While deciding what to buy for my first hone I sent a razor over to Bart Torfs for a sharpening and in the course of our conversations I decided to go with a Belgian Coticule from Maurice at Ardennes. Bart and Maurice took great care and infinite patience in helping me select the right stone for my needs and budget. Luckily Bart was charting a bunch of stones at the time so he could give me direct recommendations about which to select.
I ended up selecting the No 113 bout from an unknown vein (shown in the coticule vault) and it arrived in the mail today! Just in time for my birthday
I was blown away by Bart's kindness and patience during the many emails back and forth. Bart has no financial connection to Ardennes and all the time he took was purely out of his dedication and passion for the art. He even went so far as to make a custom foam pocket for my coticule box so the stone would fit nicely and not get damaged(see below) and re-sharpen my razor with my stone before sending it on to me so that I can directly see how it performs and what I can aspire to achieve with it. Talk about dedication! I really can't thank him enough.
I've got 3 days of growth waiting for the big moment when I try out the razor tomorrow and then comes the long learning curve of straight razor shaving and razor sharpening. I've got a few razors lying around I can practice sharpening on while I use the one Bart sharpened for my shaving. I can't wait to try it all out! Anyway, without further ado, here are the photos:
I ended up selecting the No 113 bout from an unknown vein (shown in the coticule vault) and it arrived in the mail today! Just in time for my birthday
I was blown away by Bart's kindness and patience during the many emails back and forth. Bart has no financial connection to Ardennes and all the time he took was purely out of his dedication and passion for the art. He even went so far as to make a custom foam pocket for my coticule box so the stone would fit nicely and not get damaged(see below) and re-sharpen my razor with my stone before sending it on to me so that I can directly see how it performs and what I can aspire to achieve with it. Talk about dedication! I really can't thank him enough.
I've got 3 days of growth waiting for the big moment when I try out the razor tomorrow and then comes the long learning curve of straight razor shaving and razor sharpening. I've got a few razors lying around I can practice sharpening on while I use the one Bart sharpened for my shaving. I can't wait to try it all out! Anyway, without further ado, here are the photos:
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