Yintal "HongT" SR (Unique Charm) from China

[rbscebu]

I have just received a PIF from @Phil Harmonica, a rare and much coveted Yintal "HongT" ⅞ carbon steel Dutch point straight razor dressed in red beechwood timber scales. If you are lucky, you may find some on AliExpress for about AU$5.00 each including shipping and GST. The one I received from @Phil Harmonica was new in box.

My initial observations are:

• The razor is well balanced at about the pivot pin.
• There do not appear to b e any geometry problems with the blade in either grind or profile.
• The pins are two-piece truncated conical type as used by Titan in their more economical models.
• The wedge is parallel of aluminium alloy (probably 6061T6).
• The scales feel almost plasticy but do look to be made of wood.
• The edge is sharp enough to shave arm hair but possibly not keen enough to shave with. An as-is shave test will tell.

Unfortunately my shave card is full for this week. My first chance to shave with this razor will be next Monday. I will report back then with what I discover.​

 

[rbscebu]

This morning was my first shave with this razor and using the factory edge. It only lasted the first pass where it was almost painful to use and left a lot of my silken whiskers untouched.

​

This afternoon I will put this razor over the stones and see what I find.

 

[rbscebu]

First thing was to perform a sharpie test. This showed that the bevel was not in line with the spine-wear area - very common with factory edges. I needed to properly set the bevel before progressing up through my honing medium.

All my whetstones for this razor are economical Chinese synthetics and all honing is performed without tape. Starting with a 1k stone, I honed until the bevel just started to come into proper shape and then moved up to a 3k stone to finish the bevel setting. From the 3k, next was an 8k to finish off the whetstone work.

From the whetstones, I moved on to lapping films; 5µm (not really needed as it is about 6k but I like to do my honing this way), 3µm and finishing on 1µm. The blade was very sticky on the 1µm. Next was a full diamond pasted balsa strop progression; 0.5µm (about 50k) 60 laps, 0.25µm (about 100k) 90 laps and 0,1µm (about 200k) 120 laps. I finished with 60 laps on a 0.1µm hanging balsa strop.

The edge is now very comfortably tree-topping my chest hairs at about 10mm from the skin. Tomorrow another shave test.

Once I have finished playing with this razor, I will PIF it on P&C.

 

[rbscebu]

The shave-test this morning was a great improvement. The edge of this razor is now almost up to what I consider an acceptable standard.

After this morning's shave, I put the razor through another full diamond pasted balsa strop progression ready for tomorrow's shave. This will be repeated each day until there is no more noticeable improvement.

Another thing I look into doing is rounding off the outside edges of the scales. At present they are rather square. Rounding them off will give the razor a more comfortable feel in-hand.

 

[rbscebu]

Shaved with this razor Wednesday and this morning (Thursday). The blade's edge is now worthy enough for me to put my name to it.

After this morning's shave, I decided to round out the sharp corners on the scales. Started with 180 grit sandpaper, then 240, 400, 600. 1k and 2k. A final polish with Autosol brought back the original shine and then a good waxing was applied for protection. It is now looking and feeling better than ever. Time to PIF it.