Thread: Been shaving two weeks, need help

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Originally Posted by gunslingor
So I have been using my striaght razor for two weeks now and need some help.

1 I have notice that it doesn't shave very closely. Any suggestions? I have 4/8k and 220/1k hones and leather linen strop. I have watched most if not all of the youtube viseos associated with shaving and honing. I am familar and trained in sharpening knifes and blades, but not high precision razors.

Razors are just a little different, although the principle is the same the actual outcome varies greatly, what kind of razor are you working on??? and was it honed by a reputable honemiester to start with???

2 Is it just me, or does the linen side actually dull the blade? The leather side seems to dull the blade as well, but not as bad. I only see this effect when I come right off the hone. Using the strop before a shave or halfway through a shave seems to help. Comments?

The linen and leather should absolutely not seem like they are dulling the blade , just the opposite in fact, Just from what I am reading it sounds to me as though you are lifting the spine... When you strop if you only pay attention to the spine and keeping it flat and smooth the blade will follow along correctly...

3. I have lines off grey on my hones. I think it is metal fragments that have worked there way into the cracks of the stone. Do I need to do anything about this?

This is like sharpening anything else on a stone, the swarf (metal particles) clog up the stone it needs to be kept clean so it cuts evenly and smoothly... Did you get the lapping stone also, and have you lapped yer hones already???

4. Everyone, please list any key steps you know of or suggestions for getting a super sharp blade with similar tools to the ones stated above.

The Norton Pyramid is a great starting place, but that is why I asked the question about who honed it originally to find out if the bevel had been set correctly...

5. It seems that, perhaps, the hairs are getting cut in a strange way, almost like they are being sliced long ways result in 1 of 2 split hairs. Comments?

1. I am the only one who has honed it. I wanted to learn how. Sending it off to somewhere wouldn't be teaching me anything, unless I get to watch somehow. The blade is the Dovo with the ebony handle. You can find it on most of the sites.

2. I am paying close attention to not lifting the spine. Perhaps I am applying to much pressure or letting the strop bend to much. Is it "the lighter the better"?

3. I do have the lapping stone. How often should one lap? Whenever one sees the metal buildup? Perhaps this is why the blade doesn't appear to be that sharp. I did an initial lap out of the box because the stones seems a little not flat. It was more noticable on the corser stones. How often should I hone the blade I have. 1 every month, 1 every 2 months, on average?

Originally Posted by gunslingor

1. I am the only one who has honed it. I wanted to learn how. Sending it off to somewhere wouldn't be teaching me anything, unless I get to watch somehow. The blade is the Dovo with the ebony handle. You can find it on most of the sites.

There is nothing wrong with jumping into the deep end right off the get go, but you have to expect to choke a few times while learning to swim... There is a lot to learn when switching to straights and trying to figure out where the actual problem lies when you are taking on all the variables is tuff... That's why most people get one razor honed first then proceed from there, to learn to shave, then when the first razor needs a touch up you can learn on one that you know has a proper bevel set on it and a touch up is fairly straight forward, this teaches the technique, then as you progress you can learn the harder parts of honing such as setting the bevel...

2. I am paying close attention to not lifting the spine. Perhaps I am applying to much pressure or letting the strop bend to much. Is it "the lighter the better"?

Light is better, but if you learn to only pay attention to the spine while stropping, everything else will take care of itself just keep the spine flat and move it smoothly on the strop which should be taut but not tight, this is what I mean there is a lot of adjustment that needs to take place as you progress...

3. I do have the lapping stone. How often should one lap? Whenever one sees the metal buildup? Perhaps this is why the blade doesn't appear to be that sharp. I did an initial lap out of the box because the stones seems a little not flat. It was more noticable on the corser stones. How often should I hone the blade I have. 1 every month, 1 every 2 months, on average?

I really recommend taping the spine since you are going after learning to hone by yourself here, One it will help by keeping the stoke toward the blade not the spine.. Two half the swarf so half the wear on razor and stone... Three no sense in burning up a new Dovo spine on learning to hone... 1 layer of 3m black plastic electrical tape is what I use ... As to lapping and re-honing thse are questions that are hard to answer, in general the time between honing will increase as your stropping techniques and shaving tehniques improve...
You really need to learn the magic marker test before going back to the hones, it will show you what the bevel looks like very easily...
If you are going to try and learn everything at once this adventure is going to take quite awhile... Trust me here as everyone else is going to tell you it is well worth the money to have the razor honed correctly once so at least you have some good shaving under yer belt and have an idea of what to shoot for when you try honing again down the road....

PS; If you were to search back in some of my first posts on here I used to believe the same as you, that everyone should learn to hone their own razors... But when I started restoring them I found that new razors today are not pre-honed at the factory like they were in years gone by, so I changed my view on this... getting the bevel set correctly the first time is the key...

I was reluctant to send mine out to a honemiester at first and I had more then a few to start. Until I got a truly shave ready pro honed razor I didn't know what I was missing. Even then the technique had to catch up to the quality of the edge.

My advice is to go to Straight Razor Designs or one of the other vendors on SRP and buy an entry level Dovo or whatever pre honed. Send your razor to a honemiester and get some ebay specials to practice honing.

Go to the SRP Wiki and read the tutorials on honing and look at Lynn's and heavydutysg's videos on honing. If you've already done the vids and the tutorials do it again.

You are best off honing with a flat stone. You can do it with sandpaper on a flat surface if you don't want to spend the $$ on a lapping plate. There are tutorials on that too in the forum archives if not in the Wiki.

I second Glen's suggestion on taping the spine with one layer of electrical tape. If you can find an experienced member close by who knows how to hone and is willing to show you that would be very cool too.

Does anyone know of a honemaster around chattanooga (GA, TN, NC, AL, KY). I have looked on this site, but none of the honemaster seem to list their locations.

Originally Posted by gunslingor

Does anyone know of a honemaster around chattanooga (GA, TN, NC, AL, KY). I have looked on this site, but none of the honemaster seem to list their locations.

I know that Lynn and I both are planning on hitting the Asheville NC meet up in June if yer at all close to there you should mark the first weekend in June on your Calendar and try and make it... Doc has a thread going here about it http://straightrazorpalace.com/get-t...gathering.html

Originally Posted by gssixgun

I know that Lynn and I both are planning on hitting the Asheville NC meet up in June if yer at all close to there you should mark the first weekend in June on your Calendar and try and make it... Doc has a thread going here about it http://straightrazorpalace.com/get-t...gathering.html

Hey, thanks.

I will definitely try to make it.