I cleaned, polished, and honed these three vintage razors a while ago, but didn't get to posting a mail call. The main act here is definitely the big Henckels 14:
It is in great condition, just a bit of surface corrosion at the toe where the hollow grind touches the scales. I'm always amazed by how quickly these extra hollow 14 razors hone up. It really barely takes any work to get a great edge. This is my third 14 razor, the other two being a Filarmónica 14 and a Henckels Friodur 14 (the stainless successor of this new acquisition). Two shaves with this were wonderful.
The little Puma 88 is a fairly standard ⅝" round tip German hollow ground, but it seems extremely well-made. The absolutely even stamp on the shank, the completely regular jimps, and the pretty scales with brass inlay and the stamp around the pivot pin all scream quality without opulence. I get the hard-to-describe feeling from this razor that I also get from a well made hammer or screw driver. Great shaver.
Finally, this poor Frio 72½ took some serious abuse from its previous owner. If you look closely, you can see that the bevel looks wavy around the middle of the blade.
Here's a close-up.
The reason is that the edge has been bent out of true in three places. When I bought the razor, the images for the offer were taken in a way that didn't show this issue. I almost tossed the razor after it arrived, but then I decided to give it a try and it turns out it has no impact on shave quality. I'm still not sure whether to keep this razor of PIF it maybe.
That sounds like a solid progression!
You can definitely get some super hard jnats that work wonders with stainless. My Nakayama is 5++ and it married super well with Infernals 17.
I hope you try some naturals at some point. They're fascinating, doubly so jnats imo.
Would you recommend something like this?
I'm still scared off by those prices
Yeah that price tag is a little of a 😬
But that stone is probably top tier. Not only really rare, it's kinda collectable I suppose too, as it has both Maruichi and Maruka stamps. Probably stamped during the transition of ownership from Kato (Maruichi) to Hatanaka (Maruka). Either way, either of those stamps guarantee quality.
You might be able to find something more reasonably priced, however. Ozuku, for example, are typically pretty damn hard. I don't think I've ever met a soft one (though admittedly I haven't met a lot 🤣). Other mines like Shobu and Aiiwatani are also pretty solid. You could find a really good stone for only a couple hundred to begin with.
One of the bigger price hikes on stones is mostly looks, believe it or not, over fineness. With exceptions, of course, like in the case of the rare and venerable Nakayama.
Ah, yes, I forgot that you honed Internal's 17.
Yeah, I'll inevitably end up trying natural stones at some point in the not too distant future.
Do you still regularly use you microscope while honing, or do you go by feel, mostly?
I look forward to when you take the plunge.
I go by feel mostly, but always have my microscope for that extra verification of consistency. I'm probably a lot more anal about it than I need to be.