global_dev straight journal

[global_dev]

Decided since the CVH24 #1 edge was super nice off the chosera 10K, instead of going to CVH24 #2 which had the same edge, i'd tweak #1 and see what was up. Took a look at the current #1 edge that was used under the scope, it's always interesting to see before/afters.

Refreshed the edge with 10 passes on the 10K (no slurry) and then 10-15 passes on a ~6x1 Escher (also no slurry). stropped.

Wow! I had forgotten how nice an Escher edge is to shave with. so clean and did a bit of extra clean up on the neck with some upward stretching of the skin around my jaw i don't normally do just to see how it felt. phenomenal. I'm normally too lazy for the return on effort for that stroke, so this was nice change of pace.

CVH24#1
RR Snowman synth
MDC

while I was cleaning up the kit i splashed with some witch hazel and then once i had put the razor away to "dry" i splashed some La Toja de Manatiales ASL. ahhh.. too good.

 

[global_dev]

So with the success of the escher, decided to give it 10 passes on my Charnley Forest. It's really hard to do only that, really, really hard... sooooo.. alright, located the rest of the CVHNo24s and numbered them up and then went to hone them all up, but when I looked at the blades and edges and they look factory NOS. so I didn't do anything else. That was rough, I was half set up to run through some razors...

Shaved today with the Charnley edge and it was very very nice, felt a bit sharper than the Escher edge from yesterday.

I'm going to give a test shave with each NOS edge for fun and if it's ok, i'll leave it and if needs some tweaking, well... tweakers gotta tweak.

spent some time in the frag sub, man.. too much, too soon again. but last night I dipped into Night Blossom (Abdes Salaam Attars) it smelled wonderful, I haven't really worn any fragrance since march, so very nice change. It inspired todays SOTD

CVHNo24#1 Charnley
RR snowman synth
SV Tundra Artika
RR Stallion ASL (AdP Oud)

 

[global_dev]

stropped the CVH24 #3 today and it was HHTing pretty well, i thought i was going to give a spin, but somehow i got distracted by a modded 14 that was staring at me. I grabbed both for the shave, just in case... not needed, the 14, was plenty nice enough. I believe it's a JMP, R. Gonzalez was the cutler in Aranda de Duero, Spain. I am curious about the Vaciador, I believe it means empty, evacuate, hollow, I wonder if the context is the "hollow" of the blade or the "removal" of beard.

IMPERIAL
"Ramón González - Vaciador - Aranda de Duero"

​

14-double notch mod
SV Tundra Artica rose/oud
VL Epsilon/Shavemac
RR Stallion Adp oud

 

[global_dev]

Felt like the Imperial 14 needed a softer touch last night so I ran it across an Escher (15 laps). I'm not sure it was as smooth as I was hoping for.

Today's shave was around 4:30-ish. had a bit of extra time today. phenomal edge, the point actually kissed me on the cheek somehow within seconds of my first pass no major damage, the slightest of marks...

decided to go for a closer shave today all round. almost all well done except that kiss. neck was super smooth, just not sure it's totally worth doing more often.

14-double notch Imperial
VL Epsilon/Shavemac bulb
GD tacit-janus
Fine Clean Vetiver ASL

 

[global_dev]

Feeling a bit resto today, but didn't really feel like doing anything significant so i cleaned up an older razor that was from the Henry Lummus collection. I believe this razor is somewhere from the late 1800s to 1910ish. Ridiculous to be shaving with a razor over 200 years old and the edge is like butter. bevel cut on choseras & finished on an escher. There is a significant sweep to this razor, not exactly a dip-toe if i understand, but it's smiling with a decent "dip-toe". beautiful shave and it's along blade for the width, quarter hollow to near wedge. I wasn't sure what to expect off the hones, but my edges have been fantastic but that one GD#4 threw me and lurks in the back of my mind, i may have tried to take it to wear it didn't want to go.

This shave today (skipped yesterday) was pure class.

Joseph Rodgers & Sons - Cutlers to their Majesties - No6 Norfolk St. Sheffield

​

Joseph Rodgers & Sons CTTM
CBL Orange Dirt
VL Epsilon 2band
Fine L'Orange Noir

 

[global_dev]

Last nights shave 10pm or so, it was pretty quiet for me, so dipped away to grab CVH24 #3... now I don't think I honed these up, tbh I don't really recall and volume honing is not my style, so I think these are OEM edges.

What a shave! smooth & sharp, nothing to worry about. decided to not go with additional passes past the 2 and just enjoy the quick shave. So much nicer than fiddling with the GDs.

CVH No24 #3 OEM?
VL Epsilon 2 band
SV Tundra Artica (rose/oud)
Fine L'O N with a tiny bit of WH base

 

[global_dev]

hmm.. i think i need to figure out my photo host issue.

I spent a couple hours (2-3 enjoyable hours) slowly working on some GD66s while listening to some return to play Premier League games. One was my GD#4 which was not an edge I loved, another was new to me. I wanted to say I was down with GD66s, but it feels fun to rework them and get some much need zen home time.

First off, blunted both edges and got rid of the paint on the blade face with 1K W/D. I then took them to a XXC? DMT to work the stabilizer/shoulder, followed by DMT C then DMT F. Looks and feels much better on the hones. I didn't want to completely get rid of the stabilizer, but also didn't want a hook to form. at the same time, the grind stabilizer starts at different points and the width (size) of the blade is off from point to shoulder along the spine wear and edge so I address that by re-profiling the edge so that the bevel angle is similar across the edge, however I also worked a bit of smile into the edge also with the DMTs.

Once all that geometry work was finished, I started the progression on choseras (K) 1>3>5>8)(SW)>10. I spent a lot of time looking through 2 different loupes, as the DMTs left a bit of a "toothy" edge, a handheld 60-100x and a jewelers 30x22mm/60x12mm. I don't know if I appreciate this particular jewelers loupe, i hear people much prefer these types to the microscope (maybe not this one), the edge view isn't upside down, but I guess I am used the level of detail in the microscope and the various led reflections and upside down edge view.

When I hone I look at the following things at least

• profile of the edge, first and foremost
• multiple views of the cut striations across light source placement

i'm looking out for larger striations that go to the edge (not so good) as well as appropriate striations that don't change based on light source (pretty good), that's just what i like to see. I decided to not to finish these 2 outside of the 10K. Stropped them both and they looked good by HHT and shaving some arm hair, in fact very very smooth.

Today life starts to enter phase 2 of pandemic life for my family and PM schedule is about to change, so i decided to give a lunch time shave.. wanted some menthol cool in my lather, but glorious edge on #4

Semogue SOC 2012 mixed badge/boar
Santa Maria Novella SMN cream
GD66 #4
Fine ASL Clean Vetiver iirc
Creed Original Vetiver

 

[global_dev]

The second GD (new to me, but basic mod'd by another initially) took a decent edge from the above ^ . I wasn't feeling like it was good enough, so I decided to tweak it. Recently got a pair of 8x2 arkies from Dan's (hard (HA) and translucent (TA)) and I clearly don't know much about arks. I had barely played around for a short bit with a SB loaner. While I've done a bunch of research, I didn't know how they actually play out in a progression. I've seen the finish on SB or Translucent on your max-ed out edge, seen people state they use a progression of 3 arks from bevel to finish, seen people talk about flattening, dressing, and/or burnishing. I decided on Dan's for the flatness and price. i also decided I wouldn't mess with their surfacing, i would just go and hone and see where it ends up.

Last evening I decided to take the OK edge back to Hard then to Translucent didn't work out much better. It was comparable, a tiny bit better, to the previous edge, but i noticed some edge microchips (i am kind of sure they were there previously too, i was kind of lazily thinking they would be minor) which is why i think the shave was comparable. I thought maybe the Hard could reset the bevel from where it was, but i don't think it's coarse/fast enough and/or I don't have enough patience. Looking at the edge this morning, confirmed the edge wasn't great.

So today I decided to reset the edge completely and see where the Hard (HA) fit in. I killed the edge and started with the HA. It was definitely cutting and i could feel/see the surface of the HA starting to change, it wasn't making significant progress and after a while it made sense to go to a 1K, set the bevel, & give the HA some exposure. still cutting, but after a while, it made sense to go to a 5K, and then try the HA. The HA definitely fits in higher than 5K and I could see the cutting doing its thing appropriately and once I felt like it was good, I decided to move on to the TA and see how that ark progression worked. Maybe next time I'll see how the HA or TA compare to the 8K/10K.

Spent a lot of time on the TA, the edge profile looks smooth and the stone has definitely started to gloss (way more than the TA, you can see the difference in the gloss, guessing due to density).

I like the 8x2 size, i'll give a test shave later tonite to see if the progression worked.

 

[global_dev]

Wasn't digging the edge of the GD66 done on the arks, it felt kind of soft and left a bit more scruff than I like to see, so I grabbed a Dorko 12 "Wednesday" iirc on a Thursday, very hollow razor and yeah, that edge was sweet. finished out the shave and it was nice. TdH homage CBL soap and Fine ASL, love the scent.

I decided to redo the GD66 and put it on the 8K Snow White until the apex felt sharp, pretty quick, and then went back to the HA. Almost no swarf cut like I saw off the 5K, but definitely striations on the bevel. Followed up with the TA. I am wondering if it's going to be a while for the surface to settle in before I see/feel the ark goodness. I did about ~300 sets on the TA. I am in no rush, and I'm enjoying having something to hone.

 

[global_dev]

Specific Gravity: Hard Ark (l.) measured at 2.47 and the Translucent (r.) measured in at 2.65

I am 100% sure i am not where I need to be with these Arks, it's gonna take some time, and not too long I hope.

Recap:

Lot of time these on the hard ark, didn't dress the surface outside of a ton of laps with all sorts of pressure (low and high), but i can see/feel the conditioning of the surface significantly. Not sure how more conditioning the surface can take, but I am assuming a bunch more before it’s maxed out.

Like the feedback, and after the hours and hours of honing laps seems to cut with swarf before the junpaku 8000 and polish after, both on water, not seeing any micro-chipping or wire edges off the HA with pressure yet, don’t know if i should expect that. If anything i think it's softening the edges.

So it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, off the 5000 Chosera, the Hard still cut with swarf, after the 8000 Junpako, i did not. I'm not sure how to reconcile that in my head.

The latest trial I was honing what looks like a shave ready edge off a messed up grelot 151 I hadn't touched in a while. Someone ground way into the shoulder of this 6/8 (knife grinder on machine?) and now with the wear it's a 15.3 degree angle so i figured couldn't hurt to give this a Hard to Translucent progression. This time used windex or a 50/50 windex/water solution and the feedback couldn't be anymore different than just water. edge looks great. (i tried a drop of dish soap, felt way slippery, but it always ends up getting under my thumb on the tang). I don't think i'll use windex though, the vapors don't feel good. I have a couple other honing solutions around.

The edge was not good on HHT, some violin-ing, but the shave edge of that was not great. soft, not keen enough. I'm not seeing a ton of folks talking about doing an ark progression, but i still see one or two, so decided to work backwards. I am going to get the Translucent edge working first and then see if i can work the Hard back into the mix. I'm hoping it won't be that long, I don't know if the surfaces are there yet, but compared to the original Dan's surfaces, they are smooth, glossy, and under Smith's honing solution, feel pretty good. Adding a couple drops of water changes the feedback significantly.

I think i read somewhere from one of you that the arkansas edge is sharp, but that doesn't want to break the skin. Hoping to feel that with the new edge, although I already enjoy the edge of a Chosera 10K, but i decided this AM to start the Grelot 151 from 1 and do my normal progression of 3,5,8,10, and finish on trans ark (200 laps or so, i think i felt a transition at about 150-170 laps) with Smith's solution. Stropped and the HHT was killer. Can't wait to give it a go. The progression was all tactile, did not use a scope for various reasons ( 1- really wanted to feel the transition and 2- batteries weakening and too lazy to go downstairs where i keep the spares).

Also created a online db (airtable). checked it via mobile and desktop/laptop and it works as intended, very robust without being too complicated, easy to change views and show data. It should be able to keep me from having to scroll back through all these posts or random notes among various notebooks about key honing data. very easy to update via mobile interface, which is what i really wanted, since i am sure to have my phone around me somewhere usually.

 

[global_dev]

Added another razor to my db, so easy.. exactly what i wanted from an app. Took a previous GD66 razor (spade) that had a great edge, maybe from a contest of edges, took it to Hard Ark then Transluscent Ark and the edge under the scope (with new batteries) looks great, we'll see.

I was feeling an itch to hone and move the Hard ark surface so I grabbed a santoku that was replaced and is out of commission because of an odd handle issue, required an edge refresh. So i spent some time on the hard ark and then the translucent, both with smiths solution. Edge looked and cut great, so I grabbed a mini-santoku that needed a refresh, then 6 steak knives that felt and looked poor last time we used them, haven't eaten a whole lot of meat since the pandemic started, and then a new-ish 8" chef's knife that also needed a refresh. My wife is hard on knives. The Hard ark surface is definitely way more worn in and the translucent just felt buttery smooth. What a pleasure to hone on these stones... just really nice.

 

[global_dev]

Just completed my test shave with the two blades, the GD66 spade on the right side of my face and the Grelot 151 on the left side. I felt this was a good way to get 2 blades in and handicap the grelot that tested a bit better. Didn't matter, both blades shaved really really well, not as soft as I expected, I'm probably going to do some more laps on the transluscent after all the knife honing. dabbed a bit of GD lavender pre-shave on my face, let it set and whipped up a lather from what i think is a combo of Arko & MDC., phenomenal lather. (add the two blades to the SOTD db on the laptop just now, way easy!)

I'd don't ever recall shaving different sides of my face like this, all the way from under my nose to my adams apple.
With straights, I normally shave in this order

right cheek > left cheek > chin > mustache area > left throat > right throat -- ALWAYS, Not sure why, and with a DE or SE, i do it way differently. IIRC, i start with my neck and then left cheek, right cheek, chin, mustache.

This time, I went right cheek, right chin, right throat, right mustache and then the same down the left with the other razor. cleaned everything up as well as I could to get the full experience.. very close, every nice DFS. I'm not trying to get to BBS everywhere, the straights give me a nice combo of clean and comfortable.

A slant experience last week trying to get to BBS left me awesome day 1, but the next 48 hours i had plenty of neck recovery that I just don't need. I don't normally go for BBS on my slant, not sure I felt the need that night... also using a used wilkinson blade that I am sure has multiple shaves with over the last couple of years. It works for getting me a DFS on the rare occasion I want to use it.

Finished up with a base of Myrsol Agua Balsamico and then a cover of Stirling D10-8. Wife & I really like V&R spicebomb. Never done the multi-layered ASL before, but i felt like the herbal oils in the Myrsol could help out in a way that perhaps the aloe &, hydrovance in Stirling doesn't do. Probably not really anything special, but in my head, maybe..

I really love the way my skin feels about 90 minutes after a shave, i feel like the skin just feels different than 15 minutes after.

 

[global_dev]

Wow, just wow. After the DFS on Sunday, i stropped both (Grelot 151 and GD spade) with a bit more attention and the resulting HHTs root in and out was outstanding for both. normally i don't HHT after a shave/post strop, but sometimes I do.. I was shocked. Last night, maybe around 11ish, i opted to go just with the grelot, stropped a bit more, and grabbed the omega 10098 boar and the last remnants (or so i thought of the arko/mdc combo). The lather was outstanding, the boar was outstanding. The shave was outstanding... What freaking shave!

I was just floored. I was not expecting that at all. The edge was like butter, soft and keen, I'm not sure where this falls as a trans ark edge in terms of capability, but I am impressed. This was off the 10K to trans progression.

TBH only 1 pass was really needed based on this edge, but I'll always do a second pass and the clarity of the edge and the closeness of the cut, while being relatively soft was ridiculous.

 

[global_dev]

Happy Shave Last Night

Not really sure what was going on with those Translucent Arkansas edges, shaved last night with the GD66 spade that was a Hard to Trans finish and it was outstanding, even way more smooth than the first shave, perhaps it was my stropping or that the edge needed to settle. Regardless, i'm trying to wrap my head around what I should expect out of dense arkansas stone. On one hand, I've heard it softens the feel of the edge, also heard it showcases the ability of the previous step, almost like uncovering the true nature of the finisher.

Given I have the grelot 151 with an arkansas edge, i did the only logical thing and refinished the GD66 spade on a Zulu Grey. It's been sitting out next to the Arks begging for use. Ive heard odd things about this hone, some good, maybe mostly not. "Only 10 laps" or "it's so so slow". I feel like i had some minor success on glycerin solution, if i read my notes. But those characteristics sound really different, so since I have nowhere to go, using the smiths solution, I decided to hone and felt a change around 175-200 laps and then another around 300 or so. Made sure i had just enough solution to keep a particular flow on the surface, not a lot of solution though.

Under the scope the edge still looks nice, we shall see. Updated the db with the new finisher and new date, added the TA to HA for ark progression profile. Yay!

 

[global_dev]

Didn't get a chance to shave last night, got distracted, but spent some time on the Zulu Gray, on a Fredrick Reynolds from a Chosera 1000 straight to Zulu Grey. nice HHT after stropping. Was hoping to do a test shave early this AM, but probably won't get to do that until much later today.

Actually took the Zulu to a kitchen knife to see if maybe some surface work might be needed not unlike the arks before going to the frederick reynolds.

 

[global_dev]

soooooo.... very interesting shave tonight. I thought I would give both the Zulu Grey edges a go, half face each straight down the middle again.

since i was enjoying the omega 10098 so much , i figured i'd give a semogue soc boar some time off the bench. I grabbed the dregs of the arko/MDC smash up, and built the lather... noticed todays lather was MDC forward (meaning the lavender was front and center)... realized that the previous were way ARKO forward. Not an issue, but just a wild change, like sour patch kids, sour then sweet. Fantastic lather. I thought I would completely use up the soap with the boars, but of course, it's MDC and there is still some left in the corners. i worked really hard to get it all on the brush so i could put some other soaps in the container to give a go...

started right side with the freddie reynolds. what what? this was sharp and keen, not a hint of pull, aggressiveness, not velvet squegee at all, but such a phenomenally close shave.. if you recall, this was supposedly the ZG edge straight off the 1000*. I even went straight away N-S on my neck with just the lather remnants and it felt flawless. normally i just got S-N and get a nice DFS, this was different.

The second blade was the GD66 spade with a really really nice edge, almost as keen as the Reynolds, but just a touch lower so I figured I was gonna switch up the blades for the second pass. Both just as great as the first pass. whaaaa.

I don't think my strop turned magical recently, but it feels like it has, it's a scrupleworks, i always want to pull out another strop to use, but just not doing that right now.

Stropped the blades after the shave to put them away and was just in awe of the reynolds. this was the blade that i took back all the way to a DMT Coarse thinking i was on the Fine side. I spent some time on the Fine side working a spot that was reacting the way i wanted and then I slurried the DMT with the ZG slurry stone.. I don't really recall going to the chosera 1K, i may have, but looking at my current honing station, nothing indicates i used the 1000.

i was just kind of fooling around with this blade on the arks and zulu grey. I wasn't meant to remember what i really did, i wasn't taking notes, even though i am loving this database app. (adding soaps and brushes as i go along, way easy )

I just don't know what to think of the zulu grey, if it even was the grey, I have shaved off a 1200 to see what it was like. THIS was not THAT.

moving on.. my family donated a broken spoon to the hone surface conditioning cause. i spent about 30 minutes resurfacing the Arks and Zulu grey with the face of the spoon doing circles. when honing a paring knife on the hard ark, i noticed some corners with a bit more feedback than the rest of the stone, the bowl edges of the spoon (2 sides for the price of 1) took care of it right quick. Really easy to do circles up and down on both sides and see the action and conditioning. plenty of swarf on the Hard Ark, much less on the translucent, even less on the Zulu Grey. felt the urge to pull out the CNAT.

 

[global_dev]

Interesting day today, day off from work for the holiday. Supposed to be super hot day in the DC area - temps in the high 90s. Woke up pretty early around quarter to 7 and finished watching the last 30 of last week's Chelsea-ManCity game. Then i watched the recent AVFC loss to the Wolves.

I don't really recall going to the chosera 1K, i may have, but looking at my current honing station, nothing indicates i used the 1000.

I honestly have no recollection of whether I did or did not use the Chosera 1K. So odd, but when i went back to my honing area, i could potentially believe I did use it, cleaned it up and set it back the same way.

Feeling little affinity for the edge or the physical GD66 spade, i decided to work that edge in a similar fashion. and took notes. But i got rid of the blade face logo, reworked the shoulders, reshaped the edge to my preference (done by coarser honing, not "breadknifing" so the bevel and honewear "match", and started the bevel reset on the DMT Coarse > DMT Fine > Chosera 1K > Chosera 3K and finished on the Zulu Grey with Smiths Solution.

In the image above, the razor already had most of that hone wear prior and in re-working the shoulder/stabilizer issue I only try to affect the triangle area from the inner part of the grind to the GD planet and down to the heel, usually try to have less under the logo & CHINA but ish happens.. I would have like to see just a little triangle, but that's hard with the tools i am using and the lax effort i am putting into keeping it contained to that area.

Spent a lot of time on the bevel (DMT Fine through 3000) I really wanted to see how the Zulu Grey felt off the 3000. Still in the bevel set region, but not too far coarse.

Like mentioned above, used Smith's on the ZG and gently started the laps. I felt transitions at 15 laps, 50 felt like it could be close to done but not yet, 90 felt like it could have been done, and 120 felt like glass. I tried to make sure the hone was never not solution'd, as some always falls off the sides or ends up on the blade face, but i never added more, usually letting it drip back onto the stone from the blade face.

Wiping off the blade (and the stone) on some clean paper towel showed a really small bit of darkness (swarf or stone, i am guessing swarf) in the solution.

I also just noticed yesterday, like an idiot who doesn't pay enough attention sometimes, that the Dan's stone boxes actually have the type of stone labelled on it. Since i didn't see the label already, I had created some crappy small labels by hand, i had mixed up the stones and their boxes, so the Dan's Hard Box said translucent & had the Translucent and vice versa. But I was astute enough to make sure before that each boxes had the complementary tops & bottoms for fit. I've since rectified the label and box issue, but don't love the small OEM label and will probably relabel again for ease of seeing & grabbing the right stone..

 

[global_dev]

last nights shave, GD66 spade 3K to ZG, went very well, though not as great as I had hoped for, but better than expected. I'd give the edge about an ~8/10. Closer than i expected, but not as close as I hoped. I'm not sure if it was the complete change-up of my routine. normally i shower before i shave, last night i shaved after shower, felt the need to use the proraso pre/pro and grabbed the proraso white. I don't often use a menthol soap, but it was great, hot day yesterday and I was loving the feel of the lather (semogue soc boar). We had recently returned for a five mile walk/jog in the blistering heat, i thnk it was still in the 90s at 7:30 when we got back, relaxed a bit, ate dinner around 8:30 and started teh shave around 9:30 ish. So i was really interested to feel the menthol kick and it did not did no disappoint. This 5 miler "walk" has become a family thing since end of April, i've been doing 5-10 miles a day since mid-March. I've put over 325 miles on my my soles since the pandemic started and I've been working from home. I had no issues with the lather, straight off the soap.

Normal shave routine with the added N-S on the neck to see the edge. To be honest, it was a great edge, mellow and keen. The only reason i didn't rate it higher was that it left a slight hint of stubble on my chin and moustache area, gotta be honest, everywhere else was really really good after the second pass.

So this AM back to the chosera 3K and after a bit, i wasn't seeing what i wanted and was thinking perhaps the stone wasn't flat enough and low and behold after a quick surface true up refresh on DMT 120, i could feel the difference immediately and see the difference under the scope.

aaand back to Zulu Grey, definitely has similar experience to yesterday. felt the change in about 25 stroke increments, glassy feeling around 125. added 3 drops of smiths and decided to keep going and around 175 i felt the stiction and the solution got real black, real quick. stopped around 200.

we'll see how the edge feels... i still have the nagging "just use a different razor" voice in the back of my head, but i am enjoying the honing very much.

 

[global_dev]

aiy ya yai... lesson learned, flatten the stones more often.. was really excited to try out the 3K>ZG just now.. was not disappointed.

it was really nice shave.. every part of my face was clean, including the chin/moustache are. it was more on the "hard" mellow side than soft mellow or hard harsh. it's not jnat smooth, but very very pleasant and not a doubt that it's a great edge, sadly these are the types of edges that make me not want to mess with it further. If i had gotten this edge off a "shave ready" sale, i'd probably not think twice unless i wanted a different feel. I think I will shave on it 2 or 3 more times just too see and move on to a different razor to mess with, but i may just tweak it up, we shall see.. i am leaning towards waiting on this one... maybe not..

2PM shave - no shower before shave ..(actually no shower with this shave at all)
mixed manchurian/horse brush
Proraso pre (gotta use all the stuff up)
Proraso White + Last & Final miniscule portion of the arko/mdc combo. (Yay!)
Stirling ASL Tsuka (homage to Hanae Mori)

I don't see any red or feel any irritation, Stirling ASL felt strong on the alcohol side, but subsided quickly.

 

[global_dev]

I really enjoy honing, in fact i go to sleep wanting to hone and wake up wondering what I should/need to hone.. Lol, I've had this happen before with mixing up new cocktails when i was trying to find my drink of choice. Unfortunately, I am not that kind of person, I have no real favorites (with one or 2 exceptions), i really like a lot of things. I remember taking a shower on a Saturday morning thinking what cocktail i was gonna try to make today. The only two exceptions i can think are really Guinness and 85% dark chocolate, but maybe some barked juicy brisket almost right off the smoker, and a nice Hendricks G&T, a god shot espresso, a luscious orange, a medium rare ny strip, some shaved black truffles, burrata, neapolitan pizza, red snapper, pate, medium rare pork chop, sashimi, cannelle de bordeaux, those crisp/juicypink lady apples, red seedless globe grapes, grilled fish taco, a dank IPA, marinated mushrooms, kimchi, raspberry tart, dried squid, okroshka, fresh baguette, dutch baby pancake, a spoon of honey...lol.. mmm...

couldn't leave well enough alone, i felt tormented by the GD66 spade and in the end i decided to keep forward momentum. The edge looked fine under the 10-120 scope, interesting under 30x22mm in natural light, clearly there were some larger scratches in between the mirror polish of the bevel, but the apex edge looked really good, no micro chips or something that leads me to believe there was an issue. I think what's interesting is that those large scratches towards the edge might come into play at a later date as the apex moves up the blade, so gotta be somewhat careful of mitigating their presence as you hone through the progression.

Started it back up on 3000, moved up to the 5000* (love watching the swarf line roll along the entire edge, i don't know if there is much like that, perhaps sauce on the back of the spoon, the first look at the smoke ring, the crust on a smashed burger, crema transitioning, the expansion of the dutch baby, lol... clearly i haven't thought my original examples through) and then on to the Zulu Grey/smiths. Felt the similar transitions but this time i stopped 3 passes after the glass start (about 100 laps). Looks good to the naked eye. it's hard to shave in the middle of the day, around 12am i start to feel the slightest bit of stubble that i normally wouldn't feel/see when i shave very late in the evening or would expect when i shave really early. I had to remind myself that 10 hours later, i am going to feel some stubble based on the passes i normally do.

* I only spray the surface of the choseras and let them sit for about 5 mins before I use them. I don't soak or dunk them. I used to let the Chosera stones all dry out by leaving some small area in between them in an open plastic container. I've recently not been letting them fully dry out like that, I wipe them completely down with a microfiber towel, slide a piece of paper (completely covers the face and overhangs a bit) on the face of each the stone and stack them face to back (the backs are dry). It seems to be working well for me. The paper protects the face and with the dry back/paper, the stone doesn't seem to have issue with staying the slightest bit moist from day to day. I was worried about maybe some mold developing, but I am using them so often during the week, that i don't think that's a thing. i was also worried about the stone surface crumbling from excess moisture, but that doesn't appear to be happening, or the backs having issue, if anything, it seems to be at a good moisture percentage that slowly dries* * nothing but anecdotal evidence, no science or measurements done, just usage over the last couple of weeks...