Thread: Newbie here with some q's

Originally Posted by EvilDylan

Thanks for the words of advise guys. I did lap the stone first, I bought the flattening stone along with the 4k/8k. I considered not buying it at first but once I started lapping I noticed that the stone was actually not as flat as I thought it would be!

I figured the HHT was probably at the extreme end of the spectrum in terms of sharpness. The razor does pop hairs off my arm quite easily though and as mentioned before, the shave after the hone and stropping was one of my finest shaves yet. Almost BBS with 2 passes. My next few challenges are becoming proficient at honing and learning how to use my left hand a little better.

One thing to help train motor memory in your non-dominate hand is to brush your teeth with the off hand. It's not as risky as shaving with it.

Originally Posted by Kenrup

One thing to help train motor memory in your non-dominate hand is to brush your teeth with the off hand. It's not as risky as shaving with it.

that is a really good idea, I think I will start doing this to help my left hand shaving as well. It is also supposed to be good for the brain as it stimulates different parts of the brain.

Dylan,

The Dovo's are great razors and you will find that the shaves get better as your skills improve.

The "Thumb Nail Test" is used only during, and to test the progress of, your honing. Once learned, the TNT will reliably tell you when your razor is honed enough, or even when it is over or under honed.

The "Thumb Pad Test" done correctly, is used following stropping to judge the keeness of your razors edge. The keeness of the edge is directly proportional to it's shave quality (read - comfort and closeness).

The "Hanging Hair Test" - This is a tricky one, take it or leave it. It certainly makes sense to me that if a razor can properly pass the HHT the edge is pretty darn sharp and should shave very well. But--- Could a razor still shave and not pass the HHT? Yes. Could a razor "pass" the HHT and yet shave like crap? Yes.

Other than the actual shave itself, the Thumb Pad Test is the most reliable indicator of "shave readiness."

Sounds like you are off to a good start though.

Good luck,

Scott