Honing Rolls Razor

[SiR-ed8]

I've been using Rolls Razor for some time and am really impressed with it. I wish I'd started it sooner along with SR. Anyway I reckon if I can hone a straight I should try it with an SE and see how it goes.

Don't mind the spastic movements ( if any ) I was trying to keep my arm stationary while carefully honing the wedge.

I used Norton 4000/8000 combo and finished with Guangxi natural. I'm no expert with honing SE wedges but am glad mine were shaveready after the fact.

Legend
5/5 - 5 strokes on 4k and 5 strokes on 8k is 1 set. Then you proceed to
3/3 - 3 strokes on 4k and 3 strokes on 8k and so forth. Once you've pyramid down to 1/5 you finished 1 pyramid set.

Or:

Norton 4000
5 strokes

Norton 8000
5 strokes

Norton 4000
3 strokes

Norton 8000
3 strokes

Norton 4000
1 stroke

Norton 8000
3 strokes

Norton 4000
1 stroke

Norton 8000
5 strokes

= 1 pyramid set

Don't do 8 sets of 5 strokes on both Norton 4k and 8k.

Before dry shaving strop first.

You can check the edge by dry shaving small section of your face ( I did sideburns and cheek ) or you can go for another pyramid set which what I did.

My wedges as I recall glided over whisker. So I checked my progression after 2 sets.

This is what it took to get my Rolls shaveready. Bear in mind yours can be less or more depending on the condition of edge. I was lucky mine didn't have any chipping or warping.


Progress:

Rolls Razor and Imperial 2

Norton 4k & 8k:
5/5 - 8 sets
3/3 - 8
1/3 - 8
1/5 - 8

Guangxi:
10 strokes - 10 sets

You can do increments of 15, 25 and so forth.

You obviously don't want to use Guangxi to finish the edge if you haven't shaveready edge.

Even after taking the guard off Rolls I couldn't perform a Hanging Hair Test ( HHT ). Granted it's not necessarily set in stone but nevertheless good guideline. To remedy this, instead I went for dry shave test as normally do after honing straights but not before stropping first and then finally an actual shave test.

*NOTE*
Also I realized after honing the Rolls the spine had significant wear in spite my leaving the weight of the wedge on the stone. When I got to the Imperial 2, I applied 1 layer of electrical tape which can be seen in the video.

It's not a lengthy video but you get the idea.

I was careful flipping the wedge. Even though it has a guard I didn't want to chance chipping it. Also, the entire honing surface is utilized so hone is even.

In the video: 5 strokes on 4k, 5 strokes on 8k

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10 strokes on Guangxi:

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[Arrowhead]

I did one of these recently for a member here, and found it frustrating. Setting the bevel was very easy indeed; getting it to something approaching shave readiness was fiddly and time consuming. I left the stropping to the user since I didn't have the handle. On the whole I'd far rather hone straights, but it was interesting experience.

My progression: 600 diamond plate (there were a few flea bites to hone out); unidentified slate; 6000 King waterstone; Thuringian. No tape.

 

[SiR-ed8]

Andy,

I can relate my friend. With those sets I did, it was indeed time consuming and I had the strop! I'm glad you were successful my friend.

I've been alternating between Rolls and I'd like to see how long the edge will last with daily use. Will update this thread when time comes.

BTW, did you leave the blade guard on? Initially took mine out on first Rolls but then left it on the Imperial.

 

[Arrowhead]

Well, I wasn't as successful as I'd hoped, and it was the stropping which finally sorted it out, apparently. I took the guard off, and if I was to do another one, yes, I'd leave it on, for obvious reasons.