Quote Originally Posted by ddibling View Post
Ok, I know this is a newbie question. I know that because I am a newbie. I've been straight razor shaving for maybe three months now. I bought a "presharpened" Dovo from Classic Shaving and having been using it since I bought it.
I have to assume that it has been shaving fairly well until now???

My question is: how do I know when it's time to use the barber's hone, when is it time to go to the 4000/8000 stone?
Have you been using anything to re-fresh the edge until now???? other then the everyday stropping???

My razor shave pretty well, but I don't have any experience to compare it to. I can see a tiny nick in the blade. Plus, when I shave, I hear that rasping sound. I guess that's typical. But it seems like the razor is cutting some of the beard and leaving parts. So I'm wondering if I've over-stropped it (is that possible?) or does "presharpened" not mean "shave ready"?
The nick needs to come out of there, how big is it??? Just for this reason I would say it is time to get the 4k/8k out and get that edge back in shape....

Thanks,
Dean
Dean I hope this helps but that nick needs to come out of there, you might want to do some reading and watching over at the honing forum...
There are plenty of threads over there specifically about using the Norton 4k/8k and if you have problems just post another thread over there asking for help on the honing part.... The preshapened Dovo was most like shave ready when you got it, but about every 3-4 months on average, you need to at least tweak that edge up.....