- Thread starter
- #361
Yep that is what I meant! Wanna do a loan for an SE razor for an OC razor? Should be an interesting experience especially seeing how well the injector went.
Tom's Intro to Straights - Down the rabbit hole I go
- Thread starter sskim3
- Start date
Yep that is what I meant! Wanna do a loan for an SE razor for an OC razor? Should be an interesting experience especially seeing how well the injector went.
The fine folks over in THE Injector Razor Thread would probably be able to help ID the model for you, Tom.
Injectah! Great shave Tom. I still prefer my 1912 to my Schick injector, but the gap has closed somewhat. 
Hey, Tom, have a read on the interview with [MENTION=259]ouch[/MENTION] over in the Brown Leaf. He has a very simple way of describing Injector shaves. 
- Thread starter
- #365
Yep I got my details on the injectors! Good stuff!!!
So last night I busted out the Fredrick Reynolds razor that was a restoration project. I decided to give a whirl at honing on this just because it is a long term project.
I went thru the progressions with the tomo and nagura stones that I read and saw on YouTube. I appreciated [MENTION=31979]Gamma[/MENTION] where he did lots of research on JNATs. His website is invaluable IMHO.
Here is a pic of the Shobudani again with the stones:
After all is said and done, my first honing attempt was a fail. It seemed like I got a decent bezel on it. It was challenging getting it to a shave ready edge after going thru all the stones, slurries, dilutions, etc. Having spent 30-45 min I gave up and decided to go to bed.
A few hours later around 1:00 am, I couldn't fall asleep. I watched some more videos and read some more articles. I looked at the FR razor and remembered that the spine had loads of wear and I should probably tape it up to get the optimal angle to create a keen edge.
Around the same time I got the FR razor, I obtained a Kropp razor that is in great condition but it just wasn't shave ready. So I decided to give the Kropp a honing session since the spine looks to have very little home wear and the angles seem good to me. So I am not sure on what the best progressions should be but I decided to set the bezel using the tomo. This seemed to work well and I focused on creating more slurry than before to make it easier to use. Also when watching videos from JNS, they hone while holding the JNAT in their hands. I decided to do this as well. I could see how it helps with downward strokes and using gravity to move the slurry around. I have no idea on how long I spent with the tomo slurry but I seemed to get a decent bezel where it was uniform and very fine to the naked eye. I was satisfied with the result and moved on.
Without boring you, I went thru each nagura: the botan, tenjyou, mejiro. I couldn't tell you the differences in slurry. It was interesting seeing the evolution of each slurry and how the razor behaved with each one. You could feel how fast and slow the slurries affect the speed of the honing. When diluting, the stone gets super fast. All in all, I think I was honing for at least 45 minutes.
I did some stropping on nylon and leather. I took out the C-Mon since it came shave ready and compared the sharpness using the HHT. The Kropp was comparable except I had a few reservations if it was truly shave ready. I can't be that lucky to get it right on the 2nd try. Well I didn't shave last night and waiting for tomorrow (technically today) morning.
The set up:
Newly honed Kropp straight with ivory scales
Pannacrema Pure2O DFS
Muhle Black Synth Brush
Fine AB AS
I put my setup with things I know that work since I didn't want too many variables that would mess things up.
The first swipe it felt like my Wosty. I know this one was grounded in Hamburg so it's German and not Sheffield steel. There was a lot of audible feedback. I believe it is full hollow. So very solid. It wasn't the smoothest blade but it was sharp. I had to keep checking the blade to make sure my whiskers were disappearing. I still had the reservation that it wasn't cutting anything.
I did the rest of my 2.5 pass regiment and was left with a DFS/CCS. It cut but wasn't the smoothest. Since I had time, I decided to do a touch up pass to handle the rest. Before I did, I decided to strip 30x on the leather. Boy did that make a difference. The blade became super smooth and I was impressed with the performance. I took a second and realized I did not strop before the shave since I stropped it last night. Lessons learned. Left feeling with BBS and DFS on the jawline and neck.
I will make the note that I had a brain fart during one of the passes and nicked myself. I blame myself self doubting the blade and lost concentration. The stypic pen and alum block fixed that easily.
The post shave was interesting. Since I shaved a bit more I was expecting some sting but I didn't feel stinging on majority of my face. However there were a few spots on the jawline where the sting went to a 6/10 level - definitely woke me up. The AS had a nice mellow burn which was nice as well.
So last night I busted out the Fredrick Reynolds razor that was a restoration project. I decided to give a whirl at honing on this just because it is a long term project.
I went thru the progressions with the tomo and nagura stones that I read and saw on YouTube. I appreciated [MENTION=31979]Gamma[/MENTION] where he did lots of research on JNATs. His website is invaluable IMHO.
Here is a pic of the Shobudani again with the stones:
After all is said and done, my first honing attempt was a fail. It seemed like I got a decent bezel on it. It was challenging getting it to a shave ready edge after going thru all the stones, slurries, dilutions, etc. Having spent 30-45 min I gave up and decided to go to bed.
A few hours later around 1:00 am, I couldn't fall asleep. I watched some more videos and read some more articles. I looked at the FR razor and remembered that the spine had loads of wear and I should probably tape it up to get the optimal angle to create a keen edge.
Around the same time I got the FR razor, I obtained a Kropp razor that is in great condition but it just wasn't shave ready. So I decided to give the Kropp a honing session since the spine looks to have very little home wear and the angles seem good to me. So I am not sure on what the best progressions should be but I decided to set the bezel using the tomo. This seemed to work well and I focused on creating more slurry than before to make it easier to use. Also when watching videos from JNS, they hone while holding the JNAT in their hands. I decided to do this as well. I could see how it helps with downward strokes and using gravity to move the slurry around. I have no idea on how long I spent with the tomo slurry but I seemed to get a decent bezel where it was uniform and very fine to the naked eye. I was satisfied with the result and moved on.
Without boring you, I went thru each nagura: the botan, tenjyou, mejiro. I couldn't tell you the differences in slurry. It was interesting seeing the evolution of each slurry and how the razor behaved with each one. You could feel how fast and slow the slurries affect the speed of the honing. When diluting, the stone gets super fast. All in all, I think I was honing for at least 45 minutes.
I did some stropping on nylon and leather. I took out the C-Mon since it came shave ready and compared the sharpness using the HHT. The Kropp was comparable except I had a few reservations if it was truly shave ready. I can't be that lucky to get it right on the 2nd try. Well I didn't shave last night and waiting for tomorrow (technically today) morning.
The set up:
Newly honed Kropp straight with ivory scales
Pannacrema Pure2O DFS
Muhle Black Synth Brush
Fine AB AS
I put my setup with things I know that work since I didn't want too many variables that would mess things up.
The first swipe it felt like my Wosty. I know this one was grounded in Hamburg so it's German and not Sheffield steel. There was a lot of audible feedback. I believe it is full hollow. So very solid. It wasn't the smoothest blade but it was sharp. I had to keep checking the blade to make sure my whiskers were disappearing. I still had the reservation that it wasn't cutting anything.
I did the rest of my 2.5 pass regiment and was left with a DFS/CCS. It cut but wasn't the smoothest. Since I had time, I decided to do a touch up pass to handle the rest. Before I did, I decided to strip 30x on the leather. Boy did that make a difference. The blade became super smooth and I was impressed with the performance. I took a second and realized I did not strop before the shave since I stropped it last night. Lessons learned. Left feeling with BBS and DFS on the jawline and neck.
I will make the note that I had a brain fart during one of the passes and nicked myself. I blame myself self doubting the blade and lost concentration. The stypic pen and alum block fixed that easily.
The post shave was interesting. Since I shaved a bit more I was expecting some sting but I didn't feel stinging on majority of my face. However there were a few spots on the jawline where the sting went to a 6/10 level - definitely woke me up. The AS had a nice mellow burn which was nice as well.
Getting caught up - nice JNAT set up you've got there.
You are a funny guy Tom, getting out of bed to keep honing. Now that is dedication. From what I have learned, you can bevel set on the Botan Mikawa Nagura or on Yae Botan if you have it. Then progress to Tenjyou and Mejiro. The tomonagura should be the last step in the progression as a finishing step, and you can dilute the slurry much as you would with a Coti and finish on water only. Your Awasedo (Shobudani in this case) should be the finest cutting particles available to you, and I suspect that your tomonagura stone is a piece of Shobudani.
@Gamma promotes bevel setting on a 1K synthetic for those who are accustomed to using them, and refine out to 5K before switching to Botan. Then over time, back off to the 3K and go to Botan. I suspect that bevel setting on Botan only will require several refreshes of the slurry and careful observation of the bevel to ensure that it is set across the entire blade length before moving on to Tenjyou. It certainly can be done, and Iwasaki talks about this in his paper to barbers. But as @Gamma says, the bevel is not done until it is done.
If you do have a 1K stone (or equivalent in lapping film), you could certainly set the bevel with this, then go to Botan as well. But, it might take a few refreshes of Botan slurry to remove the scratches from the 1K.
@Gamma promotes bevel setting on a 1K synthetic for those who are accustomed to using them, and refine out to 5K before switching to Botan. Then over time, back off to the 3K and go to Botan. I suspect that bevel setting on Botan only will require several refreshes of the slurry and careful observation of the bevel to ensure that it is set across the entire blade length before moving on to Tenjyou. It certainly can be done, and Iwasaki talks about this in his paper to barbers. But as @Gamma says, the bevel is not done until it is done.
If you do have a 1K stone (or equivalent in lapping film), you could certainly set the bevel with this, then go to Botan as well. But, it might take a few refreshes of Botan slurry to remove the scratches from the 1K.
- Thread starter
- #369
Thank you sir! It has been an expensive month!
Hope you like it!
I will leave the tomo nagura for later then. So I guess for touch ups I can use the tomo and just water. I was wondering if I should use mejiro for touch ups.
I have a King 1K that I bought for kitchen knives. I would rather spend the time doing bevel to sharpening edge all on the JNAT. I am not a fan of the idea of going thru different stones for different tasks. It is a testament to my laziness.
It is one of the reasons why JNATs and Coticules appealed to me. I'll stick with the JNAT thought and see how it goes. For now, it is going better than I expected. Now I can do some touchups on some existing razors. Should be a fun time. My fiance will look at me like I am crazy. I am waiting for the day she realizes how many razors I actually have. LOL that will not be a fun time. I have a King 1K that I bought for kitchen knives. I would rather spend the time doing bevel to sharpening edge all on the JNAT. I am not a fan of the idea of going thru different stones for different tasks. It is a testament to my laziness.
Then you will want to start with Botan on the bevel set. There is also Yae Botan that is courser than Botan where you could also start. This Mikawa Nagura stone will not be that expensive as they are pretty plentiful. Regarding where to start refreshing, it really depends on how far gone the edge is. If you want to refresh an edge with 7 to 15 shaves or so on it, tomonagura will likely be enough. If you have 30 or more, you might want to start with Mejiro or even Tenjyou. Your setup should be maintain all of your razors. Where you might run into problems is if you get a vintage eBay or antique shop find where you have to set a good bevel to get into good steel. Here I would advise getting out the King. Theoretically, you can do it all on Botan, but you might have a bunch of work to do to get it set.
There is a Mikawa Nagura stone that is finer than Mejiro called Koma that could go in between Mejiro and tomonagura, but these stones are pretty pricy and are becoming rare. I would suggest working up a pretty good slurry with the tomonagura to follow the Mejiro, you should be fine.
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- Thread starter
- #372
Thanks guys for the feedback and support!
Last night I got home earlier than the fiancé. So to kill some time I freshened up two straights: the Dovo and Heljestrand No. 7. I think I did a third one but I don't remember which blade LOL
The last time I shaved with the Dovo, the edge was smooth but not as sharp. The No. 7 wasn't as smooth as I liked and I wanted to unleash the potential.
For both razors, I did the following:
1. Slurry with tomo
2. Circular motions 4x
3. Regular laps 10-15x
4. Clean the slurry
5. Use water only
6. Circular motion 4x
7. Regular laps 10-15x until it felt super smooth
8. Lap 40x on nylon
9. Lap 40x on leather
I forget which razor but I could feel the heel improving since there was more feedback and eventually you could feel the smoothness. A total success!
Today's shave:
CV Heljestrand No 7
Simpson Duke 3 in best
Penhaligon's Blenheim Bouquet Soap and AS
Clubman Citrus Musk
So the Duke is a soap killer. I loaded up 2x longer than I do with other brushes. It created a great lather and I really dig the softness of the hairs. I still have some reservations of the thickness of the handle. Not as comfortable as some of my other brushes like the Colonel and EJ Super.
Back to the shave:
MAN oh MaN. A refresh does wonders! After lapping again for another 30x on leather this morning, the first swipe was infinitely better than the last time. Super smooth and sharp. You can feel how hard the steel is compared to my English and German straights.
Did an easy 2.5 passes with minor touch ups. Left with a DFS+. Alum sting at 2 which is fine. Also, I got samples of clubman from @ciderguy. I decided to splash the Citrus Musk on. The burn was pretty mild. And the scent is a poor man's version of the Blenheim Bouquet. I get the same Citrus notes which made it a good pairing. I don't get the Musk part like I do with Aqua Velva though. It made a nice base layer for the Blenheim Bouquet AS balm though. Worked out pretty well. A few spritzes of the EdT and out the door I went.
Mail call:
Like I said, I have reservations on the size of the Duke 3 so I ended up getting a Duke 2. I sold off my Special the other day but the seller had it and the Razorock Plissoft for a good price. So I ended up with three brushes for a fair price.
Now to see how they hold up with the other brushes. Summary of my brushes now:
Boar:
Omega B&B 10th Anniversary
Omega 10072 (I think...)
Horsehair:
Vie Long Lord Randal with brown horsehair
Synthetic:
Muhle Silvertip Fibre Brush v2 (medium or large)
Muhle Black Fibre Brush (21 mm)
Maggard's Purple Marbled Synth (24 mm)
Razorock Plissoft
Badger:
Edwin Jagger Super Badger Brush (24 mm)
Simpson Duke 3 in Best
Simpson Duke 2 in Best
Simpson Colonel X2L in Best
Simpson Special 1 in Best
Simpson Wee Scot in Best
Last night I got home earlier than the fiancé. So to kill some time I freshened up two straights: the Dovo and Heljestrand No. 7. I think I did a third one but I don't remember which blade LOL
The last time I shaved with the Dovo, the edge was smooth but not as sharp. The No. 7 wasn't as smooth as I liked and I wanted to unleash the potential.
For both razors, I did the following:
1. Slurry with tomo
2. Circular motions 4x
3. Regular laps 10-15x
4. Clean the slurry
5. Use water only
6. Circular motion 4x
7. Regular laps 10-15x until it felt super smooth
8. Lap 40x on nylon
9. Lap 40x on leather
I forget which razor but I could feel the heel improving since there was more feedback and eventually you could feel the smoothness. A total success!
Today's shave:
CV Heljestrand No 7
Simpson Duke 3 in best
Penhaligon's Blenheim Bouquet Soap and AS
Clubman Citrus Musk
So the Duke is a soap killer. I loaded up 2x longer than I do with other brushes. It created a great lather and I really dig the softness of the hairs. I still have some reservations of the thickness of the handle. Not as comfortable as some of my other brushes like the Colonel and EJ Super.
Back to the shave:
MAN oh MaN. A refresh does wonders! After lapping again for another 30x on leather this morning, the first swipe was infinitely better than the last time. Super smooth and sharp. You can feel how hard the steel is compared to my English and German straights.
Did an easy 2.5 passes with minor touch ups. Left with a DFS+. Alum sting at 2 which is fine. Also, I got samples of clubman from @ciderguy. I decided to splash the Citrus Musk on. The burn was pretty mild. And the scent is a poor man's version of the Blenheim Bouquet. I get the same Citrus notes which made it a good pairing. I don't get the Musk part like I do with Aqua Velva though. It made a nice base layer for the Blenheim Bouquet AS balm though. Worked out pretty well. A few spritzes of the EdT and out the door I went.
Mail call:
Like I said, I have reservations on the size of the Duke 3 so I ended up getting a Duke 2. I sold off my Special the other day but the seller had it and the Razorock Plissoft for a good price. So I ended up with three brushes for a fair price.
Now to see how they hold up with the other brushes. Summary of my brushes now:
Boar:
Omega B&B 10th Anniversary
Omega 10072 (I think...)
Horsehair:
Vie Long Lord Randal with brown horsehair
Synthetic:
Muhle Silvertip Fibre Brush v2 (medium or large)
Muhle Black Fibre Brush (21 mm)
Maggard's Purple Marbled Synth (24 mm)
Razorock Plissoft
Badger:
Edwin Jagger Super Badger Brush (24 mm)
Simpson Duke 3 in Best
Simpson Duke 2 in Best
Simpson Colonel X2L in Best
Simpson Special 1 in Best
Simpson Wee Scot in Best
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Sounds like the previous hone was not quite there for the CVH, but you have it there now.
- Thread starter
- #375
Nice job on the 7 Tom, now for some serious business. You have one too many brushes, you need to send me one! Your new brushes explain why new shelving was necessary
Thanks guys! Dan, don't you have a new WW coming your way?
The AD is strong here... Stirling came out with a 26 mm Finest Badger. I heard good things about their 24mm version so I picked this one up along with their new scents. You are right though in the fact that I have too many brushes now. I will be sitting down at some point once my mail calls simmer down to see what are definite keepers and what should be PIF/sold. I already did a purge and I still have a lot of "junk".
I will add that you are the biggest enabler.
I did a count and now I am up to 15 straights and 2 injectors since I started the straight journey!
My entire razor "collection" is :
- 3 western straights
- 1 kamisori
- 2 Feather systems (Feather AC SS, CJB)
- 1 Injector
- 1 DE
- 1 Cart (Sensor)
- 3 western straights
- 1 kamisori
- 2 Feather systems (Feather AC SS, CJB)
- 1 Injector
- 1 DE
- 1 Cart (Sensor)
- Thread starter
- #377
Oh yea! It's ALL my fault!!
HAHAH - that made me busted out laughing at my desk! I am glad it is a quiet office today.
You sir have the ideal set up. A little bit of everything. I don't think I can narrow it down to just 3 straights though. I think the range of 5-10 should be a good number.
Great job on the honing Tom! I'd love to try out a Jnat finisher sometime, but I doubt that it's in the cards lol.
Tom,
Nice selection of brushes and gear. Glad that the honing was a success and the shave was very nice as a result!
Sent via Tapatalk from phone
Nice selection of brushes and gear. Glad that the honing was a success and the shave was very nice as a result!
Sent via Tapatalk from phone
Congrats on your honing success!
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