Won't honing ruin the nice 14k inlay on the blade?

Hello all,

This is my first post and I have 2 questions.

1) When you hone a razor that has a very nice 14k gold or other pretty design on the blade, will it not be ruined by the honing stone? I have seen many videos on honing and they appear to lay the blade flat on the stone which it seems will damage the design on the blade.

and...

2) I plan on purchasing my first razor soon. The razor is a 5/8 Dovo Classic and I wonder if I should ask them to hone the blade for me for the first time. If not, will it come shave ready or can I get it shave ready by using a few runs on the strop? I would prefer to wait a while before spending the money on a stone.

Thanks,

KT

Honing will not affect the gold inlay, as they only (as far as
I know) put inlays on 1/2 - full hollow razors. On such blades,
only the bevel and the spine are contacting the hone.

- Scott

Hi KT, and welcome.

I'm a newbie too, but I hope I can help a bit. Most of the razors available now are full hollow ground, meaning that they hollow towards the middle (concave on both sides). Because they are not flat, the middle bit will never actually touch the hone, so the gold wash is safe.

As a response to your second question, YES! Get it honed by Lynn or someother SRP member so you know what a shave ready razor is like. Razors do not come sharp enough to shave with from the manufacturer. The strop doesn't actually sharpen the razor, but micro aligns the edge. Stropping is not a replacement for honing.

Hope this helps,

Mark

Thanks for the quick reply guys. I can tell this site is going to be a godsend.

Kyle

I bought a Dovo classic 5/8 razor.

I bought some honing supplies, and had the razor sent "as is." It took me about a week and a half of reading my brains off, honing and rehoning, just to get it to try to cut hair. The first shave was absolutly lousy, like the last one you'd try to squeek out of a singlebladed bic disposable before giving it the toss!

Over the last couple weeks I've been seeing steadily better results and really enjoying the learning process! I ought to get my razor professionally honed, but with persistence and experimentation, I think I'll be able to produce that quality of edge myself.

Learn to get by with the basics, and don't throw money at a dull edge!
(I read a similar quote on another thread - don't give me credit for this one)

I was recording today's blunders on another thread which I thought had a good idea for refining an edge which may be of help to you.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/showt...533#post149533