Quote Originally Posted by mtstanley View Post
I've been shaving with a SR for two months now. My razor is a Dovo that was honed by Lynn, who did an excellent job. However, after two months and ~60 shaves (and some impatiance on my part) I finally thought it was dull enough to try to hone myself.
I purchased a 6x2 belgian coticule after I read all of the comments in the honing forum. I based this purchase on the comments about it having a dual honing role: providing a smooth edge with water only and the ability to reset a bevel with a slurry. I don't know enough about the stones to know if my stone is hard, soft, or otherwise.
Now to the honing.
I made a milky slurry, then honed 20 laps. After that I gave it 20 laps with water only. Then I shave tested it. It didn't seem as sharp as when Lynn honed it, so the next day I honed it more. I gave it 50 laps with a slurry, and about 30 with water only. Then I shave tested it. It seemed sharp, and did not pull, but still not as sharp as Lynn's honing.
I think this process was adaquate to give a good shave, but I know it can be sharper.
My question is whether or not any additional honing steps might give me a sharper edge prior to the polish? If so, then what?
By the way, it seems to pass the TNT and the TPT to the best of my noobie knowledge, although I am still working on those.
Any comments would be appreciated.
The TNT might dull your edge if you are doing it at a later stage of your honing, be careful to when you use it. You seems to be on the right track, I would just try some more laps on with plain water, if you watch the water on your hone you'll see it's pushed away from the edge at first and as the razor gets sharper it'll start to flow over the blade instead of being pushed away. To me this is a reliable measure of when to go for a test shave, for this to work your hone has to be flat, and it might take some practice to get it right. An easier approach would be to just do 10-20 laps with water and then test shave, repaet until the shave doesn't improve anymore.

From what I've read about Lynn's honing I think he has a few more trick up his sleeve than just a coticule and not to forget his experience from the thousands of razors he has honed over the years.