A Beaujeu Dumontel in Aluminum scales that came to me in bad shape.
The wedge was way too big and the blade would lay way too far into them.
So I disassembled it, replace the wedge with a thinner one, repolished the aluminum body and honed it.
I was not expecting to have much time tonight so I just grabbed the DMT, King 1/6 and set of gems.
The blade is a near wedge and turned out to be difficult to set the bevel on.
Puma Inox Special for the Japanese market refinished on a Nakayama kanmaki koppa. This little hone has been getting extra attention lately because it's been putting really smooth edges on razors, even difficult ones like this full-hollow Puma with the "frozen" stainless steel. The razor is a fine one, but likes to take an aggressive edge if you don't take some steps to prevent it. This hone has been performing well with a variety of blades, and the edge on the Puma finished up as smooth or smoother than anything else I've thrown at it. I actually finished the razor on the other side of it just because I could, it's a two-sided hone.
Since I tragically broke the Le Grelot #7 I was working on, I picked up a couple other things to hone.
First was a Fontenille Frameback "Le Mondain".
I went all synthetic on it. DMT600, King 1K, Norton 4K, Norton 8K, King 6K, Shapton 12K, Shapton 16k.
Stropped, tried a hanging hair test and it was not good enough. So I took out a couple of agate and fixed that.
Then came a mysterious, large un-named French razor. It came in Talisman coffin box, but it does not look like a Peroux Cognet to me.
This one had no honing mark and seems unused, yet very old. The metal was surprisingly hard for something that age too.
The progression on it went DMT600, King 1K, Norton 4K, Ruby, Norton 8K, King 6K, Jade, Shapton 12K, Shapton 16k, Orange Agate, Brown Agate.
40 minutes. Used a dremel to trim the heel first, then 400 atoma 45 degree angle but heel leadin so as to not stress the steel sideways, I didnt want the steel to grab and snap. then put it on a chosera 400 to reshape the bevel then 600 and up.
Another LeGrelot tonight. This one is a model #151 in 6/8
This one was un-eventfull.
Bevel set on DMT600 and King 1K.
I was too lazy to bring all the hones in. So I went with just the gems pouch.
Progression was Ruby, King 6K, grey Agate, Jade, Orange Agate with a final touch on the brown agate.
Here you go, Ian. I bought it on the French eBay, thinking it might be an old-school ochre coticule. Lapped to P400, it still oozes oil when used with water. I paid maybe twice what I should have, not realizing how small it is. Around a 34 x 80 mm surface area. Just enough for me to make a pass with a razor though.
Nice old unrestored 6/8 Anton Wingen Othello on a kanmaki Nakayama, nagura is a piece of stone Alex picked up at the Nakayama mine site in Japan! The Othello was Anton Wingen's flagship AFAIK, jimps top and bottom and a nice stiff hollow ground blade. All the Wingens I own are really fine razors and superbly ground, though they are conventionally styled - your father's razor.
A bengall and an american 5/8 "hackett all-right" from hackett, gates, and Hurty, st Paul, mn. Both honed on my 125x40mm la grise. Slowly getting better and better edges from that hone. I'm so far learning that less is more on slurry and more is more under running water
Here you go David, I've been meaning to hone one on that kanmaki which seems to especially well with hollows. A matched pair of 6/8 Boker 626g French points with three-pin butterscotch scales. The one on the left has never been honed, as I got the pair NOS. Been thinking about having MyCarver make a black-and-white gentleman's set with ivory and ebony (or black horn) scales. Very good shaving razor, and I assume that because of the plain blades and generic boxes (which are still made by the same company after over 100 years) that they were made shortly after WWI when times were not quite back to normal.
Revisor had a 5/8 Boker French point with goldwash on their site a while back, and there were actually three in the same lot as mine, but ended up with only two. I've also seen old ads for French point Bokers, but don't remember which size.
I like shaving with a French point, it's easier to see what the tip is doing around ears and in the hollows on the side of the throat.