Who Here Shaves Off Diamond Paste?

[PanL]

Everything's arrived mates, balsa is 12 x 4 x 2. Will make 4 pieces tomorrow 6 x 3 x 1.
Regards.

 

[Twelvefret]

View attachment 1006518
Everything's arrived mates, balsa is 12 x 4 x 2. Will make 4 pieces tomorrow 6 x 3 x 1.
Regards.

You are in for some fine shaves!!

 

[Gravity]

I've been using diamond pasted balsa for the last year or so. 0.5, 0.25, and 0.1 micron progression after honing to 12k, and 0.1 micron after every shave for maintenance. Love the super sharp edges I get.

And yes, if you think you have applied enough paste, you've probably applied too much.

Where are you getting the .1 micron?

 

[kelbro]

Everything's arrived mates, balsa is 12 x 4 x 2. Will make 4 pieces tomorrow 6 x 3 x 1.
Regards.

How do those numbers work out?

 

[RumpleBearskin]

Where are you getting the .1 micron?

I got all my pastes from Ted Pella about a year ago.

Diamond Polishing Compounds & Paste

 

[global_dev]

I've gone back and forth on honing concepts, tried very many, felt the "gaia" of natural stones and the relative ease of synthetics/film. They clearly aren't all the same in the end, even if honing isn't your game; however the following quote made be recall some articles I read last year, programs I watched or so about differences perceived vs actuality.

Mmmm its the same satisfaction as slowly melting dark chocolate in your mouth. Films get some fantastic results, especially with Picopaper(R) but there’s just no soul in disposable honing media. The subtle imperfections of stones bring a whole new zen to honing. I think even if I were doing pasted strop edges I’d still have to start them off a Coti/Ark/JNAT just to keep my sanity.

I’m not a honer believe it or not, I’m a daily shaver for work. 90% of my honing is in the garage on woodworking tools, my straights go about 20-40 shaves between honing.

The taste of the same chocolate by the same person is perceived differently by the shape of chocolate. IIRC, it was a star shape with defined edges vs a round (or a square). Every person who engaged in the test believed they were not from the same brick.

What that specifically adds to the finishing game, i don't know, but I absolutely love the feeling of the velvet squeegee and not every razor/finish combo gives me that feeling.

 

[kohalajohn]

@kohalajohn you might want to give Alex Gilmore a shout. He usually has a few hard grey stones that work like you’re describing, at competitive prices. If you’re stateside or don’t mind paying the freight, I can loan one to you to try out.

Steve, that's a very nice offer. I'll pm you.

 

[PanL]

You are in for some fine shaves!!

Super sharp edges, set up MK 31's on 20k synth and moved to balsa .25 and .1
First two shaves taught me a bloody lesson that a near very sharp straight requires more attention than a shavette. May be due to the length of the tradition SR blade. I use feather SS and DX with professional blades easily. Amazing experience, I will grab another balsa for .5 treatment apriori.

How do those numbers work out?

Plan was to split the two inch side to have two 12 x 1 pieces and further split them in four 6 x 4 x 1 and shorten the 4 inch to three. But I just split them in two 6 x 4 x 2 as below.