It was finally time to hone the "Russian Bear". The edge it came with wasn't bad and has served me well at 3 shaves a week since the end of August. Today, I would put my edge on it. Honing razors is a more recent endeavor for me but after getting a few GD razors shaving like pros, I felt ready to go after something a bit nicer.
I started off getting my stones ready. It was a lengthy task since I've been using them to get all my hand planes and chisels ready for some work, and I have a lot of planes and chisels. Almost 2 hours getting stones ready for some razor honing. I really need to get a dedicated set.
Once they were good to go, I started to the work of setting the bevel. I worked one side until I could feel a burr all the way across. This took 250 passes with moderate pressure. Then I did the same number of passes on the other side. Then 50 laps alternating sides with light pressure. Cleaned it up, 5 laps on a canvass strop, 5 on leather, and gave it a test on my arm. It was shaving hairs nicely. I wouldn't want it anywhere near my face yet but on my arm, it was doing what I wanted. On to the 3000 stone. This time 50 laps and then cleaned up, 5 laps on the cotton strop, 5 on canvas, test. I was happy with the results. 8000 stone, followed the same process as the 3000. Test wasn't quite where I wanted it yet so I did another 25 laps and tried again. There it is! Final stone, 12000. 50 laps again and then some short X strokes using some super light pressure. Cleaned it up, stropped as above, and test. At this point I could shave and be quite happy with it. But I want to be school girl giddy over this thing.
Final step is the diamond pasted balsa strops. 0.5, 0.25, and 0.1 microns. Using feather light pressure I stropped 20 laps, 15 laps, then 10 laps. Tree topping like Paul Bunyan, and barely making a sound while doing it. Clean shave with the spine touching my skin. Anyone have a rapid hair growth tonic? I don't want to wait till tomorrow for my next shave!
I started off getting my stones ready. It was a lengthy task since I've been using them to get all my hand planes and chisels ready for some work, and I have a lot of planes and chisels. Almost 2 hours getting stones ready for some razor honing. I really need to get a dedicated set.
Once they were good to go, I started to the work of setting the bevel. I worked one side until I could feel a burr all the way across. This took 250 passes with moderate pressure. Then I did the same number of passes on the other side. Then 50 laps alternating sides with light pressure. Cleaned it up, 5 laps on a canvass strop, 5 on leather, and gave it a test on my arm. It was shaving hairs nicely. I wouldn't want it anywhere near my face yet but on my arm, it was doing what I wanted. On to the 3000 stone. This time 50 laps and then cleaned up, 5 laps on the cotton strop, 5 on canvas, test. I was happy with the results. 8000 stone, followed the same process as the 3000. Test wasn't quite where I wanted it yet so I did another 25 laps and tried again. There it is! Final stone, 12000. 50 laps again and then some short X strokes using some super light pressure. Cleaned it up, stropped as above, and test. At this point I could shave and be quite happy with it. But I want to be school girl giddy over this thing.
Final step is the diamond pasted balsa strops. 0.5, 0.25, and 0.1 microns. Using feather light pressure I stropped 20 laps, 15 laps, then 10 laps. Tree topping like Paul Bunyan, and barely making a sound while doing it. Clean shave with the spine touching my skin. Anyone have a rapid hair growth tonic? I don't want to wait till tomorrow for my next shave!
That face when you nick yourself shaving...... blood poisoning is a real unfortunate situation.
