Closed Pass Around: Hone Type 15 - Completed

Hone Type 15 - Shave #5 - The frozen Hone

MÜHLE 33K257 synthetic brush
Speick Men shaving cream
Lots of cold water
Hone Type 15 (head frozen overnight)
Feather blade (1)
Alum block
Speick Men ASL
Speick Men ASB

I'm not a fan of cold water shaves. They are fine if it is 40 degrees C and I'm shaving on a hotel terrace on a Greek island, overlooking the deep blue sea.
Nevermind. It's 14 degrees in London and I'm using the Hone Type 15. The head has been in the freezer overnight. Luckily I removed the handle from the freezer (thanks @Whosthedaddy - good call) otherwise I'm sure it would have stuck to my fingers.
The question is: Is the Hone Type 15 more aggressive when the head is cold? Or the other way round: Does heating it up expand the head slightly to make it milder?
After four shivering passes I can say with confidence that the answer is NO. It didn't feel all that different from the unshimmed hot Hone, just a lot colder. Just like its heat retention, the Hone's freeze retention is excellent. It felt icy cold on my skin right through the shave.
The alum block and aftershave agree with my judgement: Hardly any sting.
That's it. Sorted. I don't have to do this again. Except that I'm planning ‘the coldest shave on earth'. I'll use @Nishy's Stirling original glacial soap (the coldest soap on earth, he claims) with the frozen Hone and finish off with Alcolado Glacial. :eek:
Can't wait :rolleyes:
TBC...

Still waiting for the... errrmm... other razor to arrive... ;)
 
Hone Type 15 - Shave #6 - oil shave

King of Shaves Sensitive Oil
Hone Type 15
Feather blade (1)
Alum block
Speick Men ASL

I was wondering how the heavy and smooth Hone would cope with an oil shave. Being right handed I know that the best way (for me) to handle an oil shave is to apply the shaving oil with my left hand to the face and keep the right hand mostly oil free. The razor handle always picks up some oil when rinsing though. I tried picking up the Hone with my oily left hand and it is quite slippery, but not to the point where I wouldn't be able to use it without dropping it. Just a little concentration needed. In my right hand the handle was a a little bit slippery, but not excessively so. I don't have a porcelain sink to worry about though :D:D
Not much to report about the shave otherwise. A good, gentle, close shave. I'm now quite getting used to shaving without lather and not missing bits. The nicely hot brass head on my skin made a nice difference to yesterday's freezer shave.
Overall I prefer oil shaves with my rubber handled Schick N3 injector, but using the Hone Type 15 with shaving oil is definitely possible.
I'll briefly divert my attention to the Cobra Classic that arrived in the mail today, then I'll do ‘the coldest shave on earth' and then hopefully compare the Hone to… errr… the other razor I'm waiting for, then sending it back to Andrew @Hone
TBC...
 
Hone Type 15 - Shave #7 - The coldest shave in the world
¡Ay, caramba!

Ice cold shower - not really. I have my limits. :rolleyes:
Stirling original glacial soap
MÜHLE 33K257 brush
Plenty of cold water - with a few handful of ice cubes
Hone Type 15 - head frozen overnight
Feather blade (1)
Alum block
Frozen tap water ice lolly instead of cold water rinse
Alcolado Glacial ASL

Having established that freezing the Hone Type 15 doesn't actually make it more aggressive, I still have to try the coldest shave on earth. The frozen Hone Type 15 head will do a cold water shave paired with a sample of @Nishy's Stirling original glacial soap (the coldest soap on earth, he claims). To give me extra chill I won't do a cold water rinse at the end of the shave, but I'll use a home made tap water ice lolly instead. This is something I like doing when it's really hot. Alcolado Glacial is my favourite cooling ASL in really high temperatures.
I have pressed the sample of the Stirling glacial soap into a small plastic bowl. Then I had a sniff. Fresh! I did have to use one of those steam inhaler things years ago. You put some boiling water in it, then some menthol stuff and inhale. The soap smells just like that. Even without the hot water. This should be fun. I'm not expecting a blocked nose after this shave.
On with the shave!
I decide to face lather the soap for maximum impact. Immediately it reminds me of Vicks Vaporub :eek: I don't manage to get a voluminous lather, but it seems quite workable. I expect my eye to start watering, but there is only a slight sting. Not too bad. I give this soap 10/10 for freezing ability though. This is cold. The shave with the frozen Hone Type 15 is actually quite good. While the lather is quite thin it provides enough glide and cushion. I'm enjoying this, so I do four passes resulting in a very smooth shave. I didn't have a blocked nose when I started the shave, but I needed to blow my nose twice during the shave. They should sell this soap as a cold remedy.
The alum block doesn't sting at all. How could it? My skin is probably numb by now. After cleaning up my tools I remove the alum with a tap water ice lolly straight from the freezer. A trick for the hight of summer I picked up on a German YouTube channel a couple of years ago. This is actually the coldest bit of the shave. Goodness, my face now feels properly frozen. I finish off with Alcolado Glacial ASL. Amazingly this doesn't feel cold at all now, neither can I smell the menthol in it. No sting whatsoever, as my face is still anaesthetised.
I'm now clean shaven, wide awake and I can breathe freely.
Would I do this again? Hell, yes! But I'd wait until the temperature is in the 30s. This was fun and I highly recommended it. What a pity this soap is no longer being produced.
What about a mixture of a good shaving cream with some Vicks Vaporub? Would that work? I think I need to experiment later in the year, when it's really hot.
Thanks @Nishy, great soap pass around!
¡Ay, caramba!
I'm still waiting for the… errrrm… other razor to compare the brass Hone Type 15 to...
TBC….
 
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Interesting to read about your ice-shave, Andreas. Have to try that myself sometime, cannot imagine that it works ...

But next time you have to do it in a deep-freeze room, anything else is for amateurs :D
Next time would be at 40 degrees on a terrace overlooking the sea in Greece. Except I won't have a Hone Type 15 to freeze by then.. and no Stirling Glacial.. :rolleyes:
 
I'm now done with the Hone Type 15, now that the... errrm... mystery razor has arrived. I'll post another review in due course.
The Hone Type 15 is now back on its way to Andrew @Hone for inspection and cleaning.
Thanks to everyone who took part.
Watch this space.

  1. Bechet
  2. mikebrownington
  3. rowlers
  4. Stacy555
  5. george
  6. Nico1970
  7. MPH
  8. Whosthedaddy
  9. Sir_eider
  10. Tall_Paul
  11. Dipesh
  12. Geofnay
  13. p.b
  14. Shavejourneybadger
  15. riverrun
List closed. Pass around finished.

Legend: Currently with, On the way to, Waiting, Completed
 
The @Hone Type 15 is now back with Andrew in The Netherlands for inspection and cleaning.
Watch this space and the ↪Raffle section.
I have one more review of the Hone Type 15, comparing it to ... errrmm... another razor, but that will be posted in another thread once the draconian gagging order has been lifted.
The pass around is now officially completed.
...is quite nice as well :p
 
@riverrun and @everyone thank you so much for taking part, its been a great experience, and I loved watching all the reviews coming in.

The razor looks it handled it pretty darn well :) and I think really has a nice feel going on with the finish. Its well on its way to having a very cool patina (obviously this is subjective)... but if that's not your thing I am going to clean it up and create a short tutorial on how to clean it up so its 99% like new! :) Just a few camera issues before I could start hence the short delay... But I hope to get it up very soon and then get the raffle going.

Once more, just to say what a great community, and fantastic people the Shaving Room has. I hope to have another surprise to share with you soon :)
 
To close this great pass around out I have put together a little description of how I clean the Type 15 using the one from the pass around to prepare it for the raffle. I have put quite a bit of thought into this. It not easy to recommend one cleaner, or polish because there are different products all over the world, some harsher than others, as well as different availability. I also don't want people to have to buy something specialist or go through a convoluted process. Part of the story when I made the Type 15 was that you can influence the finish and keep it the way you like it. This can involve occasionally having to give the razor some attention and as such I have been keen to find a solution that is reliable, easy, and repeatable for any owner.

So to the razor, I thought it was looking great. I wasn't sure what to expect; being used, then sitting in the post for a few days at a time, and with some quite intensive disinfecting, different water quality, different soaps. That's quite a journey. Obviously the razor doesn't go from freshly machined to a perfect patina in a couple of weeks, its a cumulative process and it looked like it had really gained some character, and in a few more months would really start to look like a beautiful and unique piece; I know this is subjective, which is where some cleaning comes in.

The before photographs. (A quick note on the photography. I have tried to take photographs that are descriptive and represent the finish well. These aren't meant as stunning marketing images, but I hope instead show how effective the cleaning is and give a good real world impression, I think they still don't quite fully show how well this works, and If you want any more images I'm happy to provide them)

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Now to my cleaning technique...
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An old toothbrush and toothpaste! It really is that simple. Just run of the mill basic toothpaste! Its universally available, everyone already has it, its not expensive, its abrasive enough to remove surface contaminants and soft enough to not damage the surface. Its not dangerous, or corrosive, or damaging to the environment. (you don't even have to leave the bathroom to get it) And best of all it works fantastically.

DSCF0328.jpg

Taking pictures was somewhat of a struggle during the cleaning, but it only takes a small amount of toothpaste, and literally only takes 2 minutes to bring the surface up, it doesn't take much pressure or effort, the brush does all the work. Just rub the toothpaste all over the razor, that is literally it, it sounds a bit over simple perhaps but it doesn't need anything else.

And here is what it looks like once its finished.

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These pictures despite my best efforts (same exposure, and same light) don't completely show bright it is with only 5 minutes work, its night and day, the cleaned version is as fresh as when it is new, There are still a few marks mainly on the handle but 2 more minutes concentrating on those areas would easily remove them. (It can be hard to see which areas you have work on when its got toothpaste on it)

If anyone has any questions or comments as always I am happy to answer, I can't wait to get this razor into the raffle, all the proceeds of which will go to a charity donation.

Thank you so much for all your kind words, feedback and patience, its been a pleasure and I can't wait to share more of what I have planned for Hone with the forum in the future.

Andrew :).
 
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