Beautiful razor…and stone Alex!
What did you hone today?
- Thread starter ouch
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This Coticule is AWESOME…resultant shave was superb!
Tückmantel und Martin "Tuckmar 200".
I was a proper idiot restoring this one, I was sure it had quite a bit of rust, so I went straight for the kill, I decided it was worth sacrificing the stamp.
Turned out it wasn't rust but some sort of disgusting mixture of dirt and who knows what else. By the time I realised I wasn't dealing with rust, the damage had been done, so I followed through and polished the blade.
Still, a gorgeous razor (I am yet to find an ordinary Tuckmar), that I finished on my trustworthy Escher. Looking forward to tonight's shave.
I was a proper idiot restoring this one, I was sure it had quite a bit of rust, so I went straight for the kill, I decided it was worth sacrificing the stamp.
Turned out it wasn't rust but some sort of disgusting mixture of dirt and who knows what else. By the time I realised I wasn't dealing with rust, the damage had been done, so I followed through and polished the blade.
Still, a gorgeous razor (I am yet to find an ordinary Tuckmar), that I finished on my trustworthy Escher. Looking forward to tonight's shave.
Thank you Matt. That's the DD I got from you.
They are just fantastic razors! I am glad that you like it!Thank you Matt. That's the DD I got from you.
Absolutely.
Attempting to make a box for my big YG, so did a few touchups when I got out earlier.
Little kamisori, nice finish on this. Like it.
And these two which I'm going to put on a black ark after. (Not doing the Japanese razor on the ark, cos it'll f up my kasumi).
Little kamisori, nice finish on this. Like it.
And these two which I'm going to put on a black ark after. (Not doing the Japanese razor on the ark, cos it'll f up my kasumi).
Well the IXL bbw/coticule finish was a dud, just that not sharp enough face feel I associate with coticules using just water.
But the Tritch Hardware purple slate razor was shaving nirvana! Perfect hollow ground razor comfort pinging feel without any irritation. Feels just like my dublduck yellowlake oilstone edge which is fantastic.
Now to sort out the IXL, worked it good on my shapton 5k then onto my freshly lapped "Maruichi Narutaki".
Fine DMT slurry dilutions to a hint of slurry from this hard tomo. This is a really awesome feeling razor hone and the stone size for this slightly smiling razor is great. Under my 100x eyepiece the edge of this razor is now PERFECTLY flat and there is not a single scratch mark to be found on the bevel, pure "powderized" look end to end which is a marvel to see. Hair test is at arkansas level for me which is impressive, will try this razor next shave.
Postman arrived today today with a new Fili as a birthday present to myself. Put it on a Lily White, then Thuri.
Though didn't get to quite the level I wanted, so went to the Tavy stone, which has rapidly become just about my favourite finisher. And now shaves as well as you'd hope
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The mikawa there is an interesting one (I used on the Tavy stone too). It was a gift from @PanL and came originally from an old barbershop. It's been just superb on every stone I've used it on - really, really good nagura I think.
Though didn't get to quite the level I wanted, so went to the Tavy stone, which has rapidly become just about my favourite finisher. And now shaves as well as you'd hope
.The mikawa there is an interesting one (I used on the Tavy stone too). It was a gift from @PanL and came originally from an old barbershop. It's been just superb on every stone I've used it on - really, really good nagura I think.
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Took my very best stone out for a spin today. A beautiful, vintage, trans, black ark.
The balsa daily touchup guys are rubbing off on me. A very light touchup regularly sure keeps the edge nice and crisp without much work. The edge still was very nice and still sharp before the touchup even after the work week. Less than ten light passes on the Suehiro Gokumyo 20k sure gives an extra bit of crispness to the edge though. I have to admit I just enjoy time on the stones as well.
I picked up an ILR from the BST here recently to see what all the discussion was about. For many years I have read opinions from it being a paperweight to better than an escher. Not expecting much from the stone my first impression is positive. After lapping I took one of my first ever razors, Anchor Manganese, reset the edge on a 10k then onto the ILR. 50 passes on a mist of slurry. Then just honed away on water, 200+ strokes to see what would happen. I had read people saying the hone would get sticky eventually but it never happened. It feels like a very hard thuri to me which is cool, the closest stone I own to a thuri in looks and feel. Eventually checked the edge and looked great, very bright bevel and minimal scratches. I had expected some edge deterioration under mag but there was none.
Shave was fantastic, very sharp. It actually felt very similar to the Naniwa 10k edge. So my question is how much this stone did. It seems slow to me, but atleast it isn't damaging at all. Next time I'll try it after a 5k to see if it actually improves the razor or just is non damaging. I like finishers that I cant overhone on and this is one atleast. Pending further testing this is an interesting if slow stone. I think if the manufacturer had not named it Imperia and had been a little more open about it, then it would be quite popular as a modern thuri like stone. Even if it is from china(this is nothing like my horrible PHUG/c12k) people would still appreciate proper processing and validation I wager. I was reading an Italian Shaving forum through Google translate recently and a fellow from Imperia Italy was madder than fire over this stone pretending to have any ties to his home, which I can relate to. Maybe they should rebrand lol
Oh and my Geo IXL jnat edge razor is perfect from before, my only regret is I don't get to shave enough with one good razor before wanting to test another stone out! So far my experience with my jnats has been nothing but good.
Shave was fantastic, very sharp. It actually felt very similar to the Naniwa 10k edge. So my question is how much this stone did. It seems slow to me, but atleast it isn't damaging at all. Next time I'll try it after a 5k to see if it actually improves the razor or just is non damaging. I like finishers that I cant overhone on and this is one atleast. Pending further testing this is an interesting if slow stone. I think if the manufacturer had not named it Imperia and had been a little more open about it, then it would be quite popular as a modern thuri like stone. Even if it is from china(this is nothing like my horrible PHUG/c12k) people would still appreciate proper processing and validation I wager. I was reading an Italian Shaving forum through Google translate recently and a fellow from Imperia Italy was madder than fire over this stone pretending to have any ties to his home, which I can relate to. Maybe they should rebrand lol
Oh and my Geo IXL jnat edge razor is perfect from before, my only regret is I don't get to shave enough with one good razor before wanting to test another stone out! So far my experience with my jnats has been nothing but good.
I've got one and I've talked about it here a couple times. I think you might be the first person I've read who didn't find slurry to be detrimental.
The stiction thing, I think only happens consistently if you hone under a trickle of water at the sink, and it does happen fairly quickly on mine, 20 to 25 laps. I get better edges with a spray bottle and going a little longer. Oil seems to work nicely too. If I use a little more pressure I get some rogue scratches.
It seems to bump the keenness up a hair from my Fuji 8k but the really interesting thing is the face feel is really nice, almost soothing. I generally prefer an edge that's a little keener but it does feel really nice to me. Where I use it most often is about 20 laps on it between the 8k and my trans ark.
Dubl Duck Dwarf on a new to me coti. This came from the Philly house that had all the old rock coticules.
Not the fastest on slurry, medium I’d say. Went with a full set of dilutions after dulling the edge. On plain water it’s pretty hard feeling, glass like.
Right off the stone I got great HHT.
Not the fastest on slurry, medium I’d say. Went with a full set of dilutions after dulling the edge. On plain water it’s pretty hard feeling, glass like.
Right off the stone I got great HHT.
I had read that slurry was not great on this stone and was surprised not to find it unpleasant. It seems quite fine to me, no decernable grit. I did have to work maybe 4x as long to make slurry as I would of needed to with a thuri which was not fun. And it was only a barely visible mist at that.
I didn't realize the running water was important for stiction, my bathroom sink is too low to do running water and I don't often try it.
My shave was good, I really like shaving off this 10k naniwa Kagayaki, and this shave felt just as good. Will see what the ILR does from a 5k stone next.
Your post inspired me to grab my test razor today and hit the ILR with it. I did a few laps on the Fuji 8k and then did about 30 on the ILR with water only. It was a very smooth, comfortable shave. I did have another razor handy with a wicked sharp ark edge to compare. Audible feedback suggested that the ILR edge was marginally less keen, but it was also marginally more gentle on my face.
So I recently participated in a trade with @cotedupy that you can read about here Washita Thread. Show off, discuss, etc. - https://www.badgerandblade.com/forum/threads/washita-thread-show-off-discuss-etc.507612/post-11767484
In return for one of my Washitas I received two UK stones, an area where I previous had nothing. There’s a bunch of stuff on eBay but mostly stones actually in the UK, which cost more to ship than they do to buy.
The wider, lighter-colored stone is a Grecian Idwal suggested as good for knives and as a pre-finisher for razors. The smaller one is a Charnley Forest, suggested as good for finishing razors. Since I needed to prepare some mirepoix for a recipe I checked out my two go-to knives. The gyuto seemed in tip-top shape, but my Nakiri, while barely passing the tomato skin test, failed when I tried to drop a cherry tomato on the edge. So i gave it a quick 10-20 strokes on the Grecian with oil and it promptly passed the “dropped tomato” test.
Next I got in a little practice on razors. I started with my sourdough lame (no idea how to make the accent mark appear), which is a Joseph Rodgers with a crack in the blade that disqualifies it from ever being used for shaving. I killed the edge on the Grecian, then re-established it, and then did about 5 minutes work on the Charnley Forest. It made mincemeat of a tomato at that point. Then I tried it on a razor I actually shave with, a 5/8 full hollow Imperial. I used that razor this morning to get a reference point - it had a black ark + pasted balsa edge which could to pretty well on a Fool’s Pass. Again killed the edge on the Grecian, brought it back, then spent about 8 minutes on the Charnley Forest, about half edge leading and half spine leading, also half in hand and half in the wooden holder. For some reason I still do better on honing in hand for edge leading and struggle a bit to keep the blade flat on spine leading. I will give the razor a go in the morning to see how it compares to this morning’s shave.
In return for one of my Washitas I received two UK stones, an area where I previous had nothing. There’s a bunch of stuff on eBay but mostly stones actually in the UK, which cost more to ship than they do to buy.
The wider, lighter-colored stone is a Grecian Idwal suggested as good for knives and as a pre-finisher for razors. The smaller one is a Charnley Forest, suggested as good for finishing razors. Since I needed to prepare some mirepoix for a recipe I checked out my two go-to knives. The gyuto seemed in tip-top shape, but my Nakiri, while barely passing the tomato skin test, failed when I tried to drop a cherry tomato on the edge. So i gave it a quick 10-20 strokes on the Grecian with oil and it promptly passed the “dropped tomato” test.
Next I got in a little practice on razors. I started with my sourdough lame (no idea how to make the accent mark appear), which is a Joseph Rodgers with a crack in the blade that disqualifies it from ever being used for shaving. I killed the edge on the Grecian, then re-established it, and then did about 5 minutes work on the Charnley Forest. It made mincemeat of a tomato at that point. Then I tried it on a razor I actually shave with, a 5/8 full hollow Imperial. I used that razor this morning to get a reference point - it had a black ark + pasted balsa edge which could to pretty well on a Fool’s Pass. Again killed the edge on the Grecian, brought it back, then spent about 8 minutes on the Charnley Forest, about half edge leading and half spine leading, also half in hand and half in the wooden holder. For some reason I still do better on honing in hand for edge leading and struggle a bit to keep the blade flat on spine leading. I will give the razor a go in the morning to see how it compares to this morning’s shave.
Im ready to try the Grecian I got coming. It's very light colored which I'd assume it's very hard but who knows. If it's a great knife stone I'll be over the moon.
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My charnley really likes very thin, soapy lather on razors. Or I start thick and thin it out like a slurry.
Bit of a gem that little Grecian, very similar in use to my large one. And you've probably hit on the perfect application for it... 5x2 is big enough to use on knives, but small enough to have in the kitchen as a quick touch up stone, without taking up loads of space.
Hope the shave goes well off the CF, should do: if I managed to get results off it, then I'm sure you'll have completely nailed it!
