I have just officially completed my first shave with a razor that I honed myself.

If you've caught any of my other threads, I nicked my new Dovo on the faucet and sent it to Lynn for honing. I developed a case of RAD in the interim and now have half a dozen razors to play with until I get my Dovo back. All of which came from antique stores.

After giving all of them an initial polish, I set about some intensive sanding/polishing (+/- 11 hours or so) on one of my projects.

As soon as I began polishing these things I just knew I'd end up having to hone them, so I had ordered a Norton 4k/8k and a DMT 8c for lapping. I already had a mystery hone from the antique store. (general consensus here after showing pics seems to be an Arkansas)

So after putting as close to a mirror finish as I could get on this thing last night, I took it to the hones today. I know I should have used a 1k for setting the bevel, but I could either afford the Norton starter kit with the crappy lapping stone that I've read has to be lapped itself, or just the Norton and the DMT.

I'm pleased to announce that I shaved my entire face with no nicks or major irritation. It wasn't the closest or smoothest shave in the world, and I didn't chance even a second pass, but I think one more conservative pyramid on the Norton and some serious stropping should sort it out.

I spent a lot of time on the 4k side establishing a bevel, then did an aggressive pyramid and finished on the Arkansas. 60 laps on leather, then the shave.

I'll end what I know is a rambling mess. Just had to share. It's a great feeling to shave with something I brought back all by myself.

Once I really get the hang of this, I'll have 8 shave-able razors!