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Honing Pif

You pay shipping both ways. I'll hone your razor.

1. No razor worth infinity billion dollars. Send me something cheap.
2. I don't tape, expect some spinewear if any sizable amount of work needs done.
3. If you just want to try a particularly stone, I'll be happy to put that edge on for you. If you're new/don't hone yourself, then I'll probably give you a Thuri edge for simplicities sake.
4. No wedges. I can't get a shave I'm happy with from a wedge, so I wouldn't feel comfortable sending one out as "honed". By a similar reasoning, no framebackes, etc. Basically just hollow grounds (anything 1/4 hollow and up is fine).

I'll do the first three that want it done. Feel free to send more than one razor (within reason), but expect a few days turnaround if there's any significant work to be done. If it's just touchup work, expect a day or two. Post here saying you want some razors honed, then I'll PM the first three with my info.
 

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Claudel Xerxes

Staff member
Not in, as the only two razors I have that are not shave ready are wedges (plus, I need something to mess around on that stone with).

Great PIF, though!
 
I'm in! I've got a couple razors that I can't get a decent edge on, so I've not used either of my straights yet. Though I do have a whipped dog strop kit on the way. I've got a Dovo and a gold dollar that I think is close to getting an edge. I'll be interested to see how close I am from something usable.
 
I agree, very nice PIF. This community really is something. Hope it works out for everyone involved.
 
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Lol, you're going to send a razor from Germany!? Talk to sharpchef, hatzicho or doorsch - one of them is sure to hook you up!
 
Ahhhh!!! I missed it :bored:...

Maybe next time, great PIF BTW :thumbup:

Im in Cachorro....if you want to sent me one you can do it....you can also choose your stone that you want on the edge...

Same regulations which Ian stated, i prefer using Tape....
 
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First package got here. Two GD's from "Thomtt".
Are these stock scales? If so their scales have REALLY improved. They feel a bit fat, but they're sturdy and the GD's I bought a few years back had these floppy scales that felt like a joke. I'll be working on these tonight (sun) or tomorrow. I'll take a before and after shot of the edge under the scope too, so we can see what a GD looks like pre and post hone.
 
I am glad they arrived, and yes those are the stock scales. I purchased them a few days before you posted your offer without a plan on how to get them shave ready. I had seen a few straights at local antique stores, but I still don't know all the things to look for when buying used. (Still learning) I ordered a bench strop today, and spending a lot of time reading and watching every video I can. I was a little worried you would be cursing me out for sending you a GD. One other thing those are two different models, even though they have the same scales, one is a 208, (carbon steel) and one is the 800 (stainless).
 
Did you do the grinding on the stabilizer or was that the vendor?

Their finishes were unusual. One was cutting hair (barely) at the toe only, the other at center blade only. One looked like it had been taped or (more likely) run over a pasted strop with a lot of slack, had a very definite secondary bevel on it. Neither looked like a stock GD edge, unless they're trying to clean them up a bit more these days (GD's used to ship with an ~60 grit grinding wheel finish on the edge).

I didn't keep up with which was which (but I suspect it was the latter; it's the 208), took a good bit of work to get the heel sharp. It kept foiling and breaking away (why I suspect it was the taped/slack-pasted razor, honing without hitting the edge due to a complex angle at the bevel (taping/slack pasting can cause this) can lead to this if you aren't paying attention, and I wasn't, I beveled these the first time in a bit of a rush before going to work) until I removed an appreciable amount of depth. Seems to be into good steel now. In either case, I definitely prefer the other, which was much easier to hone.

800's finished, pending a shave test, the 208 is at 8k right now, I'll probably finish it up tomorrow after I shave test the first.

These are the finishes on arrival. I'm guessing the first one is the 208, but I didn't think to track them throughout honing, so not sure. That's 400x, so the secondary bevel on the left is probably ballpark 20-30microns deep. I believe that I had to remove that plus a little bit to get a good edge on that razor at the heel.

And no worries about Gold dollars. They're not hard typically. Generally their poor grinding issues are less problematic than commonly encountered issues arising from poorly done honing in vintage razors pasts. I'll hone a stock GD over an extremely toe-heavy worn vintage any day of the week.

They do have a tendency to make poor contact at the heel on the face side, so when you hone them in the future, be aware of that. I suspect it's a problem with their hollowing method that isn't enough of an issue for them to bother fixing it.
 

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Cool. There was definitely some grinding done on the stabilizers, not a ton, but some; they may be doing that at the factory now after all the talk about how they don't sit on stones properly because of stabilizer issues.
 
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