Good work there Johan and a novel way of trying out 4 razors. I am light years behind you as just about to complete my first full month of straight razor shaving. The odd nick but no cuts so far. With time will look to upgrade from my Gold Dollars to something of a better quality that’s assuming I’m still enjoying it. Enjoy the rest of your week
Ah, Undercut! I'm looking forward to using it on F1 Sundays. It seems like you're making great progress with honing. Being mindful of pressure, and of keeping it consistent is a big part of the feel of sharpening. Using sharpness testing (using a tomato in your case) really helps to monitor progress and not do too much, or too little, work. Finally, are you also inspecting the scratch pattern along both sides of the edge? This tells you whether the entire edge is being worked evenly and lets you know if you are getting all the way to the apex.
I am trying to inspect the edges in a loupe. I am working on changing the angle of the razor to the stone in order to change scratch patterns as I move to a new stone.
It seems to me that you are approaching this in the most effective way for learning it thoroughly. I think that razor honing is a skill that can be learned by most people, but time on the stones and being observant of your work is required to do it well.
There was a man who served as US Minister to Sweden in 1782. He was once credited with the saying “if you teach a young man to shave himself and keep his razor in order, you may contribute more to the happiness of his life than giving him 20 ounces of gold”. This man who thought that much about these grooming rituals we do as a hobby, went on to become the 6th President of the United States, Benjamin Franklin. Nice work.
FYI: You got part of that righ. The 6th president of the United States was John Quincy Adams. Benjamin Franklin was never a president, but he was the first US ambassador to France and Sweden 👍
If shaving feels like butter that must surely kmean that you've got a VERY soft and smooth skin, doesn't it? One supposes that if you pay for enough beers and drinks, Matti could end up matching your honing skills... (kidding!) Congratulations, you just found my pet peeve in English! * (Possibly mostly in American English.) Simply put, laying is a verb of motion: something or someone is moving towards a lower, possibly horizontal position. Lying is static: someone or something is as low and horizontal as intended, and remains there. You have the same difference in Swedish: there's a huge difference between "lägga på grillen" and "ligga på grillen". Remember that when you'r BBQing! *Don't be alarmed! Like Groucho Marx and his priciples, if you don't like them I have others.
