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Nate's "Trust Your Edge" Straight Journal

I'm enjoying reading about your Ark stone journey. I don't know much about them, so I'm interested in your progress.

BTW, how do you like your Genco Master Cutler? I've got two Genco razors (Easy Aces and a Master Barber) and really like them. This is one make that I may want to start collecting.
 
I'm enjoying reading about your Ark stone journey. I don't know much about them, so I'm interested in your progress.

BTW, how do you like your Genco Master Cutler? I've got two Genco razors (Easy Aces and a Master Barber) and really like them. This is one make that I may want to start collecting.


Thank you very much, I have been using Ark's for over 30 years for sharpening, however, having just started out on honing razors, there is a lot more care that has to be taken I am finding that those stones are absolutely as flat as you can possibly get them. That is where I am right now on those, getting them conditioned properly now that I do have them flat. Lots of work but only needs to be done once in a very long while with these things because they are so hard.

As far as the Master Cutler.... Even though mostly I like the 6/8 blades this one is an absolute joy to shave with and it holds an edge for a very long time as well. I as well am still searching for that "One Brand" of razor that I really want to collect. I love the looks of 99.9% of what I see in the "What Straight Did You Use Today?" Thread but at the same time I am also a realist and know full well that I cannot afford to have a collection of most of those razors. The Genco line though is a pretty decent price point for the quality I have experienced with my one Master Cutler.
 
Well no shave for me tonight, my face is too mangled from the Fusion shave last night. So I am lapping my new King 1K/6K combo stone to a nice flat surface. I was amazed at how flat they look and then when you put a true flat DMT on them over the pencil marks they really show how NOT FLAT they really are right out of the box.
 
Today is a very intensive lapping day for my Hard Black Ark. I thought I had it completely flat but I was wrong, it showed signs of roughness in the oiled reflection at the edges as well as the ends and corners. Thus far today I have done over 25 thousand laps over it with water and the DMT D8X. It is almost perfect from corner to corner, edge to edge and end to end now. I am thinking with about another 10 to 20 thousand laps with the plate it should be perfect. Then I will run some of my Hashir's over it with oil to condition it and then finish my Gouverneur 65 on it so I can shave with it tonight and see if that was the reason I was getting a rough shave with the 65.
 
Finally finished with Properly Lapping my Hard Black Ark and I must say after running the Gouverneur 65 across it it has taken an excellent edge. Here is this mornings progression on getting this incredible hunk of rock "Razor Ready".

Started out like this and you can see the uneven areas on it quite well in this photo:

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This is after about 25 thousand laps with the DMT D8X Coarse Diamond Plate

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This is after about 35 thousand Laps
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And this is after running the Gouverneur across it about 300 laps

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I will report back tonight after I shave with it to let Y'all know how it went but the blade looks and feels very very sharp and ready to shave so here's hoping:thumbup:
 
YES YES YES YES YES!!!!!!!

FINALLY!!!

I got it right this time with the exception of a very slight amount of irritation, (Blade could probably have used another 100 laps or so across the Hard Black Ark), but the shave was absolutely superb!! WTG, XTG AND ATG with the 5/8 Gebr & Krusius Gouverneur 65 resulted in a very good DFS Shave on the Face, Neck, Chin and Under the nose as well!!! My Very First Razor from Larry at WD AND My very first Truly Shave Ready Honing Job!!!

I kept Everything else the same as the past few attempts as well, same prep, same soap, same brush and same A/S

Today was an absolute full on Success in my book!!!

Soap: TAOS Unscented
Brush: The Constellation
And Here is the Star of the Show:


The Sight Unseen Straight Razor from Whipped Dog that I inadvertently chipped on my second straight shave ever and took it upon myself to fully restore it to use. It took me a long time to get it right and some hard earned cash for the stones along with countless hours of frustration with learning how to properly hone it once I repaired the chip. I did it though and am very happy with my results:

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Close up of my newly Honed Blade:
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Excellent! Now imagine if you had to try to flatten the Arkie using sandpaper :bored:

LMAO I wholeheartedly believe that should I have had to do that...... I would have zero use of my hands for a minimum of two to three weeks afterwards and no longer have any cartilage left in my already arthritis fingers LOL I am just very happy with the results of the advice I got from here to pick one of these DMT D8X plates up because it has been a lapping lifesaver for sure.

I am still shocked at how sharp I can get any knife with any one of my stones and still not be able to get an edge on a razor until after lapping them completely and making them truly flat. Now I can get a really good edge so I am going to make sure that I keep my Razor and Knife stones totally separate from now on. No cross sharpening from now on.
 
Well done!

Thank you very much Larry, I am thrilled to finally have some confidence in my honing. All thanks to the amazing Gentlemen Here at the Good Ol' B&B that have given me such excellent advice and guidance along the way.

Now For the Really Fun part and that is going to be getting my two Wade & Butcher Arrows back into fighting condition. That is my task for tomorrow as well as finishing the sanding and shaping for the rebirth of the Monarch Razor Aaaaaaaaaannnndddd also doing some more detail work on my youngest Son's Shave Brush. Very busy day for me in the shave workshop tomorrow:w00t:
 
Might be a little late now, but the guys on the Hones and Honing sub-forum recommend SIC powder and a flat piece of granite or an old DMT plate that has lost much of the abrasion for lapping Arks. I have not tried this as the Arks that I have came flat from Dan's Whetstone Company. But, it sounds like you got the job done , and the results were very good indeed.
 
Might be a little late now, but the guys on the Hones and Honing sub-forum recommend SIC powder and a flat piece of granite or an old DMT plate that has lost much of the abrasion for lapping Arks. I have not tried this as the Arks that I have came flat from Dan's Whetstone Company. But, it sounds like you got the job done , and the results were very good indeed.

That is almost exactly what I did, I got a lot of tips from the honing subform on how to flatten stones and the DMT D8X came up quite a few times as a less expensive alternative to the actual DMT Diamond Lapping Plate, the 95 I think? It was about a third the cost or less and definitely made relatively short work of the Black Hard Ark. I may have to go ahead and use it on my White Hard Ark as well soon as I have not lapped it on anything but a few runs of W/D Sand Paper so I know it is no where near as flat as the Black Ark is.
 
Tonight I used the Freshly Honed Improved Eagle that I got yesterday and honed today. Plucked hairs right off with ease and no irritation at all this time. I did have to use my Slim with a Personna Comfort Coated blade to finish up though, as it is the sharpest I have ever gotten a blade. I did not mind my pressure as much as I should have and gave myself a small but very intensely blooody nick on the chin and corner of the mouth as well.

Prep: 10 minute shower and hot towel x3
Soap: My Frankensoap
Brush: The Constellation
S/R: 6/8 Lyon Bros Warranted 62 Improved Eagle
D/E: 1963 Gillette Slim setting 4 with Personna Comfort Coated Blade (6)
A/S: TAOS Lavender shave balm.

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That Ark is truly impressive!
Thank you very very much Chris, I am really loving the edge it puts on my Straights now that I have a proper bevel setter and mid range stone to prep them with a proper progression. I had no idea how much of a difference having a mid range stone makes when honing straight razors but it does indeed make a HUGE difference in the edge at finishing. Also spending a good amount of time on each blade to REALLY set that bevel solid also made a huge difference.I can sharpen 8 to 12 knives all together as a bunch but I am learning very fast that taking it one blade at a time with the straights makes all the difference in the world and is a must if I want a close and comfortable shave with it when I am done.
 
Today was an absolutely miserable Straight Razor day and very depressing. I got home from work with the intention of putting about an hour each into both of my W7B's in order to get them back to shave ready after about 6 shaves on each and then starting to get irritation with them both. I only did about 30 laps on each and immediately noticed a huge amount of Hone Wear showing up on the spine and the blades were way offset in geometry. So I put them aside and stopped while they may still be salvageable. I believe they may need to be reground to center them up before they can be honed at all. I have no idea how the folks I bout them off of on the bay got them to be as shave ready as they were when I received them but it is way beyond my abilities at this stage in my Straight Razor development.

Hope everyone had a terrific Saturday :thumbup:
Sincerely;
Nate
 
Welcome to my world, at least where honing is concerned. :a52:
That is for darned sure my Friend, I will be taking another shot at them both tonight and see how it goes when I further the progression. If they shave great then I could care less if they are ugly. The most important part is not looks but the shave you get from the blade right?They certainly may end up ugly though for sure LOL.
 
Well today's "Straight Razor" tasking was getting one of my W&B's honed up. Now between yesterday and today after about 6 hours total of work, I was able to get an edge on one of them that actually tree topped hair on my arm without me even feeling it go through the hair for the most part. Given that I shaved this morning I will have to wait until tomorrow for a test drive, but I do have a good feeling about this edge.

Yesterday (Before):
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And Tonight (After 6 hours of work):
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Hopefully this bugger will be "Shave Ready" tomorrow when I take it for a test drive:thumbup:
 
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