Not the sharpest of the bunch

Hey guys, im new to all this and have been soaking up all the info available. This site is great. I started off with a shavette about a month ago just to get the feel of it and have been doing pretty well. I finally purchased a Geo Wost. from an antique shop two weeks ago. I am not about to spend 100$ on a 4k/8k and actually got some stones from the father in law i have no clue as to theire grit but some of them seem pretty smooth. I tried my hand with the different stones and finished up on the smoothest one i had. The razor is not nearly has sharp has the disposable merkurs i used with my shavette. But none the less i was able to get it to shave the hair on my arm. ALthough its not even close to passsing the hanging hair test.

I then tried it on my side burns and experiences just the slightest pulling so i went ahead and prep up and actually got a much more confortable shave then when i use the shavette. Didnt even knick myself once and got a pretty close shave with one pass.

Is it possible to get a good shave with a razor that isnt at its sharpest? do you think i could get better results by getting a 8k stone? and if so does a ceramic 8k yield the same results as a norton 4k/8k wetstone?

Sounds to me like you're first time lucky. Get a few cheap blades to practice on and you might not need any more stones than you have. A good shave is the goal and a good shave was your result. Well done. :tu

X

I agree with X - all that matters is the shave. If it's sharp enough to shave properly and comfortably, it's sharp enough.

It's impossible to say whether you'd get a better result using an 8k stone if you don't know the grits of the ones you have already used. As to ceramic vs water, I have no idea. I've only ever used the Norton 4/8. Hopefully someone with experience with both will chip in. In the meantime, there's a bit of info. in this thread

http://straightrazorpalace.com/showt...t=ceramic+hone

James.

Yes if your satisfied with the shave so are we. Of course it isn't our faces were talking about it yours. Whether you would do better with a different honing routine is hard to say since we don't know how sharp your razor is only you do.

Fred,

The only suggestion I'd make is to get just one razor honed by Lynn. That way you'll have a good idea what a truly sharp razor feels like, and you can compare your current shaves to that.

I stubbornly resisted doing this, and I feel like I'm still working out kinks that I should have gotten past a long time ago...

Good luck,
Josh