ShavingUniverse.com

Register a free account now!

If you are registered, you get access to the members only section, can participate in the buy & sell second hand forum and last but not least you can reserve your preferred username before someone else takes it.

I think I'm back on track!

jfdupuis

Well-Known Member
Well after some "light" frustration with my Super Doll razor, I figured I would watch Bart's video again to see if I could spot something that would help..Well I think I might have figured what the problem was! After I got the razor to shave hair properly, I would add too little water during my dilution! I noticed that Bart would let 2-3 drops go on the stone at a time where I was putting one or maybe two.. Adding a bit more water after each dilution got the razor to give me a HHT-1 after the hone and a pretty decent HHT 3 after stropping. As I only realized that fairly late last night, I did not get a chance to do a proper amount of passes on water only. I'm sure when I try an additional 50-100 passes on water/lather tonight, I'll get even better results!

My only "negative" was that I dropped my slurry stone on the floor and it chipped the two corners pretty badly. It's still useable, but it's not perfect.

JF
 
Jean Francois You you heve rouding the stone corners with a DMT and thats all You are close to perfect as far as the honing.
Emmanuel
 
thanks! I think my past success with the stone was a result of adding more water with it. I guess you get rusty and forget proper techniques when you don't hone anything for a few weeks. I just ordered a new slurry stone from Jarrod at Superiorshave. Based on how my H. Diamond #1000 shaves, I think this one could very be a heck of a razor as well. I'll try more passes on water only tonight to see if it improves the HHT results.

JF
 
Lol! well looks like I'm gonna have to restart again tonight! I went home for lunch and thought I would give it a few more passes on water. Did about 40 of those and got a pretty decent HHT. After reading Bart's post on lather I thought eh what the heck let's lather up some cella. I put a fairly thick coat of lather on the hone and did a few passes. By the time I reached the 4-5 pass, the lather got sort of uneven and so did my stroke. A few "grinding sounds" later and I figured well maybe I should add some water instead. Did another 20 passes with watery lather and stropped. Unfortunately, the results were far from good and even worst than they were before the lather. I think I'll have to create a light slurry and work up another dilution. Oh well it's part of the fun I guess. Hopefully I can fix it fairly easily.

JF
 
Had a similar experience with Bart's lather technique, but without the grinding sounds.
I gave it a try trying to squeeze more out of a Boker, but only succeeded in reversing what I achieved previously.
My attempt was on the fast side of the Les Latneuses. I'm wondering if it's more successful off a smoother hone?
Chances are, it's just me...
 
It wasn't a very loud grinding sound, but I could feel some unwanted resistance. At least now I think I remember how to get good results with the dilucot. If I hadn't started at 11pm last night I would have finished the entire blade. Do you guys think I should go with light misty slurry or start all over again? I do know that I'll go to Home Depot and get some quality 3M tape. The blue one I used last night doesn't stick very well. That's what you get when you buy a 3 roll pack for $3 at Walmart.
 
If it was me, I'd go back to misty slurry first and see how that goes.
Sounds like you were almost there before the lather.
 
Don't use Cella. You need a hard shaving soap. (Cella might work, I didn't test it, but creams definitely do not work)
I'm now trying to rub the surface with a shaving stick, much like you would rub with a slurry stone. It seems to work better than with a brush, but I've only tried that twice.

The trick is to have the kind of coat that dried over 30-40 laps. By the end of it, you're done.

Jean-françois, that grinding sound probably comes from accidentally lifting the spine.

Kind regards,
Bart.
 
Bart. Am I right in understanding that we stop honing once the lather is dry, or is the idea to continue with more laps?
 
30 to 40 more laps once the soap has dried, and yes it feels as odd as it sounds ... Lol

Regards
Ralfson (Dr)
 
Well, I guess everyone ran for their rocks...:p

I tried this yesterday on a Les Latneuses that I do not yet know (found rock that,after lapping, wound up half hybrid and half creamy on the same side...) with MWF. Before it got dry I realized there was slurry in the soap, a good bit it seemed.
Maybe it took the edge down? Not quite sure but I re-did 60 laps on plain water afterwards anyway, so I must have not been too happy with it. Soap stick sounds like a good idea...

I do know that I have had phenomenal results off of dry coticules, most clearly and consistently from a La Grise combo I have (both sides). This seems to be a variant of dry honing?

But I didn't like the soap/slurry thing. I should try on another hone...

regards,
Torolf
 
RicTic said:
Bart. Am I right in understanding that we stop honing once the lather is dry, or is the idea to continue with more laps?
I do about 30/40 total. The surface starts drying after about 20.

I'll try to do a video one of the next days.

Kind regards,
Bart.
 
TM280 said:
Well, I guess everyone ran for their rocks...:p

I tried this yesterday on a Les Latneuses that I do not yet know (found rock that,after lapping, wound up half hybrid and half creamy on the same side...) with MWF. Before it got dry I realized there was slurry in the soap, a good bit it seemed.
Maybe it took the edge down? Not quite sure but I re-did 60 laps on plain water afterwards anyway, so I must have not been too happy with it. Soap stick sounds like a good idea...

But I didn't like the soap/slurry thing. I should try on another hone...

regards,
Torolf

Just for the record. Same experience, exactly.
Same coticule, same soap, same result.

That's why I asked about an alternative hone for better results.

@Bart...a vid would be perfect!!!
 
I just tried your lather method with a razor I can never hht and a bout that has beyond my skill until now and I had remarkable results. I used the moos by the way painted on thick and started with it wet and ended about 40 laps dry with not much success. I ran the brush over the coticule to moisten again and ended damp this time with amazing results.After stropping I have never had this blade so sharp. Thanks!!!
 
Bart said:
I'm now trying to rub the surface with a shaving stick, much like you would rub with a slurry stone. It seems to work better than with a brush, but I've only tried that twice.

I have yet to try the lather trick, but when after reading your method the first thing that popped in my mind was rubbing a soap stick (on its side) to coat the hone. I suppose Palmolive will be your weapon of choice? :D

EDIT: Bart, when you are rubbing the coticule with the soap stick is there any water involved in the process?
 
My moos is in a bowl. I used an old boar brush to work up a froth thicker than I would shave with and painted it on. My razor barely touched the hone from hydroplaning on the thick lather I had.
 
jkh said:
Bart said:
I'm now trying to rub the surface with a shaving stick, much like you would rub with a slurry stone. It seems to work better than with a brush, but I've only tried that twice.

I have yet to try the lather trick, but when after reading your method the first thing that popped in my mind was rubbing a soap stick (on its side) to coat the hone. I suppose Palmolive will be your weapon of choice? :D
Palmolive is much too good for that. :) (though I have tried it and it works)
I use a mixture of a couple of hard soaps that I didn't like and hoped to like better after I mixed them. It failed, so now I'm stick with this block of soap that I use to wash my hands and for lathering Coticules.

Kind regards,
Bart.
 
life2short1971 said:
I just tried your lather method with a razor I can never hht and a bout that has beyond my skill until now and I had remarkable results. I used the moos by the way painted on thick and started with it wet and ended about 40 laps dry with not much success. I ran the brush over the coticule to moisten again and ended damp this time with amazing results.After stropping I have never had this blade so sharp. Thanks!!!

life2short1971 said:
My moos is in a bowl. I used an old boar brush to work up a froth thicker than I would shave with and painted it on. My razor barely touched the hone from hydroplaning on the thick lather I had.

That's exactly how it works for me. Somehow, you have to manage to smother the surface of the hone with a coat of soap, with the edge riding on top, only barely touching the exposed peaks of the surface. It's not that difficult, but it does take a minimum of figuring out.

Thanks for posting about your success,

Bart.
 
Took the Super Doll back to the stone with my newly purchased 3M tape. It's a lot more expensive than the stuff I usually buy but it's worth the extra $$. After a bit of experimentation and a total of 1 layer of tape, the razor is passing the HHT with ease. Can't wait to shave with it in the morning.

On another note, I finally decided to use a cheese grader and make my own puck of Irish Moos and Palmolive. I had an empty Tabac container laying around and it's perfect. I know a lot of people enjoy shaving sticks, but I'm certainly not one of them.

My next one might be MWF + Speick...we'll see how my first experiment turns out.

Cheers,

JF
 
Back
Top