Thread: My first bevel setting - parts not making contact with hone

Hello,

I am new to straight razor shaving, started a few weeks ago.
I've watched some videos on subject and read wiki and forum posts to prepare myself
So far I have already accomplished a few sr shaves without any major problems, each shave is better than previous with smooth feeling around the face + a little red irritation on neck.
One of my 3 razors is not sharp enough (fails all available tests) so I decided to hone it.
To make long story short, I finally figured out that any hones with grit above 1K will not change anything as this one really needed some serious bevel setting before going into any polishing stages.
So I took my not so sharp and stubborn Dovo inox/stainless blade to 1K hone and I began my first honing practice. The hone I am using is Naniwa model MS19 (Micron Deluxe) grit 1000 with a stand (link)which I bought in some sushi shop. It is different from Super Stone (new ceramics) Naniwa 1K commonly known on this forum, but I guess the difference is not substantial.
I lapped the hone and started with a few dozen of strokes, no change in sharpness. One hour of honing, two hours - getting better in some parts of the blade, lacking any sharpness in other. I decided to put a marker on spine and bevel to see what is wrong with this blade. The result I got after a few strokes with marker on surprised me.
Below I attach a picture which shows in red color parts of the balde which are not making contact with the hone. In case it is not shown let me describe the situation:
One side of the blade is almost perfect with only a short part of tip not making contact. On spine the part of the same length is not making contact (symmetrical to the edge part).
It is the second side of the blade which is really a big trouble maker. There, only middle part of the edge is making contact, with quite long parts of heel and tip not making contact. On the spine the parts which does not make contact are not the exact symmetrical projections of the edge parts. They extend to the very end of tip / heel and are not as long as the trouble edge parts.
It is my third day of honing, so far I did about 12 hours of honing on 1K. The middle part is quite sharp (shaves some hair in mid-air). One side of the blade is almost perfect, with the short tip area being the only trouble maker.
It may be my imagination but on the second side of the blade (dark, bad side) I think a spine begins to even out because the marker is vanishing, but the progress is so slow that I wonder if it can be done in reasonable time. The edge part not making contact is still not even touched!

Shall I continue doing X strokes for x hours until it all evens out (spine+edge will finally make contact)?
Should I hone the trouble side more or is it still better to do even number of strokes on each side in this specific case?

Since it's my first honing, I'd like to avoid advanced techs like rolling X as this will unnecessery complicate the issue and disrupt muscle memory of regular strokes which I suspect will not serve me well for start of my honing adventure

Thank you for reading my post and any advice you can provide,
Magus