After a some false starts honing SE blades, I can say that the method has been perfected. What got me started was my very first SE shave, with a blue PAL carbon blade in the OCMM. It tugged and pulled something AWFUL, and I got to thinking, what can I do to make this blade better?
I took a PAL Blue, taped the spine, and gave it about 10 laps on a lathered barber hone. Light stropping on jeans. The result was an almost unbelievably glassy smooth and comfortable shave with the Micromatic, from a blade I had written off as total crap...
What I didn't realize at the time was that the angle on the 'honing' was all fucked up, as I discovered to my dismay after a marker test - the only thing I really did to the edge was the stropping - and let me tell you, denim jeans work GREAT on carbon SE blades. If you do nothing else, it's a no-brainer. If you have a hone of barber grade-up, then you can get serious about your edge. Sadly, that's not all there is to it. If you have already, or can obtain a vintage ASR STROPPING HANDLE, then you are GOLDEN!
I paid $12 for mine, which was part of a boxed Damaskeene set. The razor is truly gorgeous and very little used. Problem is, it's fucked because it had an aftermarket blade, SHA-VE-ZEE in it for the better part of a century. Interestingly, those blades are about .07mm bigger than normal GEM blades, which in addition to springing the spring on an otherwise cosmetically gorgeous Damaskeene, got me to thinking that these blades were meant to be honed, as there was quite a bit of extra metal at the edge end... Guess they didn't get the memo about how blades are supposed to quickly wear out and be replaced.
Well I have conducted numerous and ongoing experiments and determined that the vintage unpunched/notched blades take an incredibly sick edge, my current favorite is Ever-Ready Radio Blades. I got three of them included with my chrome cased E-R 1924 travel set, and so far the one I've been using is showing no signs of being ready for the blade slot.
I use 1 piece of electrical tape on the spine of the stropping handle. There are 2 reasons for this: firstly, it will preserve your vintage and in all likelihood irreplaceable handle from hone wear for at least your lifetime. Secundo, it increases the angle on the hone ever so slightly so that only the very cutting edge is honed.
My E-R blades were all pitted and nasty. The good news is that all 3 are totally sound, the pitting very much just surface and the very edge. I cut new bevels on them with the Naniwa 1000, and a few laps was all it took to eliminate the old pitted edge. Then a decent straight-ish progression, King Ice Bear 4k with slurry, then without slurry, C12k with heavy slurry though to clear water. Stropping progression is sham-wow, newspaper, leather. These blades KICK ASS
I feel sorry for all the SE guys who have put up with what they thought were good shaves. They owe it to themselves to see what those razors can do with a blade that is actually SHARP! For me, while the cheapness factor is already quite appealing, the real reason to do it is to make the blades actually sharp - the difference is pretty mindblowing.
And an instructional vid :
HONING:
STROPPING:
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