A Smile on My Face

*contented sigh*


I just test shaved two freshly honed razors, and they were exquisite. It was a hone test, as well. I have a new, small Nakayama that I wanted to run though its paces and man, did it win.




I had two of the NOS Japanese razors that had been giving me a hard time--not dull, just a little tuggy, and they didn't respond to diamond paste. So I dulled them on a glass and worked up some honzan slurry on this little Nakayama.



One razor I used the old slurry stone I got from my barber, and one I used a small piece of Oozuku suita. The Suita was super hard, it took more than twice as long to work up a suitable slurry.

I went through three refreshes on each one. This stone was fantastic, slightly abrasive feedback and very very fast slurry darkening led me to believe that not only was it hard, but also a very fast hone. And the shave, off both razors, was perfect.

The stone was a real winner, and my face is reaping all the benefits!

A Suprising Coticule

Reading coticule.be gave me an urge to try one of these apparently unique, rare-ish "Les Latneuses" coticules.

I won't go into details about them, because I don't really know, but the difference about this is that they are a natural combination but instead of a BBW back, the coticule is fused with a greenish stone that seems to have properties very different to the coticule proper.

They're kind of hard to come by, from what they say, but I contacted Ardennes Coticule and they had one for me. I requested a bout (irregular piece) roughly 12.5cm x 2cm.

This is what I got:


It's not a bout--it's a perfect rectangle. Not only that, but it's THICK. But it was at a Bout price--apparently, because the back greenish half has some serious chips? I don't know, but I appreciate the price a lot.

Here's the chip, BTW:

I figure it's only a matter of time until the rest of it gives way, which is fine.

But here's the thing: This hone was the roughest I've ever gotten from anyone. It was covered in deep, coarse scratches and very strongly "domed" in the middle. It needed serious lapping. The coticule side was easy--ten minutes, it was smooth and flat.

The back, "hybrid" side (as Bart sometimes calls it) was...different.

After 3++ hours on a 400 grit diamond plate, it was ALMOST flat. Flat enough to use. I still haven't smoothed it bast there, and this stone is hard enough that I refuse to use it without smoothing it up to 1000 grit, at least.

Freaking HARD. Possible the hardest stone I've lapped--the Frankonian took longer, but it was bigger--more surface area to remove.

But that was only the beginning of the surprises, as this picture will show:


And this one:


Yep. The stone split in two. As I was taking the pictures this evening, I picked it up by the top half and, with a quiet "crack", the top came off in my hand. I didn't drop it, or bump it, or anything...it just came apart.

Soooo...that's not too cool.

I'm still not sure what to do with it. Any suggestions?

Couple More Videos

A nice little Karasu stone gave me a surprise.


I've had this little, thin Karasu plate for a while but I never gave it much thought because the size and shape are so awkward. But I was playing around and gave it a few strokes with a knife and MAN, it was fast. It felt so different from my other awasedo that I thought I might give it a try with a Takamitou kamisori that I haven't had the best of luck honing up. And I ALSO just won a new video camera in a drawing so I thought I'd record the whole thing.

I started by dulling the razor, a la Bart's coticule honing. It had a decent bevel, but the edge just wasn't up to snuff. I figured resetting it would be a good place to start. Then I ran a full honing nagura regimen, Botan->Tenjou->Koma->Tomonagura. Total honing time from absolute beginning, including testing, washing the stone, etc. was 25 minutes. Note: for time, I edited out most arm hair tests and the between-nagura washing. Always wash your stone between each nagura step.

Enjoy!





The stone itself is perhaps the best quality hone I've laid hands on. It's the magic combination of fast and smooth, with incredible feedback, and the edge on this razor was gorgeous. Too bad I don't have a bigger, better shaped one...

How many times...

Do I have to learn the same lessons?

I was honing a chip out of my new takamitou kamisori and trying a new mix--naniwa ss 1000 to take out the damage, aoto to clean up the bevel and then finishing on a Maruoyama Aisa with judicious use of slurry throughout.

I got to the final stage and I was unsure how to proceed. The Maruo stones are softer than the honzan stones I'm used to so they aren't really suited for tomonagura use; they release slurry on their own. This means that for the final finish, pressure is a bad thing. So, like I said, in testing the setup, I was unsure of myself...and I skimped.

The finishing stage went on a while, me honing with small strokes on water only, no pressure, just the slurry released by the razor. I was using the arm hair test to check the edge-I've honed enough now that I can see a strong correlation between the way the edge cuts arm hair and the way it shaves. The edge was popping a few hairs, but it wasn't really hitting what I'd call a good aht, and so I cheated. I stropped.

I KNOW this doesn't work for me. If I can't get a good aht off the hones, then I can't get a good shave. But I thought "well, I'm not really sure of this stone so let's just try one more time." I stropped 20 on linen, then 30 on smooth cordovan, and got a great aht. I knew I would, I've done this before. I also knew how the shave would turn out....

Crappy.

I don't know what it is, what's happening at the very edge that makes stropping an incomplete edge give a great aht but a terrible shave, but I've tested it plenty and it's not failed yet. If I don't cheat, if I hone until the edge actually slices hair cleanly a good half inch off my skin without stropping, then I'm confident I'll get a good shave.

So if I know this, then why did I cheat the edge? Laziness? Perverse curiosity? Masochism? All of the above?

Who knows! But now i have to go back and figure out where to start fixing that kamisori. It's a good thing I enjoy honing.

Did I show you this?

Cause it's really worth looking at...

Naomi-san seems to have found the motherlode of NOS Japanese razors. They've been sitting in the storehouses of old Barber supply shops in Tokyo for 40 odd years, and now they're in MY house, waiting for people to buy them. I've been asked to sell these on consignment, for Naomi-san. My fee for this is one of each...and I'm more than happy with that, indeed. But if you'd like to get one of these, and support a lovely man and his family in the process, please take a look at the page on Kanayama Cordovan Strops.

I don't usually like advertising my commercial sites here, but seriously, look how gorgeous these are...I get to play with these, man. Opening up these boxes was like going back in time, to when straight razors were a dime a dozen.





This one is cool. A Solingen made stainless razor, but all marked up for the Italian market. They even include some cool paperwork.


My Italian is a bit rusty, but I think its clear that you've got a Warranty/certificate of quality, and a not on use (strop carefully, etc.).

Then we've got this cool one. It's a "Rugby" razor, a wedge made from "Austrian Phoenix Steel".





That certificate reads something like this:
"Rugby razors are made using Phoenix EVH steel from the world's top specialty steel maker, Austria's "Schoeller-Bleckmann". Because they are given careful heat treatment in the forge, hollow ground and polished to our country's highest standards, the cutting edge and durability are perfect.
Rugby Razors are tempered one by one, and their cutting edge is fully inspected, so they are ready to use as is. However, from the second shave on, stropping on a top quality strop is necessary.
For normal professional use, the 18mm No. 1961 hollow-ground razor is recommended; the 17mm [trans.note--this must be from edge to bottom of spine--I measured 20mm] half-hollow No. 1072 is best suited for those with particularly tough beards."

My particular favorite among the bunch is this FON razor, made from Hitachi R.s.c.-2 steel.


Just gorgeous.

There are more, of course, but these are the ones that really stood out.

They shave, of course, like a dream...when they're well honed. Which is easily done.

You know what?

Japan is MADE of hones.

Now, I'm not saying that every rock you find laying around here is going to put some awesome edge on your knife or razor. But as far as being able to grind steel, I think it's way more common than you might think.

This isn't so far fetched, you know. People (my folks and others) used to sharpen their kitchen knives on the front porch steps, or on the bottom of a pot or whatever abrasive you could find. And stone, being what it is, is all about abrasives. Now, of course not literally every stone is going to work as a great hone, but I genuinely believe that most of them will do the job for most basic use.

The thing that really drove this home was this list I found at Hamono no asobi (Japanese link). That page features a list of the professional hone mines that are known to the author...and there are a TON of them. Not only are there a lot of mines, but they're spread out all over the country. Of the 47 prefectures in Japan, there are 29 listed there. What's more, I know that list is incomplete because it doesn't list the Iwakuni mine which was in business until the 1980's...so that's 30 prefectures, and then there are the smaller local mines that never really got professional, so there's a good chance that there are hone mines in every single prefecture in this country.

Not all of these are of the extremely high quality of the Kyoto finishing stones, though there are others that supposedly rival them. Most of the mines produce rougher utility hones, for home and garden use. But they do the job, and they were useful enough to make some people enough money to justify the work in digging them out.

They're all types, as well. Volcanic accretions, sandstones, shales and more...all kinds. Even something called "tuff" which, you know...weird.

So I guess my point is...OK, maybe I don't have a point. But it's pretty cool, don't you think? A lot of us, me and you who tend to read this blog, are so fascinated with these beautiful, exciting rocks that are, in fact, the bones of this country, and the bones run all over.

I really need to learn about Petrology. Any recommendations?