When this one arrived I realized 'jumpin heck, this things a beast!' it was much bigger than I realized from the pictures. A quick measurement confirmed it as a 9/8 wedge (it does have a slight hollow grind to keep honing from being a nightmare, but it is very slight) it was also in amazing shape for a 120+ year old razor, original scales and all.
Naturally, I hade to touch it up on a coticule and take 'er for a test spin. well, here was the first challenge:
It didnt sit flat on the hone on one side. One side was perfect, the other side had a list. So, I did what I could to rock it a little during the hone passes to try and get the whole edge. Then I stroped the heck out of it, totally different sound than stroping the full hollow TIs that are my usual go to. A shave yielded less than stellar results, back to the drawing board.
For the second run, I tried the little 1.5" x 4" travel coticule I have in my shave kit:
Instead of using the usual edge leading routine over a hone on the table, I tried holding the blade stable and resting the hone on the top of it using small circular patterns running from the heel to the toe, both sides. Then stroped the heck out of it again. That yielded some very different results at the shave mirror, effortless stubble removal. Again, very different sound than the usual razors I use, silent and thorough. It is a beast to maneuver and I will be a student of this one for a while to come but its a pretty neat shaving experience.
Dave
