Thread: Is My Razor Sharp Enough?

Some good advice given so far I will throw in that since your new to the SR its going to be very hard for you to tell if problems shaving are from honing or shave technique.

If you want to do the honing yourself and don't want to buy a another SR that is shave ready I would suggest getting a shavvette so you can practice shaving with a known sharp razor.

Shavettes are not a perfect correlation to SR but a lot of the skills and techniques do cross over.

Originally Posted by eddy79

I would point out that we do use this test. If you can shave arm hair with no pulling or tugging without pressure then hopefully you have set the bevel. There's still a long way to go and it isn't something you're going to get first time. Send your razor to a pro and get a second cheaper decent quality razor to learn on. Good luck and any questions feel free to ask.

And to clarify; most of us, when we use an "arm hair test" are "tree-topping"

Instead of shaving at the skin level we pass the razor parallel to the arm at the mid point of the hair.
I use this test often, and when there is a cloud of hair on the blade I know I'm at least close....

Shaving at the skin level on arm hair has not been a good gauge of "shave ready" for me.

Good luck, you will be there soon...

Double clarify. At skin level is bevel set and tree topping half way up hair is shave ready. Sounds like you might be closer to bevel set

bluesman7, bouschie - I updated profile so maybe someone is close and we can get together.
apipeguy - Thanks. But someone stole my 12K! A brand new stone and I had to reorder.
criswilson10 - actually bought it from Lynn, and he tested before sending out. You mean to tell me that brand new stones are not flat? Especially Japanese stones? I spend 2 years in Japan, and one thing they pride themselves in is the highest quality. What am I missing here?
MJC - thanks, working on getting some mentoring.
rodb - OK will do when I get the replacement 12K.
Euclid440 - thanks a lot. Yes, I noticed that the edges were rough. I was concerned about that. I can see why that would be a problem. Wow! I didn't know I had to baby those stone so much.
eddy79 - Thanks. I'm picking up that I have a lot to learn.
mglindo - thanks for the encouraging words. I'll learn it.

I think there are quite a few users by you

This is what I was thinking too. I'm only 15 shaves into shaving with straights and I was wondering if you were having technique issues.

I don't know what issues I am having. Since I'm uneducated in these ways, I don't know what is wrong.

I actually bought one of those from Sally Beauty before I got my Dovo. Have tried it, but it seems rough w/a new blade. It was a 4 day old beard.

Originally Posted by gentisle

criswilson10 - actually bought it from Lynn, and he tested before sending out. You mean to tell me that brand new stones are not flat? Especially Japanese stones? I spend 2 years in Japan, and one thing they pride themselves in is the highest quality. What am I missing here?

It isn't so much that brand new stones are not flat, but you do need to 1 - make sure your stone is flat because razors are particularly picky, and 2 - ensure that the surface of the stone is prepared properly (this is the big one, particularly with Synthetics). When I first got my Norton 4k/8k combination stone they felt coarse - more like a 220/600 grit stone. And performed about the same until it was lapped and smoothed out properly. It gave me fits until I saw a video (I believe from Lynn) of someone prepping one for a straight that recommended lapping a good bit of the surface off before you were down to suitably smooth and usable material.

Some hones you can get away with just lapping. My guangxi hone was particularly finicky and I couldn't get a decent edge off it until I had polished it up to 8k (Wet or dry sand paper to 2k then the rest using my Norton hones) with a finish like a ceramic tile. It will vary from hone to hone.

Originally Posted by Marshal

It isn't so much that brand new stones are not flat, but you do need to 1 - make sure your stone is flat because razors are particularly picky, and 2 - ensure that the surface of the stone is prepared properly (this is the big one, particularly with Synthetics).

Hey thanks, I went looking for sand paper Christmas Eve, but the store where I went didn't have anything except small sheets. I'll try a hardware store tomorrow. Hopefully, I can find some. I also bought 1000 and 8000 stones of the same name. If I can get the sandpaper tomorrow, I intend to lap all four stones (Niwana 1K 5K 8K 12K), and then try to figure out the beveling. Driving a truck around all week, I don't have much free time, so it might take me a year or two at this speed. (Ha! Ha!)