Thread: My first shave....

Yes. That should be an adequate benchmark!

Well, I got the 2 razors from SRD. A Dovo Prima Klang and a Dovo Spike Point. If this is the "benchmark" then I have no further to go...they arent as sharp as the blades I honed myself. I mean no disrespect to anyone but they just simply weren't as impressive as I thought they would be. I mean the Razors are great (save for some waterstains on one...which puzzles me a bit) but the sharpness didnt blow me away on either blade.

You must be a sharpening machine.

Originally Posted by vai777

they just simply weren't as impressive as I thought they would be.

this happens to new straight razor users sometimes. Just keep working on your beard prep and your shaving technique. You'll get it with plenty of practice

vai777, what hones do you use ?

I know they say you don't have to strop the razors from SRD. Mine was plenty sharp without stropping, but I think it feels sharper a couple weeks later then it did that first shave.

Yes, a soap or cream lather will make a HUGE difference, but equally important is a good strop. I think you are calling them leather hones. That's fine, but you might want to give that area a little attention. I made my first strop out of some extra leather a co-worker had after making a gun holster. I think it's just standard saddle leather (lots of equestrians in these parts), but it seemed to work fine. I now have a nice latigo from SRD. It's a great strop, but I think the improvement was in the 50% range rather then a 100% or more improvement. I think having the webbing and leather made the largest difference.

As was already pointed out, take a look at the Wiki. There is a wealth of valuable information there for us newbies

Based on what you're already achieved, I think you'll be getting excellent shaves very soon.

Good luck!

Originally Posted by 0livia

vai777, what hones do you use ?

with a well used blade I ussually start with Shapton Glass 2k then Chosera 5K, Naniwa Pure White 8K nad Naniwa SS 12K...then ,3 micron lapping on a granite reference block. Then strop with leather...

Originally Posted by vai777

If this is the "benchmark" then I have no further to go...they arent as sharp as the blades I honed myself. I mean no disrespect to anyone but they just simply weren't as impressive as I thought they would be. I mean the Razors are great (save for some waterstains on one...which puzzles me a bit) but the sharpness didnt blow me away on either blade.

I'm rather new to this myself, about a month now. I also have been sharpening knives to where they will effortlessly shave arm hair for years now, and when I received a shave-ready razor from a member here, was a little surprised when I was able, in about an hour, to make it sharper than it was when it arrived, especially considering that it was the first time I ever honed a razor. BUT, the razor was definitely shave-ready when it came to me. I think sometimes we Knife-Guys, after having been used to taking our knife edges so far, expect something almost supernatural from a razor, because it's "a STRAIGHT RAZOR, it must cut like a light-saber!!!" In fact, right now there are a couple of threads going about degrees of shave-readiness, something you may be interested in reading, to put your experience in context. Something I will additionally add, remembering that you stated no disrespect to anyone, and I believe you, if you did actually get your razors sharper than the ones honed by Lynn, you might want to take into account that this isn't a contest. Meaning, no one told Lynn, "Hey, get this razor as sharp as your skills will get it!" I imagine that he has a set level of sharpness that, I'm sure is more than shave-ready, that is the benchmark for razors he sends out, i.e., he doesn't just try to get every razor as sharp as humanly possible. It's a specified, set service to be applied somewhat across the board, barring unique circumstances. Just something to keep in mind, because it could be rather easy for someone less discerning to read your post and think it was rather disparaging of Lynn's honing, when, in fact he is the founder of this site, and appears to make a living off, in part, his honing ability, and you yourself are admittedly brand new to this whole scene. Just something to think about. Sorry to ramble, everyone.

Originally Posted by Sammer

I'm rather new to this myself, about a month now. I also have been sharpening knives to where they will effortlessly shave arm hair for years now, and when I received a shave-ready razor from a member here, was a little surprised when I was able, in about an hour, to make it sharper than it was when it arrived, especially considering that it was the first time I ever honed a razor. BUT, the razor was definitely shave-ready when it came to me. I think sometimes we Knife-Guys, after having been used to taking our knife edges so far, expect something almost supernatural from a razor, because it's "a STRAIGHT RAZOR, it must cut like a light-saber!!!" In fact, right now there are a couple of threads going about degrees of shave-readiness, something you may be interested in reading, to put your experience in context. Something I will additionally add, remembering that you stated no disrespect to anyone, and I believe you, if you did actually get your razors sharper than the ones honed by Lynn, you might want to take into account that this isn't a contest. Meaning, no one told Lynn, "Hey, get this razor as sharp as your skills will get it!" I imagine that he has a set level of sharpness that, I'm sure is more than shave-ready, that is the benchmark for razors he sends out, i.e., he doesn't just try to get every razor as sharp as humanly possible. It's a specified, set service to be applied somewhat across the board, barring unique circumstances. Just something to keep in mind, because it could be rather easy for someone less discerning to read your post and think it was rather disparaging of Lynn's honing, when, in fact he is the founder of this site, and appears to make a living off, in part, his honing ability, and you yourself are admittedly brand new to this whole scene. Just something to think about. Sorry to ramble, everyone.

I hear ya..I think I was under the impression that because it was a razor it should be "over the top sharp". I am on the other hand used to sharpening Japanese single bevel knives which could be a major factor in my unenthusiastic reaction to the sharpness of the razors. They are indeed shave ready, and I have no complaints, I was just stating that my expectations "admittedly lofty" were not met as I was expecting. Though in the end thats a good thing because if they came sharper than the razors I honed myself I would have had difficulty improvig upon the job I already did. Also I find it far easier to hone "sharpen" a razor than a knife (single, bevel or otherwise) simply because the bevels are pretty much set and the razor acts as a guide it's almost not freehand sharpening as I would define it. Anyway it is what it is and I look foward to learning much from this site.