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cmh737 Straight Venture Journal Continued
- Thread starter cmh737
- Start date
Sorry about the shave Chris I dont have the Surg black, however I can take a look at it and try some honing on it if you want to send it my way, It really should not be much different than the trans-ark. My progression after the Coti is this.. dont know if it will help
Once the blade sticks on water only on the coti, I strop 25 on linen and 50 on leather, then start on the ark with 3 drops of Smith's honing solution and 30 x laps, then add a drop of water, 30 straight laps alternating toe half, then heel half, till I get a partial stick, then under water x laps until it really sticks, then 10 laps spine leading. then 50 on leather
Once the blade sticks on water only on the coti, I strop 25 on linen and 50 on leather, then start on the ark with 3 drops of Smith's honing solution and 30 x laps, then add a drop of water, 30 straight laps alternating toe half, then heel half, till I get a partial stick, then under water x laps until it really sticks, then 10 laps spine leading. then 50 on leather
cmh737 said:
cmh737 said:
cmh737 said:I'm definitely all in for a honing meet up, for sure. And yepper, LOL, I haven't been able to crack the code with natural stones on a consistent basis yet.
maybe when we do the TSC Vegas meet up we have A honing session. Once our Media Forum is fully functional I am going to put up a full coti/ark progression video as well
From what i understand the Surgical Black ark is supposed to be one of the ultra-fine finishing options, outdone only by a good trans ark. I wouldn't be surprised if the sx ark's surface isn't true or lacks some sort of polish needed for success. I think the best thing to do with an Ark is to carefully wrap it in toilet paper and toss it in the trash...i failed to find personal success. I DID find a simple C-Nat (chinese natural) to be a decent finisher but the 15k welsh slate is more predictable.
Dave mentioned something else, STROP before finishing. I don't do this enough but when i do i get great results. If i have a blade that is giving me fits early in the progression i definitely stop and strop it silly. I found stropping on a hanging strip of balsa does a good job of breaking loose and removing a fin edge, which is often the reason my honing on stones fails to progress.
Dave mentioned something else, STROP before finishing. I don't do this enough but when i do i get great results. If i have a blade that is giving me fits early in the progression i definitely stop and strop it silly. I found stropping on a hanging strip of balsa does a good job of breaking loose and removing a fin edge, which is often the reason my honing on stones fails to progress.
Doing a little catching up. Congrats on the Torrey honing! Lol your pic makes the brush and scales look much better than my pic of them, and I've glad that you're happy with them. Sorry to hear about the Ark issues. If I manage to get back to honing, it will probably just be with my Norton stones and lapping film. The natural stones will have to wait until there is time to properly do the hone/assess/rinse-repeat cycle.
Well Chris is sending out here for eval, I am excited for the challenge, I know it has been lapped, and burnished as far as I know
CBLindsay said:
Well, supposedly, the Surgical Black is even more fine than the trans arks, but there are variances, I guess......and I've always incorporated stropping between progressions; at least it's helped with my synth honing.
Xenostr8shaver said:
Yes, it's flat flat flat, as Walt can attest. I sent it to him several months back and he verified that it is indeed flat.
Smattayu said:
Thanks, Eric. That brush knot is really something. I did an experiment with it last night - I wanted to see how it would lather Mystic Water here at my house. Yep, it worked very well, due to how dense it is.
SR Shave #577:
Yesterday, I honed another razor; the Robert Williams. I had recently honed it, but the edge was about a grade of "B" and wanted to kick it up a notch. I decided to use the Welsh slate trio that I recently received. CBL has used Welsh slates on a couple of my razors with outstanding results, so I decided to get some of these hones as well.
First, I went dilucot on one of my cotis, then went to the Welsh stones....these:
Result: Grade D
Sigh.....not sharp, not smooth. I managed to eek out an SAS result from two passes, but then cried, "Uncle". Why don't I just stick with my synthetics???? Or better yet, why don't I just stick with the Injector and DE's?
Anyway, at least the soap, brush, and aftershave were nice:
A recycled pic from a couple of months ago. But I totally dig the new Rudy Vey Manchurian knot!
Yesterday, I honed another razor; the Robert Williams. I had recently honed it, but the edge was about a grade of "B" and wanted to kick it up a notch. I decided to use the Welsh slate trio that I recently received. CBL has used Welsh slates on a couple of my razors with outstanding results, so I decided to get some of these hones as well.
First, I went dilucot on one of my cotis, then went to the Welsh stones....these:
Result: Grade DSigh.....not sharp, not smooth. I managed to eek out an SAS result from two passes, but then cried, "Uncle". Why don't I just stick with my synthetics???? Or better yet, why don't I just stick with the Injector and DE's?
Anyway, at least the soap, brush, and aftershave were nice:
A recycled pic from a couple of months ago. But I totally dig the new Rudy Vey Manchurian knot!
Nice photo Chris sorry about the honing woes again
SR Shave #578:
So, I have some encouraging news (for me, that is), regarding my natural stone honing odyssey.
I decided to take the Hayashi Diamond 1000, that I had honed last week with an all Ark progression (after the bevel set on the Chosera 1K) back to the Arks. However, I used a different soft Ark and hard Ark. The first go-around, I used the soft and hard Arks that I got from Dan's Whetstone. This time, I used the soft and hard Arks that I recently got from Natural Whetstone. The soft Ark from Natural Whetstone seems "softer" and definitely kicks up some black swarf quickly - way more than the Dan's stone. Plus, it's a cool looking marble colored stone! I did not reset the bevel on the Chosera 1K, but I did do bevel "refinement" on the soft, then went to the hard, then to the surgical black (the black is from Dan's).
Result: Grade B+
This is a smooth edge. And it provided for a wonderful 3 passer. The overall result was DFS(+). It needs a tad bit more keeness for me, though. Now, for someone who doesn't have a very thick beard, or finer whiskers than the copper safety wire that I have, this would be perfect. But I need to kick this up just a notch. As I was rummaging through one of my "soap drawers", I came across some diamond spray that I had gotten a year or so ago. I'm going to give this a try. I'm just debating on whether to use it with one of my linen-only strops, or go the balsa route. Any recommendations? At any rate, I'm not as agitated today as I was yesterday with regards to honing - LOL.
The rest of the set up was most enjoyable! Mike's Barbershop is my absolute, hands-down, favorite "barbershop" scented retail soap! I totally dig it! And the SV 70th aftershave paired perfectly with it. I rather like the 70th aftershave scent; much better than the soap, actually. The shaving soap's scent is too "cologney" for me, but the a/s is just right.
BTW, on a personal note: Today, April 12th, is a special date for me, since 2013. I have now gone five years without an adult beverage. Day by day, my friends.
So, I have some encouraging news (for me, that is), regarding my natural stone honing odyssey.
I decided to take the Hayashi Diamond 1000, that I had honed last week with an all Ark progression (after the bevel set on the Chosera 1K) back to the Arks. However, I used a different soft Ark and hard Ark. The first go-around, I used the soft and hard Arks that I got from Dan's Whetstone. This time, I used the soft and hard Arks that I recently got from Natural Whetstone. The soft Ark from Natural Whetstone seems "softer" and definitely kicks up some black swarf quickly - way more than the Dan's stone. Plus, it's a cool looking marble colored stone! I did not reset the bevel on the Chosera 1K, but I did do bevel "refinement" on the soft, then went to the hard, then to the surgical black (the black is from Dan's).
Result: Grade B+
This is a smooth edge. And it provided for a wonderful 3 passer. The overall result was DFS(+). It needs a tad bit more keeness for me, though. Now, for someone who doesn't have a very thick beard, or finer whiskers than the copper safety wire that I have, this would be perfect. But I need to kick this up just a notch. As I was rummaging through one of my "soap drawers", I came across some diamond spray that I had gotten a year or so ago. I'm going to give this a try. I'm just debating on whether to use it with one of my linen-only strops, or go the balsa route. Any recommendations? At any rate, I'm not as agitated today as I was yesterday with regards to honing - LOL.
The rest of the set up was most enjoyable! Mike's Barbershop is my absolute, hands-down, favorite "barbershop" scented retail soap! I totally dig it! And the SV 70th aftershave paired perfectly with it. I rather like the 70th aftershave scent; much better than the soap, actually. The shaving soap's scent is too "cologney" for me, but the a/s is just right.
BTW, on a personal note: Today, April 12th, is a special date for me, since 2013. I have now gone five years without an adult beverage. Day by day, my friends.
Great set-up Chris, and congrats on getting a useable edge on the Hayashi! IRT the diamond spray, I've personally not had good luck with them on linen/felt strops, so I would say a balsa treatment would be the way to go based off of Chris L's experiences.
ETA: I didn't see the note about the sobriety on first reading. Way to go! Quite an achievement, no matter how you look at it!
ETA: I didn't see the note about the sobriety on first reading. Way to go! Quite an achievement, no matter how you look at it!
