More of my adventures with Kampfe Star, Gem, and restoring their original blades.

[HDSledge]

What I started with:

After 600 grit, higer magnification:

After 1k grit on one side, a bit closer: (pic taken before I removed the burr.)

After 2k grit:

After 3k grit

After 6k grit.

After 8k grit:

After 12k grit, a strop with green, and finally bare leather:

That is one of my arm hairs, popped cleanly off. So the blade is good, my technique is better but could use more work. Not sure what the factor of magnification is but the hair looks like a walking stick.

I discovered that these blades were originally honed at a larger angle than my result. I taped and lay the blade flat on the stones but next time I will use a guide to get the spine up a bit.

 

[Flintstone65]

Man oh man, that is A LOT better than I've ever managed. Well done!!!

 

[HDSledge]

Man oh man, that is A LOT better than I've ever managed. Well done!!!

Thank you Sir! I'm wearing gloves next time since every time I have a go at honing I get a cut that I don't notice until later.

 

[Tanuki]

I believe that the Kampfe Star razors originally came with a handle/holder for the blade that would support stropping the blade on clean or pasted strops. Someone must have posted such a handle/holder to the TALC thread.

I doubt that many of the original owners honed their blades, but some may have used the holder to give the the blades a touch up on a barber hone. So the holder might reproduce the original honing/bevel angle.

 

[HDSledge]

I believe that the Kampfe Star razors originally came with a handle/holder for the blade that would support stropping the blade on clean or pasted strops. Someone must have posted such a handle/holder to the TALC thread.

I doubt that many of the original owners honed their blades, but some may have used the holder to give the the blades a touch up on a barber hone. So the holder might reproduce the original honing/bevel angle.

Unfortunately the stropping handles that came with mine are all damaged from previous users honing with them. They are not straight and true anymore. They still work for stropping though.

 

[HDSledge]

I have finally reached a point where the shave is comfortable. It took much practice honing and stropping, not to mention adjusting the blade positioning screws on the early Kampfe razor so the blade sits in the perfect position. Not too near the guard but not too far away. Just right. Grip and angle are all different from my usual DE razors and took some getting used to. I am very happy that after all these years I finally got a grip on pre-1900 SE safety razor use and blade maintenance.