is fragile enough to show me if i am doing something inappropriately so that was good.

Chubby 2 best, la toja soap, fine l'noir ASL, 1 million edt

2 passes, decent shave, if i was just learning to hone, or didn't know any better, i'd say success, however i am wondering if others using a 3 pass would give the thumbs up to this edge.. i am hoping that a couple days may smooth it out and some stropping will be effective enough..

but there is plenty to eek out of this edge, so i'd say that my 1>5>10>ZG wasn't a resounding success. not saying that it can't be done, but i am pretty sure i didn't spend enough time on the bevel.. it was mediocre and i was trying to move quickly.. i see a bad pattern over the last couple of posts, too much trying to move forward to fast, but it's a good learning experience.. it looked okay under the scope, but i wanted to see how quickly i could move with a light touch to the finish.

probably after all the near wedge bevel sets lately, i just wanted something quick.

 

[Lmarkow]

What sort of faux tortoise are you using Jon? It looks very good.

 

[global_dev]

2 years ago I bought east tortuga sheet. i think its more/less what most are using.

 

[Lmarkow]

Looks nice. I have a celluloid pen that is spot-on tortoise. I emailed to manufacturer in Japan to see if it was possible to purchase the celluloid, but I never heard back.

 

[Strop Dragging My Heart]

So many gorgeous razors! Your journal is really drool-worthy - love reading through it!

 

[global_dev]

been using the subcero 14 after a bit of a "vintage" asagi processing... much nicer, and after teh second stropping even nicer..

went with the RR SoZ soap, TdH ASL/ASB, Thater 2 band fan.. fantastical shaves with it..

 

[global_dev]

Took the hoppe 14 yesterday morning for a spin, all TdH based shave, RRSoZ, fine L'O.N, TdH ASB.

Today, Subcero, epsilon brown, MdC on a protease preshave, actually really nice combo.. RR K.Louis

I've been stropping on the kanayama fabric/leather. It just seems to work so well.