I was getting ready for work on Wednesday and I lost grip on the shank of my razor. It clattered into the sink making sure that the edge stuck the counter, heel and toe on the way to the drain.

Crud. Cursory inspection revealed enough damage that the blade was taken out of the line-up, leaving me with only one shaver ready to go, and it also needs a touch-up hone.


Somewhat fortunately over the past several weeks I have been accumulating stones because I knew this day would come when I'd have to hone one one of my Dovos in order to be able to continue shaving. I even bought a couple of inexpensive straights to practice on, and I'm not even done working on the first one.

OK... Rookie on the field... Game Time. Gotta got to war with what ya got.

So. I get my razors all taped up and go directly to the Norton 4K/8K. I soaked the stone and went to work with the 4K on my 'damaged' blade. A few strokes on the 4K and I inspected the edge with a magnifier and could no longer see the little flattened dings along the edge. I thought "OK, good" and then did about twice as many strokes on the 8K side. I cleaned it up, wiped on a little oil and set it down to work on the second blade. A few strokes on the 8K on that one, clean and oil. Seemed easy.

I get up this morning and select the 'second' blade to shave. Wiped off the excess oil and stropped. It seemed noticeably sharper than before the hone, and that was good, but I noticed that my skin seemed an bit more irritated than usual after I had shaved and I'm curious. Is this an indication that the edge is not finished properly after honing or just that it's a bit sharper than I'm 'used' to?

In any case, I think my first emergency honing experience turned out well, and I'm looking forward to testing the work on the 'damaged' blade tomorrow or the day after. With luck, it will be good too.

I dinged a blade, but I knew that day would come. Sooner than I expected, but I was prepared and it worked out.

Or at least I think it's worked out.

I did take the precaution of ordering two new Dovos before I put steel to stone, just in case I screwed it up.

Mama didn't raise no fool.