Cleaning & Lapping Completed:

That was much easier than I thought it would be. Today I went and grabbed some 3M Wet/Dry sandpaper (black, 320 grit) which made quick work on both cleaning and lapping ALL of my stones. The Suehiro stones took the longest because I had to soak them for an hour before I could lap them. I also went around every corner and smoothed out every side of my stones. The corners came out especially good and smooth and so did the tops of the stones. This was extremely easy to do with 320 grit wet/dry sandpaper and now they're flat:

After lapping and cleaning them with the sandpaper, I noticed that there was no scratches left behind like there normally would be if I used a slurry stone or my diamond plate and that's a really good thing. I also noticed how fast slurry came up from every stone too. So that tells me I should look for a 320 grit (rough estimate) slurry stone that won't leave scratches behind:

So later on tonight, I will be looking at some true 8K stones and 320 grit slurry stones. I will see what I can find and go from there. I would love to get a Japanese natural Nagura set but we will see if I can swing it or not. I also found a 7 day razor set that was made in Soligen, Germany that caught my eye as well. 

Gusto & The 430:

Today's shave was great and very refreshing. It's been a while since I've used a beverage based soap and I was craving a citrus scented soap but didn't want any menthol today. So I grabbed Soap Commander and their fabulous Gusto scented soap. The scent on this soap is a very bright Raspberry Pink Lemonade scent which does make you crave the delicious beverage. And to finish off the shave, I went with Stirling Soaps Glacial Lemon Chill scented aftershave balm which has a slight amount of menthol compared to their over the top Lemon Chill scented soap which is awesome:

The 430 was great after I got it dialed in. I now know that I've been doing too much on the ILR. I found that it's best that I stop right after I use my fire hose strop instead of going back to the stone itself and repeating what I did before stropping the razor. If I don't stop, the edge is way too sharp for my sensitive skin and often leaves weepers. That's when things clicked. Once the razor gets extremely sticky and you have already turned the water up and have repeated this process, strop your razor and then stop. Do NOT go back and repeat what you did on the ILR earlier. If you do it will not be comfortable at all. I also just got through lapping and cleaning my stones with some 3M 320 grit Wet/Dry sandpaper. I'm currently waiting on my Suehiro water stones to soak before I will be completely finished and all of my stones will be cleaned and flat. I'm also looking at slurry stones as well. Even though my mighty mini water stone and diamond plate are great, I'm looking for something that's a little finer and smoother. So let the research begin.

Endurance & The 207:

This morning's shave was fabulous. Sorry for the delay folks. I've been crazy busy today and just barely had enough time to photograph and shave before going out the door this morning. Today I was craving a Vintage Old Spice scent so I went with Soap Commander and their fabulous Endurance Take Charge experience which includes but is not shown, their matching bath soap. And after I finished the take charge experience, I put on a nice healthy dose of Old Spice (modern version) aftershave splash which had a slight burn to it:

I ended up using my 207 yet again. While the edge on the 430 was good, I need to trim the heel and toe which I'm going to do a YouTube video on here shortly. I just have to charge my phone first though. I ended up getting a really nice and close 3 pass shave after switching razors: 

That's what has been causing issues with my 430. I needed to trim the heel and toe of the razor like you see on my Gold Dollar 207 shown above. Once that is done, I will reset the bevel and go from there. This should help make things a lot easier.

Honing Experiment!

Lets try this again. I'm not too eager to give up on my ZY razor just yet so I decided to kill the edge and start with the Norton 8K. I went ahead and just did simple "X" strokes until the razor started gliding across the stone with almost no effort. After that I went to my Jnat and worked up a slurry and slight diluted it. It only took roughly around 30 "X" strokes until the razor started sticking something fierce. Afterward I went ahead and did Dr. Matt's under running water technique with the Belgium Coticule and kept going until the razor was almost like glue in terms of gliding across the stone:

I'm more than confident that is what I needed to do with my ZY 430 razor to get it shave ready again. Hopefully this edge will be comfortable enough this time around. If it's not, then I will try again. I'm also looking at some Zeva straight razors that I found on EBay. They claim they're made in Soligen, Germany so maybe they will be pretty good.

WTF Cuban Tobacco & The 207:

This morning's shave ended up being great. Today is Tobacco Tuesday and so I went with Wet The Face and their fabulous Cuban Tobacco scented soap. The scent on this soap is a semi sweet Cuban Havana Cigar type of scent. And to finish off this morning's shave, I went full tilt and splashed on a healthy dose of the matching aftershave splash which is equally rich and bold:

This was the end of the line for the ZY 430. It was sharp and had no trouble removing my beard with the one swipe that I did with it, but it was far from comfortable. So I grabbed my 207 and it was perfect. I ended up with a slick as black ice post shave feel after 3 passes with the 207 which is all I'm going to use until I can some more razors in my collection.

Vision & The 207:

Today's shave felt great. Today is Sunday and that means Soap Commander Sunday is in full effect. And since it's officially summer now, I went with my all time personal favorite shave soap which is Soap Commander's "Vision" scent. The scent is their take on "Cool water" which is an Aqua, Amber and Mint scent. There is no menthol in the soap but it still has a chill about it due to the mint that's contained in the soap. And to finish off today's shave, I went with a nice healthy dose of Aqua Velva Classic Ice Blue aftershave splash and I followed that up with Soap Commander's Vision scented aftershave balm which does have menthol added in addition to the mint contained in the shave soap itself. That pretty much put the post shave feel over the top:

The 207 was perfect yet again. Before my shave, I took it to my fire hose strop for 10 round trips and that seriously made this the best edge I've ever used which says a lot. I've shaved off of Jnats, synthetics, the Apache Strata from several people and this Belgium Coticule edge puts them to shame in BOTH post shave quality and comfort. I don't want to shave off anything else but the Belgium Coticule period. They are that comfortable and efficient. I was slick as black ice after just performing 3 passes with no touch up spots at all. I also discovered that instead of going from North to South on my with the grain pass when shaving my neck area, I get a closer shave by going North to Southwest which just about eliminates doing touch up spots on my neck area.

C.a.D. & The 207:

Today's shave was excellent. Today is also "Cadusal Friday" over in the Google + community, How To Grow a Moustache. And since I was craving a barbershop scent, I decided to participate and grabbed Phoenix Artisan Accoutrement's C.a.D. matching set. The scent on this stuff is Barbersol Original canned shave foam that's on steroids. And I finished it off with a double dose of the matching aftershave splash which lasts 18+ hours:

The 207 was perfect yet again. I took it across my new Coticule and it was exactly like it was the day I bought it. Once I took it across my strops, I was dialed in perfectly. The result was a close and comfortable 3 pass shave that's slicker than black ice. For those of you wondering and still debating on whether or not to get a Coticule, get one. They are totally worth it and if you use Dr. Matt's under running water technique, don't worry about the razor not sticking like you have seen in his videos. Belgium Coticules are like that and usually around 20 to 40 simple "X" strokes is enough to get the razor where you want it to be. These edges are perfect for those with a heavy beard and super sensitive skin like I have.