which hones for a new DOVO

i know this must have been discussed time and time again..

if i purchase a new non shave ready dovo, what is required that i do to it to make it ready? im guessing it atleast has a bevel or some sort.. just not razor sharp..

my thinking was to order the dovo best quality razor from knifecenter and the spyderco ultra fine and a Tilly strop with the compound on the back? my other combo i was thinkin was a japanese water stone 1000/6000 combo and then a chinease 12k plus the tilly for final polish and strop. they both come out to about $50- $55 Is this enough to make the dovo shave ready as well as keep it sharp for the rest of its life?

i know i probably should just spend the extra money getting the shave ready one from SRD but i think i can do it myself.. if i cant, i will do it till i learn.... besides, i think it looks like fun... kinda have the "excaliber" myth to it.. i cant just give someone that satisfaction, let alone pay them for it..

is this a wise choice?

the condition on the edge varies, so to be on the safe side you'll need an intermediate hone on the 4000-5000 level and a finishing hone on the 8000 level.
the particular choice of hones will determine the amount of strokes you need for a given razor - some hones are faster than others.

i'd recommend the norton 4000/8000 combo, but you can pick anything else.

i dont mind taking time to do the honing. i just want a sharp edge in the end. the norton combo is lik 90 and readin that review comparing the 8 different types, it only got a c+ or somethin..

anything wrong with the japanese 1000/6000 then 12k chinease to tilly strop method??

Which review are you talking about?
Remember that a lot of people write reviews, not many of them know what they're doing, they just have big enough egos to claim they're the end word on the subject.

I have not used the japanese stones in question, however a 1000 grit hone is not necessary for a new dovo. That is hone for coarse work, like removing chips and setting the bevel on a razor. It will be detrimental to the edge of a factory dovo.

The chinese stone is a slow finishing stone. I personally wouldn't use it after 6000grit hone.

Your main problem is not going to be the hones you are using, but the lack of benchmark. Eventually you'll be able to hone your razor, the timeframe for that could be anything from a week to half a year. You'll likely end up accepting the dullest edge you can get away with as well, which isn't a bad thing.

I have to agree with Gugi. What you really need to do is to let someone else hone this one up for you so that you have a benchmark to attain, and then select another razor and try to bring it up to par. This way you can shave with the benchmark while learning to hone with the other. The norton 4/8 combo is probably the best stone to learn on.

+1 on having it professionally honed. I did that, even though I knew I wanted to hone my own razors. I acquired a practice razor to work on bevel setting before trying it on my primary shavers (although you don't really need to do that just for touch ups on a previously honed razor)

-Chief

You absolutely should have this razor honed by
a honemeister before shaving.

Additionally, the Spyderco UF is going to be too
fine to sharpen a factory-new Dovo in most cases.
The Fine + Ultra-fine would probably do it, though.

- Scott

I have the same question thanks to nun2sharp I have my answer. I am a little dubious of hone misters since the razor I ordered from was honed by a hone mister and came back to me so dull that it couldn't shave anything let alone a beard.

One additional question however - Does your answer differ for a Dovo Inox rather than a Dovo, which is probably a carbon steel dovo?

Here is a fact of life guys, if you can't get a razor shave ready on a Norton 4/8 with the shear abundance of information out there specifically written about that honing system in particular...then no other combination of stones is going to be any better....

Is the Norton the best???? Nope
Is it the easiest??? Nope
The cheapest??? Nope

The one that you can get more help on when you get stuck???? Yeppers
Especially with a Dovo razor...

BTW the entire Norton system is available on Amazon for about $120

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000XK0FMU


Personally I would do what everyone has already said though get one razor done first... Then take your time before jumping into honing....

If you decide to hone later down the road there are even better systems available then the Norton... If knew then what I know now I would have gone straight to a progressive system like the Naniwas or Shaptons but that is just me....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gssixgun

Here is a fact of life guys, if you can't get a razor shave ready on a Norton 4/8 with the shear abundance of information out there specifically written about that honing system in particular...then no other combination of stones is going to be any better....

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+1. Lynn wore clean through a bunch of 4/8s on the first few thousand razors if I'm not mistaken. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gugi

Which review are you talking about?
Remember that a lot of people write reviews, not many of them know what they're doing, they just have big enough egos to claim they're the end word on the subject.

I have not used the japanese stones in question, however a 1000 grit hone is not necessary for a new dovo. That is hone for coarse work, like removing chips and setting the bevel on a razor. It will be detrimental to the edge of a factory dovo.

The chinese stone is a slow finishing stone. I personally wouldn't use it after 6000grit hone.

Your main problem is not going to be the hones you are using, but the lack of benchmark. Eventually you'll be able to hone your razor, the timeframe for that could be anything from a week to half a year. You'll likely end up accepting the dullest edge you can get away with as well, which isn't a bad thing.

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Section 7 - 10, Dovo Tortoise Special Hone Comparison/Results.... - Badger & Blade

this is the review im talking about. did i read misinterpret the results?
im thinking that i set the bevel with the 1000 side and further work with the 6000 side of the japanese stone. then use the 12k chinease stone to polish to the pasted side of the Filly strop and finish on the leather side...

Buy Combination Waterstone, 8" x 2" x 1" 1000/6000, Fast Cutting Japanese Water

is there a difference in the norton stone vs this japanese stone? besides the 6k vs 8k

Again here is the rub, in fact there are a few threads going on right now about unknown unproved combinations of stones....
If you build your own combo, then have a problem basically the answer is always the same "I don't know" oh we can guess, and we can advise, but we don't really know what you have going....You also need to figure out where you are heading in this hobby as it will guide you more than anything on what stones if any you should buy....

Now if you say I have a Norton 4/8 and this is what I am doing and this is what I am getting, you are going to get highly accurate, highly technical explanations of what it is going to take to get you back on target....

Same with the Naniwa
Same with The Shapton
Almost the same with a yellow Coticule

There have been to many people that keep doing tests upon tests myself included that confuse and complicate the issue with the latest super duper wonder hone.... Joel in that thread is comparing finishing hones not systems... You have to get the razor sharp before you need a finisher....

As the saying goes get what you want, but you might not want what you get.....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by archangel

this is the review im talking about. did i read misinterpret the results?

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Yes, the results are between various edges which were all first honed using the norton 4k/8k. He compares what happens after that.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by archangel

im thinking that i set the bevel with the 1000 side

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the bevel is alredy there, you will make it worse than it comes from dovo.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by archangel

is there a difference in the norton stone vs this japanese stone? besides the 6k vs 8k

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Yes, the 1k vs 4k.

If the norton is too expensive for you, you really want to purchase a prehoned Dovo and the cheapest hone you can maintain it with - get the chinese if that's what you want. Picking the 1000/6000 japanese hone instead of honing is hard to beat in terms of poor decision.

ok, i bought a set off ebay yesterday.. i dont expect it to be anything special but a fun experiment. it has a hone (needs lapping), a boker razor with some rust, and a strop, all for 30 includding shipping. i will eventually buy a good set but i figured i need a set like this to ruin instead of the real thing..

im hoping i get a good find off the classified section... something decent in terms of looks but perfect in function. and cheap :)

why don't you clean up the rust on that boker and have it honed? they're very nice razors.
i'm not quite sure about the hone, i only took a quick look but the hone part looked tiny.

im a very hands on kinda a guy and i love to try to fix it up. i bought the set hoping to not only get practice honing on a razor i woulndt mind messing up but also one i can try to take a dremel to and polish up the blade. figured if i am getting into this hoppy, might as well jump in head first down to the heart of it. :)

im still looking for a shave ready one in the meanwhile. my fiance is very picky about which i get. i have like to find one that pleases 3 people, my face, wallet, and most importanly her.

just looked at your auction again.
i'd recommend you stay away from the dremmel for now. you may not mind messing up the razor now, but if you do a little down the road you'll most certainly be quite sad to have experimented on it.

the hone is something like 1"x4" finishing hone with what looks like a pasted strop. it should be good for maintenance of already sharp edge, but not for sharpening it in the first place.