Thread: Proper hone question from newbie

Okay I'm new to straight shaving as well as forums so please bear with me. I bought a dovo from classic shaving that was "presharpened." When I tried to use it i found that it was a quite uncomfortable shave. I then tried the hanging hair test and it failed miserably. So much for "presharpened." I wAs going to hone it but I do not have a barber's hone. I do however have a 6k Japanese water stone for use with other cutlery. My question is whether or not this stone will get my razor to a truely shave ready state. I'm not opposed to buyig a different hone for monetary reasons I just really want to shave now. Any help will be appreciated.

Ty

Originally Posted by TTfireman

Okay I'm new to straight shaving as well as forums so please bear with me. I bought a dovo from classic shaving that was "presharpened." When I tried to use it i found that it was a quite uncomfortable shave. I then tried the hanging hair test and it failed miserably. So much for "presharpened." I wAs going to hone it but I do not have a barber's hone. I do however have a 6k Japanese water stone for use with other cutlery. My question is whether or not this stone will get my razor to a truely shave ready state. I'm not opposed to buyig a different hone for monetary reasons I just really want to shave now. Any help will be appreciated.

Ty

I think the consensus here would be to send it to a honemeister to be sharpened. Check the member forums for someone near you. SRP member Utopian was offering one free honing for newer members -- I'm not sure if he's still doing it or if he's backlogged, but definitely worth a PM to find out.

EDIT: I'm pretty new to honing so I can't answer your question about the 6k. I think that you'd need an 8k or higher to shave off of, but someone with much more experience can answer that better. Lots of valuable information in the Wiki:
What hone(s) do I need?

EDIT2: Didn't realize you said Classic Shaving so disregard the question about getting it sharpened by SRD.

Originally Posted by TTfireman

Okay I'm new to straight shaving as well as forums so please bear with me. I bought a dovo from classic shaving that was "presharpened." When I tried to use it i found that it was a quite uncomfortable shave. I then tried the hanging hair test and it failed miserably. So much for "presharpened." I wAs going to hone it but I do not have a barber's hone. I do however have a 6k Japanese water stone for use with other cutlery. My question is whether or not this stone will get my razor to a truely shave ready state. I'm not opposed to buyig a different hone for monetary reasons I just really want to shave now. Any help will be appreciated.

Ty

just really quickly

1. The hht is not really a perfect test for shave ready or not
2. 6k will not get you a shave ready edge
3. have you contacted classic to ask them about this... maybe one slipped through the gaps

4..5..6.. etc. there are many things that could be influencing your experience with this razor. For one, did you strop it (you could have rolled the edge)? what was your beard prep like? technique could be off... and the list goes on. Any other info you have will help us help you out.

Don't worry though, this same post (almost) pops up very frequently and usually people have a moment where it all falls in place. On very seldom occasions the razor is actually not shave ready, but then the seller almost always takes care of it.

Welcome to SRP! Are you a paid of volunteer fireman? I ask because of your screen name. I'm a volunteer fireman in my town.

Now shaving with a straight.

As mentioned above, it is not uncommon for newbies to have problems with their first shaves and it is also not uncommon to try the HHT test, the test fails and the newbie states that the blade was not shave ready. It might not be but the odds are, if it was sold as shave ready it was.

First contact Classic Shaving and be sure the razor was sent out shave ready. They may have an option that needs to be selected to have the razor honed before shipping but each shop may be different.

Next, the HHT (hanging hair test) is not a good test for edge quality but it is impressive when it works. Try shaving some hairs off your arm or leg w/o shave cream. This is a better test to see if the edge is sharp.

Now, tell us everything you did starting with opening the box from Classic Shaving. Some examples might be, you wiped the oil off the blade with a dish towel, ran your finger along the edge, tried to cut paper to see how sharp it is, stropped the blade on newspaper and so on.

There are how many ways to leave your lover? There are probably as many was to damage your straight razors edge.

Next, beard prep, shave lather, razor angle, razor pressure on skin and direction of shave will all effect your shave quality.

Blade angle should be around 30 degrees or twice the thickness of the spine from your skin. Less angle (closer to skin) may be better than too steep. If it forms a 'T' between your skin and the razor that is very bad and dangerous for serious cuts.

Pressure should be very light. You should just barely feel the blade on your skin. Before you shave feel the direction of beard growth and shave in that direction. Shave only from your sideburns to your jaw line and stop. Finish shaving as you did prior to the straight.

These are just some of the major issues newbies have problems with. Lynn and others have created more informative threads for newbies. Read these, you'll be happy you did: http://straightrazorpalace.com/newbi...ead-first.html

http://straightrazorpalace.com/newbi...icipation.html

Good luck!!

+1 on everything said take your time and figure it out and don't get in too big of a rush. Accidents do happen usually when we don't think things through.

First off thanks for all of the replies thus far. And as to joed's question I am a paid Oklahoma City Fireman of 5 years. Now on to shaving. I opened the Dovo box, upon which the seal had already been broken, and ran the razor under hot water to remove the oil. I then dried it with a bath towel being careful not to come in contact with the edge. I must confess I then checked the edge with my thumb. Hey, it was a new toy. I then gave it about 20 passes on the strop. I feel rather confident that I stropped it correctly. I have been reading and watching videos on this website like crazy (much to my fiance's disgust I might add). My beard prep consisted of a hot shower and then applying proraso cream (the C.O. Bigelow variety) that I had whipped to a lather using my brush. I didn't have any problems with my first shave on my dominant cheek. It was my second shave when I tried the neck area on my dominant side that I experienced the discomfort. I probably was using the wrong angle or one of a million other rookie mistakes. I just thought I would check the blade using the HHT after I had the discomfort and it brought up a red flag when it wouldn't pass. Anywho, I'm gonna try again tonight. Maybe it's just a part of the whole learning curve thing.

Originally Posted by TTfireman

I'm not opposed to buyig a different hone for monetary reasons I just really want to shave now. Ty

Im a newbie to but there is something I can say for sure. If you are anxious to perform your first SR shaving, forget about honning your SR yourself. It will only cause frustration. And worst, this your rush will not help you to hone at all. And more, one more stone wil not be enought.

Send your new SR to someone to hone. Buy the cheapest SR you can to learn honing.

wowow
You guys great . Excellent advises.

TT, welcome to SRP! AFter reading the posts, I have one more thing to ask. Are you using the same razor on consecutive days? It could be that the blade just hasn't rested enough from the first shave. There are many schools of thought on this here at SRP, and not a single one is wrong. Some believe that you can use a razor a couple of times a day with no ill effect. But alot of us here, including me, believe it's a good practice to let the blade rest for at least 48 hours. I know it sounds silly, steel needing to rest after only cutting through facial hair for one shave, but the edge is so fine that there is a great amount of stress put on it slicing through facial hair. If you can, try to let it rest and don't use it for 48 hours. And also make sure you strop it before and after every shave. Hope this helps and Thank you for all you do as a Firefighter! You guys are real heroes! God Bless! Ray

Okay fellas a bit of a progress report. I just shaved again and had great results! Well mostly anyway. I had no problems with the cheek or chin area. So the problem must be me not the razor. Bet y'all didn't see that one coming did ya? The only problems I had were on my neck area. I think it's just a mixture of needing to learn when to adjust my angle and hitting some of the existing razor burn from botching my face last time. But i was really trying to watch my angle throughout the shave and overall I got really great results! Thank you guys for all of your help! I'm now officially addicted!

Oh and to answer your question I shave every other day so I guess I'm resting my razor by default.

Thanks again
Ty