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What did you hone today?

Got after these fine specimens today! The Elliot is ready for tonight. The rest have had the bevel set. Going with Unicot for the L' Alpin and my pretty standard 1,2,8 Shapton ( big jump, I know), 1 micron film and diamond sprayed balsa for the others.

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I missed using straights over the winter, and am happy that the weather is warming up!

This new JNAT is turning out to be a top tier finisher within my little quarry, and today I finished with just a wisp of slurry...instead of my usual finishing under a light stream of water.

The blade felt amazing on the stone, and looked great under the loupe, so I really wanted to challenge it on the HHT. I picked the finest and lightest hair off of the brush, and gave it a go.

I don’t use numbers to gauge how the HHT goes, but this one made me think.... “Oh my my my!”

I will probably shave with it tomorrow!

Vr

Matt

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Frederick Fenney Magnum Bonum
Fenney was established as a Freeman in Sheffield in 1822 and operated until his death in 1852, so that should place this razor in the 2nd quarter of the 19th century.

The blade is relatively straight. The challenge was an existing smile combined with multiple chips in the edge at the toe. It turns out that @Gamma did a Youtube video on a Sheffield with a chipped toe some time back. I watched it and it was very helpful, both in terms of rolling X technique and giving me a sense of the patience that would be needed to fix the issue. While I dropped down to my King 800 and 1200 for a little while, most of the work was done on a Shapton 2k. Took a lot longer that way, but at least I knew that if I went off course I would catch it before doing any drastic damage.

I started with tape then took it off when I realized how much work needed to be done. Oddly, at the end while I had lost some spine width, other than at the toe my bevel length had not decreased, end result is that I ended up with a slightly narrower bevel angle than I started with, an indication that previous honings were with tape. Currently not tree-topping, but still need to do the pasted balsa, I may strop first as I rarely see good tree-topping prior to stropping.
 
Rundfunk Losenbeck Bohlerstahl: Shapton 1k/2k then onto naturals, Belgium La Lorraine (redder in person wet), Coticule, and a bunch of passes on my fat primative translucent Arkansas. Second time Im impressed with how sharp the La Lorraine gets the edge, easily shavable. Always unimpressed by this Coticule, mirrors bevel but seems to mellow the edge regardless of how I handle slurry. Ark brings edge right back to where I like it. This razor sharpened so easily, very thin/soft?

SRD 79 All Synth for fun: Shapton 1k 2k 5 Norton 8k, Shap 12k, Spyderco Fine smoothed with Extra Fine Diamond Plate, and 0.25 to 0.1 diamond paste. Will likely hit my SRD Thuringian hone after first shave if it leaves my face feeling synthetic sharp raw.

Lately I like to shave one side of face with each newly honed razor then pick the best for second pass. Setting the second aside for further honing. I slowly improve my razor set this way

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Cape 35 meets Black Escher Rock
An amazing experience using this stone which is my first try, 30 laps or so water only
I could write an essay on using stone and the feel of honing on the stone, to shave off something this old and rare was simply marvelous

My first attempt was fun and good result , but i must learn this black, hard, smooth, diamond
Shave Result, speechless, sharp, but smooth, smooth, smooth, smooth, then sharp and smooth,,,,
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It had a shobu mizu edge that had about 7 shaves on it,, tested wanted to do just 30 practice laps gets used to stone, etc,,, but 30 x, changed refined edges totally and made it extremely smooth and sharper,,,,,,stone surprises me
 
I am really really excited to shave with this 1st GEN Especial! I believe that I am dialing in how to get as much as possible in terms of sharpness and smoothness from this stone.

I am also having fun with trying the HHT on hairs so fine I can’t feel them between my fingers...I never would have even tried the HHT on hairs this fine a year ago!

Vr

Matt

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I am really really excited to shave with this 1st GEN Especial! I believe that I am dialing in how to get as much as possible in terms of sharpness and smoothness from this stone.

I am also having fun with trying the HHT on hairs so fine I can’t feel them between my fingers...I never would have even tried the HHT on hairs this fine a year ago!

Vr

Matt

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Setting the bevel on a newly acquired Wapienica…wow!!! Really had to crank it on a DMT progression and lose a healthy amount of steel off the spine before things straightened out. Went from 600 to 1200 to 8000 and finished on a Vermont green slate (about 10-12 k I am told). Hopefully it’ll shine tomorrow morning.
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….and it did. I ran this blade really hard on the DMTs; it needed it. The additional honing on the VT Green Slate really put the zap on this edge. Going to get going on a La Lune coming my way from RI. I have a Brian Brown which I have been coaxing along on an Arkansas progression. Methinks wonderful things are on the horizon with this stone. Zut Alors!!
 
I have Heljestrand 31, finished on a Vermont Green Slate, edge is on shave #14 on edge and razor edge shaves marvelous , considering VG stone in future [emoji3]
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Steve56

Ask me about shaving naked!
The new Tanifuji BaBa was up this afternoon, the edge looked excellent so I chose a Shapton Glass 3k HR and a Shapton Glass 8k HC for the bevel work with one layer of 1 mil Kapton. The bevel set almost instantly and I was getting silent HHT after the 8k and about 20 passes on the Kanoyama. The finisher is a huge Nakayama sunashi suita, just for hoots and giggles. Suita are not usually the best choice for razor finishing, but the sunashi (a suita without su, or holes) layer can be an exception. According to Takeshi. this layer is not always present and sits above the normal lower suita layers. They many times do not look like suita and can be exceptionally hard, fine, and fast as this one is. Anyway if it isn’t the best edge I have a darned good start on it!

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touched up the Hart steel.

light on slurry thickness.

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sticky 1/4 hollow.

camo
Nice razor. What is the trick to get the most out of these hart razors. I have two 7/8", and only one i can get a comfortable edge on. I get the best result using Jnat, but really inconsistent. They hold the edge really well, but as i like the crisp of the stone feel, i don't like edges that have been used for months. I also enjoy honing, but this one have been a challenge.
 
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