Thread: One down, lots more to go...

Thursday my DMT D8EE came, and yesterday (Friday--I know it's now sunday, but my day ends when I go to bed) my razor and strop go here. I had ordered a DOVO Classic Special from classicshaving, and an Illinois hanging strop.

Being an impulsive and independent sort, I figured I'd take the learning experience to hone up my razor myself, since there's no time like the present to learn. Following Joel's excellent guide, and Lynn's DVD, I spent a couple hours whittling away at my diamond plate. I finally got the bevel even (using my trusty sharpie that I use to check the bevels on all my knives), polished it up on the linen before moving to the leather side, then jumped in the shower to get ready to try it out.

The Bad:
It turns out that I was a little impatient with my honing, or maybe I over-honed, because by the time I was done it wasn't cutting very cleanly. It also turned out that I should have waited a couple of days for the last of my Fusion razor bumps to go away because I sliced off quite a few of them on my neck. My chin was a little sketchy, and I produced a little slice on one side, but not too bad there.

The Good:
On my cheeks and upper neck, right below my jawline, the shave in one pass WTG and one pass diagonally between XTG and ATG was incredible. So this evening I spent a little more time with the diamond plate and the linen, and I have high hopes that the next time will be better.

Nice work! Don't be too surprised/concerned if your progress is slow.