Thats it!

[Frank Shaves]

OK. I am going to follow Slash's instructions on a razor I do not care about/can afford to sacrifice. But in about a week after doing this, I want to kill the edge like I see the "pros" do in the videos.

@Slash McCoy, can you elaborate on why you said 'DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT "kill" the edge', because I am really itching to kill an edge ?

Not to be too morose, but perhaps so I can first learn to bring a comatose razor back to life before a dead one?

 

[Slash McCoy]

Just don't do the Burr Method on a show piece! I did it on a minty Klas Tornblom... It shaves really well, but will never look pretty. lol

It definitely works though!

Right on. Don't do it on "jewelry" razors, just "shaving tool" razors. In fact, your "jewelry" razor might as well not be honed at all. Have some purty ones if you like. Look at them and show them off. Then have your crazy sharp beaters to shave with.

 

[Slash McCoy]

OK. I am going to follow Slash's instructions on a razor I do not care about/can afford to sacrifice. But in about a week after doing this, I want to kill the edge like I see the "pros" do in the videos.

@Slash McCoy, can you elaborate on why you said 'DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT "kill" the edge', because I am really itching to kill an edge ?

Not to be too morose, but perhaps so I can first learn to bring a comatose razor back to life before a dead one?

You are having a problem creating or detecting a burr, one or the other. Breadknifing, jointing, whatever you want to call it, sends you three steps back to two steps forward. That's why I say categorically and definitely do not do it, for this exercise. It will only prolong your suffering.

If you simply hate a razor I suggest putting on a face shield and bashing it with a hyoooooge hammer. Or drop it in acid and go "BWAAAAAA-hahahahaha!" while it bubbles and dissolves.

 

[Frank Shaves]

I am happy to report that after more than two hours of honing, the Beau Brummel is alive and well. As a matter of fact, after a little stropping I just shaved a small portion of my cheek and the edge was smooth and close. And I have to say that the full experience was way cool.

I cannot lie. I tried to follow @Slash McCoy's directions... I started out by working just one side of the edge and it felt like I had achieved a burr, though lighter than that of a kitchen knife. So I worked on the other side. I tried this a few times. I swear that when I performed the Thelma & Louise test I could feel a small burr, but I could not get the edge to easily slice a tomato or catch the hair on my forearm. So then I tried alternating groups of circles and then alternating laps. At this point I was just improvising. Most of this was done with two hands - with my "weaker" hand acting as a guide. But I just could not get the edge sharp enough to easily pass the two tests.

So after a short dinner break, I came back and tried gradually adding more and more pressure until finally I began to see noticeable amounts of black metal shavings in the water and on the towel, and then things began to take a turn for better. The tomato test was improving, but the edge was still not catching my forearm hair. So I upped the pressure another notch and finally the "patient" came alive. But I have to say that I needed to apply way more pressure than I had originally thought. I never felt like I was at risk of damaging the razor, but I would not describe the amount of pressure as medium - it was more.

So once I got the razor to comfortably pass the tomato and forearm hair test on the 1k, I lightened up on the 1k, and then moved to the 6k side of the King and then the Naniwa 12k, without applying the stronger pressure I had used on the 6k and 12k.

At this point, I have to tell you that even though the eBay seller told me that he had taped the spine, I had decided to "rip off the Band-Aid" and go au naturel for this evening's progression. So I had not taped the spine and I do wonder if the need for so much pressure was the result of not using the tape.

Here are the four half paper towel sheets from the progression. From left to right, the first is from the first hour, the second and third are from using stronger pressure on the 1k and the first half of the 6k, and the last is from there through the 12k.

I would be curious if others see this much metal shavings when you use your synthetic 1k.

 

[rbscebu]

What you experienced is what I would have expected when going from taped to natural. Using tape increases the bevel angle so there is a "lot" of metal to remove from the top of the bevel down to the edge to get the spine/bevel/edge to all line up again.

I have had similar problems with "factory shave-ready" edges. I think they initially develop the bevel on a flat surface and then develop the edge on a pasted flexible surface. This does not produce a spine/bevel/edge alignment that lends itself to later honing well on a flat surface.

I think you will find it was worth the effort to do away with a taped spine. You will now be able to much more easily hone that SR.

 

[Frank Shaves]

That's good to hear and I have to say that I feel much better not using the tape - more caveman like.

 

[Slash McCoy]

I am happy to report that after more than two hours of honing, the Beau Brummel is alive and well. As a matter of fact, after a little stropping I just shaved a small portion of my cheek and the edge was smooth and close. And I have to say that the full experience was way cool.

I cannot lie. I tried to follow @Slash McCoy's directions... I started out by working just one side of the edge and it felt like I had achieved a burr, though lighter than that of a kitchen knife. So I worked on the other side. I tried this a few times. I swear that when I performed the Thelma & Louise test I could feel a small burr, but I could not get the edge to easily slice a tomato or catch the hair on my forearm. So then I tried alternating groups of circles and then alternating laps. At this point I was just improvising. Most of this was done with two hands - with my "weaker" hand acting as a guide. But I just could not get the edge sharp enough to easily pass the two tests.

The sharpness tests come after you hone the burr off. An edge with a burr on it cuts erratically and with difficulty, because it is bent to one side. The Thelma/Louise test comes before honing the burr off, of course. Remember, it's a two part process. Raise a burr on each side in turn, and then get rid of the burr. The burr just lets you know that you have removed enough steel to expose the new bevel.

 

[Frank Shaves]

Got it. There is definitely a learning curve to this and a lot of nuance about blade condition!

I am sure that this has been asked before, but I am going to ask. If a full progression is something like 1k > 4k > 8k > 12k > diamond paste / balsa, and you want to minimize the wear on your razor, should you try to minimize the number of steps you go back in the progression?

 

[rbscebu]

Got it. There is definitely a learning curve to this and a lot of nuance about blade condition!

I am sure that this has been asked before, but I am going to ask. If a full progression is something like 1k > 4k > 8k > 12k > diamond paste / balsa, and you want to minimize the wear on your razor, should you try to minimize the number of steps you go back in the progression?

Noticable wear only occures when setting the bevel. After that you are only polishing the bevel/edge. To minimize wear, don't damage the edge so that you don't have to reset the bevel.

 

[Slash McCoy]

Yeah 4k and 8k and 12k, it takes a lot of laps or a lot of pressure to gring away noticeable steel. And once you got it, you only ever need to use the final finest of the three diamond balsa stages, the .1u diamond balsa. It removes a comically small amount of steel, and even using it every day, it will take many years to notice a real difference. It just stays crazy kawabunga banzai ultra-jeehaddy slap ya mama sharp. When you get down to the 1k or 2k level, then you are stripping off some metal but not so very much if you don't use a heavy hand and don't stay at it for an hour or more.

 

[Frank Shaves]

I prepared diamond paste on balsa strops in 0.5, 0.25 and 0.1 microns, and then had my best shave yet (#13) on Sunday by only stropping my Dovo on the 0.5 - result was sharp and close with minimal irritation. Then this evening I used the 0.25 and found the razor to be almost too sharp for me right now - reminded me of a fresh Feather Artist Club blade. I am going to stick with the 0.5 for the next few shaves.

I also took my factory-sealed GD (which has only ever touched my Naniwa 12k and hard black Arkansas) back to my King 6000 followed by the 12k, 0.5 and 0.25, and the razor definitely shaves better. Great feeling to know I can make a factory-sealed razor shave ready.

 

[rbscebu]

It's not just edge sharpness that matters, you also need to consider shave comfort from your bevel/edge. I have tested multiple times with different finishings on diamond pasted balsa strops. I found (worst to best):

0.25um
0.5um
0.01um

The 0.25um is still needed in my progression to 0.01um. Without it I would be spending ages on the 0.01um to get to where I want.

Of course you should just do whatever you are most comfortable with.

 

[Frank Shaves]

Very interesting about your order, @rbscebu. I will definitely progress down to 0.1, but I think I would benefit from taking a pause first. I have been covering a lot of ground perhaps too quickly.

 

[rbscebu]

Good idea. Nothing should be rushed in developing one's SR skills and technique. You have already come a long way in a short time.

 

[Biltong & Boerewors]

I can support @rbscebu's view on comfort.

Doesn't make sense, but a .25u edge is harsh compared to a .1u edge.

I can also add that for the past few months I have increased my stropping laps on the clean leather from 50 to 70, after the normal maintenance of 50 laps on .1u, and yes it's subjective, but I firmly believe it makes for a smoother feel on your face.

 

[Frank Shaves]

I left this out of my earlier post. After stropping on the 0.25, I forgot to strop on the leather, and did not realize my "mistake" until I had shaved the right side of my face. Boy was that harsh, so I took a brief break, stropped the razor on the leather and continued. What a difference!

 

[rbscebu]

Oh what a difference a stroppping can make.

My SR blades are made out of either high carbon steel, VG10 type stainless steel or special high Cr stainless steel. I have found that each type of steel shaves best with a different number of laps on a clean hanging leather strop before each use.

HCS gets about 60 laps
VG10 about 80 laps
Special SS about 100 laps

So my blades maintenance routine is now; stropping on clean hanging leather before each shave, 6 to 8 very light laps on clean hanging cotton after each shave (just to dry and clean the edge), dry the rest of the blade with a piece of natural chamois, then 50 laps on 0.1um hanging balsa strop before oiling and putting away. The number of laps on the balsa does not change for different steels.

 

[Slash McCoy]

I can support @rbscebu's view on comfort.

Doesn't make sense, but a .25u edge is harsh compared to a .1u edge.

I can also add that for the past few months I have increased my stropping laps on the clean leather from 50 to 70, after the normal maintenance of 50 laps on .1u, and yes it's subjective, but I firmly believe it makes for a smoother feel on your face.

A lot of guys notice this, including me. The .1u gentles it down a LOT while also increasing cutting ability. The .25u gives a sharp edge but not an especially comfortable one. The .5u diamond? Sharp but not AS sharp. Noticeably sharper than 1u film or a 12k stone but not all THAT. Not very comfortable, but more comfortable than the .25u diamond. This is pretty noticeable and if you try it in a blind test on a few different razors, you are MOST likely to arrive at exactly the same conclusions. You wouldn't think it would be so easily noticed and quantified, but it is. A good Jnat edge from a master will beat the .5u for sharpness and beat the .5u and the .25u for comfort easily. Once you nail it on the .1u, most guys will declare the edge to be better than anything they have ever tried.

Personal preference and prejudice will definitely skew some opinions toward Jnats or other naturals in a small minority. And some guys used to the standard 12k edge will not know how to shave with an ultra sharp razor. Some guys simply will not prepare the balsa properly, thinking that the details are unimportant. So it won't be 100% in favor of the diamond on balsa, no. But pretty close. But the difference between grades of diamond will be pretty much universally consistent among shavers, especially if they modify their shave technique to compensate for the insane cutting power of the balsa edge. The spine of my razors nearly touches my face when shaving my cheek and I stretch fairly hard. With a good stretch and a low shave angle and a good .1u balsa edge, even first pass ATG goes off smoothly, and in fact for the last few years I have shaved my neck from adams apple level up to the jawline ATG (I only use a single pass) simply because it is quicker and because I can. No way will I try that with any other edge, including .25u diamond on balsa.

 

[thombrogan]

With a good stretch and a low shave angle and a good .1u balsa edge, even first pass ATG goes off smoothly, and in fact for the last few years I have shaved my neck from adams apple level up to the jawline ATG

Now that is the method of selling The Method.

 

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

Has anyone tried stropping a razor on pasted balsa that was honed with the spine taped? Stropping without tape? Does it have the same effect?


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