Earlier today, my friend Jay Dee's razors arrived in the mail. So after a quick visit to Walmart, I went home and got started on honing his razors:
Under the loupe, these razors were really rough. So I ended up using my friend, Anthony Esposito's honing method instead of a different one on each razor. The edges looked like they had some small chips and it also looked uneven all the way across:
Next I did the tap and wobble test which is where you lay the razor flat on a surface and tap the opposite corners of the razors. If it does not move you are good to go. If it does move, then you will have to do rolling "X" strokes to make sure you get the entire edge of the razor. Both razors passed the "tap and wobble" test :
Next up to make them look good and disinfect the razors, they got bath in Barbicide which does an amazing job at not only cleaning up a razor, but it polishes them up very nice:
A 10 minute soak is all that's needed to clean both of these straight razors:
Here's what they looked like after they've been soaked and rinsed:
Next to make sure that there's no water left in both the scales and around the pins, I used my air duster for electronics to dry the razors internally and I then wiped them down with a microfiber cloth. I also use the air duster twice to make sure they are indeed dry:
Here's what they look like after they've been wiped down with the microfiber towel:
The bevel basically needed to be reset on both razors after doing a couple of sessions to remove the small nicks and chips I saw under the loupe. So they got a little extra time on my Naniwa Professional (New Chosera) 600 grit stone. I also stropped both razors on the stone to ensure that they would have no issues in glide and to make sure that they're comfortable to use:
Next I hit the nylon webbing of my strop. I did 10 round trips and proceeded to the next stone which was a pure joy to use:
Jay Dee is in for a treat because I broke out the Soft Arkansas oil stone which does an amazing job at polishing the edge up and to make sure that the edges of both razors got a little extra polish to them. I performed 100 round trips followed by my usual 40/40, 20/20, 10/10, 5/5 seconds worth of half circles and then I did 10 round trips to clean it up a bit.I also stropped both razors on the stone to give both razors some extra polish:
This Soft Arkansas oil stone was amazing. The more I used it on both razors, the smoother and easier it became. Once you feel zero resistance you are finished with this fabulous oil stone and it cuts a little faster than a 2K stone but NOT as fast as a 1K stone. So I would put it somewhere around 1,500 grit give or take a little. And it left a very nice polished edge too. I also stropped on this stone as well for 10 round trips :
Next I hit the nylon webbing of my strop again:
Now to make sure that this razor would have a smooth and comfortable edge I went ahead and did my usual routine that I stated above which was 40/40, 20/20, 10/10, 5/5, followed by 10 round trips to clean up the edge and I also stropped on the stone as well for 10 round trips on the 4K side of my Norton water stone :
Next I went back to the nylon webbing of my strop:
Next up I did 3 sessions on the 8K side of my Norton with 10 stropping strokes between each session and I cleaned the stone off between each session as well. So 3 rounds of 40/40, 20/20, 10/10, 5/5, followed by 10 round trips to clean up the edge :
Now time for the full stropping routine which put a very nice polished edge on both razors. My stropping routine involves 10 round trips on the nylon webbing, 20 round trips on the scrub leather and 40 round trips on the smooth leather. Both razors look extremely good under the loupe:
Now they're all ready to be wrapped up and sent back out which will be tomorrow:
Once I get feedback from Jay Dee, I will determine what I need to do and start honing razors for others. I may need to change my technique and/or stones. I won't know until he shaves with them.
