Post your latest progression.

It was Sheffield day today
A Wosty IXL Frameback and a W & B Masonic in Ivory shoes on my favorite Coticule

I've 2 Sheffield wedges waiting for me to get home. One is a 6/8 true wedge, the other is a 5/8 French point wedge. Both are giving me some challenges, but I will not be defeated! Or maybe I will, but at least I will give it my best!

Nice looking blades and coti!

I've 2 Sheffield wedges waiting for me to get home. One is a 6/8 true wedge, the other is a 5/8 French point wedge. Both are giving me some challenges, but I will not be defeated! Or maybe I will, but at least I will give it my best!
Nice looking blades and coti!

Don't let the steel wear you down, you wear it down.

The frame back was a piece of cake but the W-B was a bear. It had a rough life before I saved it. The spine is narrower than the blade. It took 4 layers of tape to get the bevel angle under 20 degrees. Just took it for a test ride and it came out Coti smooth.

I woke up nice and early this morning, with nothing of importance to do other than sitting around, drinking some coffee. Naturally, I decided to finally tackle the big 6/8 Joseph Smith & Sons Sheffield wedge I picked up not long ago in a trade.

This blade had lots of uneven hone wear, a wide bevel, and during initial bevel testing, it was honing well behind the apex along the whole edge. I ended up using 4 full length pieces of 3m electrical tape, plus 2 centered pieces(to aid in a consistent rolling X) just to get the edge honing at the edge of the steel instead of several centimeters behind it. Using all this tape and a fairly heavy torque on a 600 grit diamond benchstone, I finally removed enough steel that the blade was honing at the edge along the entire length, except for about a 1/4" at the toe. Time to remove the tape and work on evening out the hone wear...

Being a full, true wedge, I was not really worried about removing too much steel. My primary concern was getting it to the point where it could be honed with 1 piece of tape or less, and a subtle rolling X, rather than the exaggerated monster I had been using to get the edge worn down.

It took some time, still on the 600 grit diamond benchstone, but I managed to get the hone wear and the bevel even on both sides along the entire length of the steel. It was fat, and fairly wide, though, and I was still missing a couple millimeters of edge at the toe.

So...I put on a single layer of tape, and did another bevel test using a fairly standard, and subtle, rolling X stroke, and VOILA!! Easy connection, at the edge, along the entire length!

It took about 3 hours altogether to get to the point that I was finally going to be able to hone this big girl with a reasonable amount of tape and a reasonable stroke, so I glassed the edge to start from scratch and pulled out the Mutukusuyama JNS 1k synthetic, set a quick and drama-free bevel, and easily progressed through the Red Aoto 4k, Naniwa SS 10k, and finished on Surgical Black Arkansas with clear and running water.

Once I got the geometry and edge issues worn down and squared away, the blade took a fantastic edge in less than 30 minutes. HHT 5+ holding the follicle end, all along the edge. I used one of my daughter's super-fine blonde hairs for testing, and found the edge to be extremely crisp at 8-10 different individual points along the edge.

Test shaved with B&M Seville with fantastic results!

I was doing a little testing the other night and I noticed an odd occurrence. I was setting a bevel on a blade that I had recently cleaned, but never honed. Bevel set very easy on the JNS 1k, and in just a few minutes I was getting easy tree topping on arm hair from the 1k. Better than usual to be honest. I had heard rumors of people tree topping from a 1k but never experienced it before the other night. Very exciting!

So I moved on to my midrange Red Aoto 5k, and within a few strokes, I was no longer able to tree top arm hair. It would shave cleanly enough, but no tree topping, which I thought was an odd deterioration at this point in the progression.

So I stopped, glasses the edge and went back to 1k and again brought it up to tree topping, very easily.

Under my loupe, the edge was quite clean looking. To get it to this point in a 1k took quite an effort to reduce pressure as much as possible, which worked to put a pretty decent polish on the edge.

Intrigued, I skipped the 5k. I skipped the 10k. I went straight to clear water in a Belgian coticule, and worked through to trickling water.

One of the nicest edges I have ever achieved, and I only used 2 stones and gradually decreasing pressure. Stripped and shaved for an absolutely wonderful clean and comfortable shave.

I'm very pleased with the results, and plan on further pushing the extent of the 1k and utilizing the 2 stone concept and testing other finishers in my collection!


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My current progression is Shapton HR Glass 500 and 1k for the problem children and the fist full of (Gold) Dollars.

My normal bevel setter and sequence is the Shapton Pro 2k followed by SP 5k and 8k.

Then, koma nagura (or a Naniwa 10k) and tomo on a jnat finisher of choice.

This sequence has been pretty bullet proof. I don't use the 500 and 1k much, but when you want to move metal a Shapton HR Glass is hard to beat.

Cheers, Steve

https://youtu.be/_mZKEwrbfIw
Honing pre bevel set. Shaping a blade.

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It has been a while since I did full progression and as a rare treat, I had a few spare Sunday hours. Thanks fall back time change. I  had these four German blades waiting there turn. Bevel set on 3K, refined on 4 and 8k. The two 6/8 blades finished on Coti with oil. The 7/8 and 8/8 finished on my unknown hone ( porcelain white Ark?) that leaves a edge as good as any of my Arks. Stroped on Tony Miller leather.

Refreshed a Henckels & Hammesfahr and a Wilhelm Mandt on a purple slate. I have been told it is either a Vosgienne or a Vermont slate. Whichever it is, it delivers a close comfortable shave

German touch-up day, steel and rock