Carbon steel razor from the Philippines

[jayinhk]

I picked up two of these carbon steel straight razors in the Philippines a few months ago and I decided to try shaving with one. While it will (cleanly) take the hair off my arm, it will not shave anywhere near as smoothly as my Dovo Shavette. I've tried stropping it on a leather strop loaded with green compound and on my palm, but it doesn't seem to help much. I also see a slight burr on the edge. Anyone know how I can get this shave ready? Am I going to have to spring for a set of hones and learn how to hone it if I want to use it?

 

[killa_concept]

Yep - pretty much the case. Depending on the edge geometry, I've found that you can get a blade to shave arm-hair with as little as 220grit... try taking something like that to your face however, and you'll be sorry.

Green compound can be anywhere down to .5 microns which is about equivalent to 60,000 grit.... a few passes on such a super-fine, non-aggressive medium is obviously not going to wear away and polish the scratches left over from 400-600grit (what I'm assuming the razor is probably at) in any sort of timely manner.

That said, unless you plan on just stropping the razor for several weeks non-stop, the answer is yes - you will have to pick up some sharpening stones in a range of grits with a finishing stone of at least 8,000 or 12,000 grit to get a good, clean, tug-free shave. The stones leading up to that final step however, is completely dependent of how good the razor's edge is to begin with (i.e whether you have to completely re-establish the bevel, restore a dull edge, or just polish up an edge)

 

[jayinhk]

Thanks, I figured as much. I do have a range of stones, so I may try working my way up them first and then going to the strops (I have two). Alternatively, I may just put them up for sale since it sounds like it's going to be a lot of work!

 

[killa_concept]

Out of curiosity, what part of the Philippines are they from? I moved over here from there when I was 8ish and am going back to visit towards the latter part of April...

 

[Frank Raud]

You could always send them to a honemiester and get them professionally honed for about 20 bucks. Check on badger and Blade or Straight razor place for possible candidates.

 

[kg4ghn]

Larry at whippeddog.com does a great job and I think he only charges $13.

 

[jayinhk]

Killah: The razor is from Tabaco City, Albay (Bicol Region). Tabaco has a long tradition of bolo making. They have been making blades there for hundreds of years (well over 400)! Where in the Phils are you from?

Thanks for the suggestions guys--I might get it honed since it would be cool to shave with a Filipino razor! I see Larry at Whipped Dog accepts razors as payment for honing--I may take him up on that offer. Alternatively, I could get two honed and sell the other...

 

[killa_concept]

Killah: The razor is from Tabaco City, Albay (Bicol Region). Tabaco has a long tradition of bolo making. They have been making blades there for hundreds of years (well over 400)! Where in the Phils are you from?

Ah - I'm from a small town in Southern Leyte... Funny that you mention it, but one of the things on my to-do list is actually to pick up a forged bolo blade or two to sharpen up and make handles for. I might even see if I can get a blacksmith to hammer out a custom design for me :thumbup:

 

[jayinhk]

Leyte's beautiful! I've only explored the north (Ormoc to Tacloban), so I'd definitely like to see what the pandays in Southern Leyte are making! I'll be in Cebu next month, but I probably won't be out in Leyte this time. When's the last time you were out there? Are you Waray?

 

[jayinhk]

Just worked my straight through the following:

250 grit Japanese waterstone
1000 grit Japanese waterstone
Medium Sharpmaker rods
Fine Sharpmaker rods
Ultrafine Sharpmaker rods
Gray compound stropping
Green compound stropping
Belt stropping
T-shirt (I was wearing it) stropping
Palm stropping.

It shaved significantly better, but still not on my Shavette's level. I also pulled out a Chinese razor I bought in Guangzhou, China a few years ago. I'm just about ready to send them in for honing, but my worry is I won't be able to keep them shave ready after getting them honed...

 

[kg4ghn]

If you use whippeddog.com to hone for you, get a barber hone and some CrOx on some balsa and you should be able to do touchups with just that for a long long time unless you drop it or ding the edge.

Or you could buy a coticule and do your honing from bevel setting to finishing on one stone. That's what I use. www.thesuperiorshave.com is the best place to get one of those in the US. You can go for a cheaper bout(bout just means it is not a perfect rectangle) and get a slurry stone and be in business. If you decide to go that route I would suggest taking a look at www.coticule.be for usage tips.

 

[jayinhk]

Thanks kg4ghn, I really appreciate the advice. Just signed up at straightrazorplace and shot Larry an e-mail. The coticules look and sound interesting, but I think I'll take the easy option for now and just get a shave ready one.

I also found a carbon steel Chinese razor I bought in Guangzhou a few years ago--it's rusted up a little, but only on the spine. I might send both in for honing.

 

[kg4ghn]

Anytime.

Coticules can be a little daunting to learn to use to their maximum potential. I think they fit it well with the whole straight experience.

A barber's hone and some CrOx will work just as good for touchups though and are much easier to learn. Just keep the blade flat, the spine is a built in angle guide. Barber's hones tend to be very fast cutters, so 5-10 laps on the barber's hone then 10-20 laps on the CrOx and you are good to go again. Some people use just the barber's hone and are happy with it but they are a bit rough to me. The CrOx smooths it out a tad and adds a touch more keenness.

 

[jayinhk]

Any suggestions on where to get a good barber's hone? I'm probably going to go with Larry's poor man's strop kit. I wish knives had built in angle guides! Some of my balisongs are deeply hollowground the same way and called 'labaha' (straight razors). Some guys actually do shave with them!

 

[kg4ghn]

Larry sells barber's hones too. You can find them on ebay. And sometimes you can get lucky and find one in antique stores. They aren't made any more, so it's pretty much just looking until you find one.

 

[killa_concept]

Leyte's beautiful! I've only explored the north (Ormoc to Tacloban), so I'd definitely like to see what the pandays in Southern Leyte are making! I'll be in Cebu next month, but I probably won't be out in Leyte this time. When's the last time you were out there? Are you Waray?

Indeed it is! I'll actually be in Cebu for the first couple of days when we arrive towards the end of April (before heading out to Leyte and other parts)... the last time I was over there was way back in 2005 so it'll definitely be nice seeing relatives again after so long. Also, no - I'm not Waray (or at least I never knew the dialect) - the area I lived in largely spoke Visayan (though I've sadly forgotten how to speak it myself)

Larry sells barber's hones too. You can find them on ebay. And sometimes you can get lucky and find one in antique stores. They aren't made any more, so it's pretty much just looking until you find one.

Aren't they generally made of natural, very fine arkansas oil stone or what-have-you? What grit do those old style hones tend to be, roughly? I figure that those couldn't be much finer than a 6,000 grit waterstone which is what my current finest stone is (along with pure .3micron chromium oxide)

The thing that's been keeping me from trying out straight razor shaving is the rather high cost of 8,000 or 12,000 grit waterstones....

 

[kg4ghn]

Indeed it is! I'll actually be in Cebu for the first couple of days when we arrive towards the end of April (before heading out to Leyte and other parts)... the last time I was over there was way back in 2005 so it'll definitely be nice seeing relatives again after so long. Also, no - I'm not Waray (or at least I never knew the dialect) - the area I lived in largely spoke Visayan (though I've sadly forgotten how to speak it myself)



Aren't they generally made of natural, very fine arkansas oil stone or what-have-you? What grit do those old style hones tend to be, roughly? I figure that those couldn't be much finer than a 6,000 grit waterstone which is what my current finest stone is (along with pure .3micron chromium oxide)

The thing that's been keeping me from trying out straight razor shaving is the rather high cost of 8,000 or 12,000 grit waterstones....

Barbers hones are synthetic are are generally consider to be around 8000 grit. They do vary a lot though between brands and stuff. I don't know enough about the different brands to comment, only that I hear the name Swaty as a good one often.

EDIT: Here is a basic article describing barber hones: http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/index.php/Barber_hones

You can get a chinese 12k stone off of ebay for about $25 that works pretty good. It is slow though, and generally takes about 100-150 strokes to get to where it needs to be.

If you have your straight honed by somebody else, you can keep it shave ready for a long long time using just a chinese 12k or a barbers hone(and a CrOx pasted balsa strop if you find that too rough.)

 

[killa_concept]

You can get a chinese 12k stone off of ebay for about $25 that works pretty good. It is slow though, and generally takes about 100-150 strokes to get to where it needs to be.

If you have your straight honed by somebody else, you can keep it shave ready for a long long time using just a chinese 12k or a barbers hone(and a CrOx pasted balsa strop if you find that too rough.)

Hmmm - well I managed to find a pretty good sized (8 x 2.75 x 1.25) 12k natural waterstone for ~$40 (I figure I'll be using it for other knives and not just razors so a larger stone might come in handy)...

Do you think that between a DMT 6" Xcourse/Coarse, DMT 6" Fine/Xfine, 1200grit King waterstone, 6000grit King waterstone, this 12k natural waterstone, and .3micron chrom oxide powder on a leather strop, I'd be set to go to restore and maintain a straight?

 

[kg4ghn]

You are gonna need an 8k to bridge the gap between the 6k king and the 12k.

The DMT EE would be a good one since you like DMTs. The DMT EE is fast. Fast enough that your straight razor honing progression could be DMT EF(~1200grit) DMT EE(~8k) then your 12k stone. And then finish with the CrOx if you like. Anything coarser than a 1k is mainly used just for removing chips and major edge damage on a straight.

Then you should be set up to handle about anything.

 

[jayinhk]

Thanks guys--btw, I managed to get a comfortable shaving edge on my razor using my brother's dress belt! lol. I'm going to try honing the Chinese razor and I'm also buying a prehoned one from Larry to compare to my honing jobs. I picked up two more razors yesterday.

killa: Maayong gabii (Bisaya for good evening). I'm currently at an internet cafe in Manila. Sounds like we might be in Cebu around the same time! I did some reading on Southern Leyte and it sounds pretty interesting (although very, very quiet)! I might have to head out there at some point to check it out.