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Hone Evaluation Strategies?

wdwrx

Well-Known Member
I was hoping that some of the vets would pipe up and talk a bit about what strategies they use to evaluate the different aspects of differing veins.
I'm curious to know what different things you look for. Testing procedures and bench marks, that type of thing.
And how you exploit those differences.

And what about the shave test? What does that mean to you, a whole on shave, a dry pass done the cheek? Does anyone use Barts' Shave Evaluation Form? I've tried that a few times, but I'm not always clear when a shave that returned less than optinmal results is a factor of my own technique or my honing. (It takes a juxtapostiion of both to pull off a great shave...:blush: )


Cheers,
-Chris
 
Chris The perfect shave is subjective.As the perfect honing is subjective too.Both marching
alongside.For me a perfect honing is:to reach clearly at HHT#4 before stroping.I can succeed
this result every time but usualy with my heritage vintage coticules but i am not up to date
to tell you from which vein was extracted. I am disposed to expose them for ID.Same perfect
result succeed with newer coticules like my La GB or my La verte,with my La Dressante i never
reach more than HHT#3 and i believe is not a question of the coticule type ,is the size ,because this stone has:200mmX65MM and coticule thickness 12mm(without the base)So i believe that i cant manipulate on my palm .Me too i have to pose a question :have all the layers
same garnets size 5 to 20 micron and feeling a hone coarser is the garnets biger or the binder synthesis more coarse.Now i like to tell you which shave is perfect for me. When i feel nothong
after aluminum or a splash after shave.When i feel beard after 8 hours without irritation.
Thats my subjective perception for both: honing and shave.
Best Regards
Emmanuel
 
Thanks Emmanuel,
You're very much correct, almost every thing we do here is subjective. The perfect shave for me doesn't always show up until the next day, and I've yet to not notice that I was using the Alum block. Now and again I've come close, but those days when I can feel the burn i just know I've messed it up.:thumbdown:
 
Not having done it as much as Bart, or ever asking him how he does it, I just run a standard dilucot method. Based on the results, I modify things until I get good results. Then, I work to make it more consistent. I have yet to develop a "quick" evaluation protocol. I spend a lot of time with each new stone.
 
Every hone in the Vault is tested in the same fashion:

Bart said:
My procedure for testing a Coticule is to hone 3 razors on it and test shave with them:

1. I hone a Double Arrow with the Unicot method. The razor is dulled by rubbing it over a glass object. During the bevel correction stage, I need to undo the double bevel of the previous Unicot. When the razor start shaving my armhair again, I estimate the keeness limit of slurry. For that I have 3 levels: +:shaves my armhair barely, ++:shaves my armhair well, +++ sufficient to shave my face (and get a decent shave out of it).After that, I take it through the taped step of Unicot. After stropping, the razor gets testshaved, usually together with another freshly honed razor, one for each half of my face. The edge is checked for anomalies under the mictroscope, before and after the test shave.

2. I hone a random razor with the Dilucot method. This is mostly a razor that was send to me for the free honing service offered on Coticule.be. All razors I hone are predulled on glass. Next I correct the bevel, estimate the keeness limit again (note that we're talking about the same Coticule as used for razor1) and take it through dilucot. When the edge passes my standardized HHT, I strop 60linen/60leather and check under the microscope, and put it aside for testshaving.

3. Identical as 2, but with another razor.

I keep notes of all the peculiarities while honing and testshaving. Eventually, I fill in a test form for the tested Coticule, that get's published on Coticule.be

Occasionally, I do an additional a side by side comparison of 2 different Coticules' edges, by honing up two identical razors and test shave with them.
My test shaving procedure is a constant as humanly possible. I won't bore you any further with also elaborating on that.

Kind regards,
Bart.
 
Hi criss,

i generaly use dilucot. the ideal shave for me is the most efortless glide throught stubble and absalutley smooth edge , that glides over skin.

i set bevel i use a quik tpt , then watch the slurry making sure it under cuts the whole edge . then i check on arm hair. then i do the dilucot. If i'm not there i also just try every thing i can think of to improve. If i am there i still try for more. I use certain type of hair for testing at differant levels. if the test's pass. i'm guranteed a nice shave . i can spend 10 to 30 minutes from start to finish. I can spend 1ten minutes to two hours tinkering, thats when it gets frustrating. I then go back to the same razor next day . Normaly every thing seems to get there much better, may be due to resting the razor and my self.

gary
 
Thanks guys!
There's that unicot thing again.... why do i never think of it on my own?:blink: I'll have to try that one....
Otherwise, that's pretty much what I've been doing; just playing with it, and tinkering.
I guess the motivation behind the question comes from working with the bout I got from Jarrod. I'd requested a very fast stone as it was to be used for work, and it seems to me that it is prone to lots of slurry dulling (low keenness limit off slurry?), but i wasn't sure quite wether it was my imagination, or just inexperience.
 
Hey Hoser, I can't even tell you how I evaluate a stone, but it is a little different from the above suggestions. I just hone with it, but since I don't have to quantify characteristics like Bart does, I just let it flow into the memory bank. One dilucot on a blade you frequently test with, like Bart's Double Arrows, will give you a great idea. I think that is the key. I always use a blade that I know is capable of a great edge, and if the stone won't provide it, it's the stone. Knowing you better than some, I think you are way, way past where you believe you are and need to let the Zen magic happen. I don't know for sure, but I bet Bart can tell in a single minute the character of a stone with a few strokes of his razor. HHT4 off the hone and looking for more? You are a hoot, Chris.
 
wdwrx said:
...the motivation behind the question comes from working with the bout I got from Jarrod. I'd requested a very fast stone as it was to be used for work, and it seems to me that it is prone to lots of slurry dulling (low keenness limit off slurry?), but i wasn't sure quite wether it was my imagination, or just inexperience.

Ah why didnt you say? faster Coticules tend to have that effect, as the extra garnets that make them fast, also gives more slurry dulling, its a question of getting the balance right with you slurry

Regards
Ralfson (Dr)
 
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