Earlier today, I knocked my razor off of a tissue box and it landed edge first on my bathroom countertop. I checked it and didn't see any damage but due to the way it landed, I pretty much knew that I was committed to doing a honing session as a result. But I didn't do my normal routine this time around because it wasn't needed. So lets get started:
First I started with the Naniwa Professional 600 and I did 40 seconds worth of half circles (Japanese style honing) on each side followed by 10 round trips to clean up the edge. I also did 10 round trips on the nylon webbing before going to the Norton 8K. On the Norton 8K I did 3 sessions of 40 half circles on each side and 10 round trips to clean up the edge with 10 round trips on the nylon webbing between each one and on the last session after doing 40 seconds worth of half circles, I did 20 round trips to clean up the edge a little more:
After I finished the 3rd session on the 8K I did a little tip that I learned from a friend before performing my full stropping routine. First I went ahead and did 10 round trips on the nylon webbing and 20 round trips on the scrub leather. Once that was done, I took the palm of my hand and rubbed the smooth leather side until it felt very warm to the touch. Once I got the smooth leather that warm I could definitely tell that it made a huge difference when I did my 40 round trips. It was effortless to strop while before I had some slight resistance:
The edge looks great under the Loupe and the true test will be tomorrow's shave. It took longer to photograph, write and post than it did to hone my Gold Dollar 209 using this technique.
