2 questions

You have people here with alot of shaving and maint experience giving you good advice here. If you wish to take it is of course your decision.

Since you are starting out you have two issues, one is whether the blade is shave ready or not and the other is your lack of shaving experience. Your problems can stem from one of the two or a combination of both.

My recommendation to you is take the advice you have been given and check out our Wiki which has primers for people starting out.

The last thing you want to do is take a quality razor and use it to experiment on how to hone. Many have taken that route and in the end most regret having done it.

Getting a shave ready razor as a newbie serves a number of very useful purposes and will ultimately allow you to learn how to hone your own razors and save money in the long run. You won't need to break the bank on a shave ready razor or getting your current razor honed.

The $20 or so you spend on getting a razor honed is, IMO, worth plenty more than $20 - in fact, it's worth more than a $90 hone. It certainly isn't "out the window." 1) you'll be able to shave with it, 2) you will learn what a properly honed razor feels like, 3) you will have a controlled razor to compare future razors you hone yourself to, 4) you will have a razor that can easily be touched up on a barber's hone or 12K with just a few laps, 5) you can learn proper shave technique by eliminating a variable in the process, namely whether or not the razor is shave ready.

The other posts are good advice, and I'd pretty much agree with all of them. In fact, if you read the Beginner's Section in the wiki, I think it suggests waiting to learn how to hone for some of these very reasons. Honing takes more than "a little skill" and regardless, if you've never had a shave ready razor you'll never know when you've done a good job. (Not to be mean or anything, but you're not paying $20 for something you can do. Otherwise, you'd have a shave ready razor without the problems you mentioned, wouldn't you?)

If you're really on a budget, go to the Classifieds and check Member services for someone who can hone a razor for less than $20, or you can buy a shave ready razor for $30 or $40. They're on there, just look. Of course, there are a few nice guys around who sometimes offer FREE honing to other nice guys... Sometimes.

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Originally Posted by Slartibartfast

Yes.. go find the cheapest sandpaper possible and hone until you have a 3/8 blade, then start a thread about how horrible dovo razors are. I look forward to it.

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More nastiness? Is this just your "style"?

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Originally Posted by Slartibartfast

I made that comment about cost due to you saying want to save money and be cheap. Spending $90 on a hone vs $20 does not follow that logic.

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Sure it does. I spend 20 bucks on a "pro" and I'm 20 bucks poorer with a sharpened blade to show for it, and nothing else.

If I buy a stone with the money, then I spend a few months learning how to hone the razor, and I have the stone for years, if not the rest of my life.

I'm "cheap" in the sense that I'd never pay another man to sharpen my chainsaw - I'll buy the correct grinder and do it myself. Same with pretty much everything I do. Make the investment, and then watch the savings come back forever.

Something in the posts just hit me. Do some of you guys NOT hone/sharpen your own razors? Do some guys send it out every single time the blade needs to be honed? If that's true - WOW!

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Originally Posted by Slartibartfast

Unless you plan to purchase many razors and become the newest honester.

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Not sure what this means. Like I said, if I was actually going to pay to have somebody sharpen a blade for me, I'd just stick to the Mach - whatever. I'll probably never own more than one razor - to me it's a tool, not a collectible.

I learned how to sharpen any blades I've used, from boning knives to chainsaws to axes to whatever - I use knives a lot - we do all of our butchering, and I butcher for neighbors. Learning curve for all. This will be no different.

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Originally Posted by Slartibartfast

I recommended a second razor that is shave ready because you obviously have no idea what a shave ready razor should feel like.

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Really? Hah! I think it should shave my face with no pulling, no scratching, and no discomfort.

How's that for "no idea"!! Hah. Wow, you are presumptuous and condescending at the same time.

Think about it. I spent about 20 minutes honing the blade, and I shaved myself once, closely, with just a bit of discomfort after the 2nd sharpening.

It's really not that hard. I've already got the basics, I'm simply working on getting better.

You did read the original part about - "felt like glass bottle, rehoned, felt fine for some strokes and a bit rough for others."

You got that, right? So if i got that far on my hone, then don't you think i can manage to get from the that point to a smooth shave without having somebody hold my hand?

too funny man.

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Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Here's your hat, there's the door .... what's your hurry ? :w

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I guess you don't get any of the advertising revenue from this site, eh?

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Originally Posted by thebigspendur

You have people here with alot of shaving and maint experience giving you good advice here. If you wish to take it is of course your decision.

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No doubt! And that's why I came here. But what I got back was juvenile sarcasm ("I can't wait for you to start the thread on how your razor brand sucks") and, from my perspective, defeatism.

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Originally Posted by thebigspendur

The last thing you want to do is take a quality razor and use it to experiment on how to hone. Many have taken that route and in the end most regret having done it.

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Well, I'm a bit at ease because I bought the cheapest razor available - I generally test waters before I jump in. No sense spending 400 on a blade if I end up hating the process. Turns out I like it.

Next step - get better at sharpening.

Sounds like you have it all figured out. Why are you wasting your time here?

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Originally Posted by BingoBango

1) you'll be able to shave with it,

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But I shaved with it last night!

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Originally Posted by BingoBango

2) you will learn what a properly honed razor feels like

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Point taken - but isn't "properly" a bit abstract? Once it shaves clean, easily, and without discomfort, is it not "proper"?!

I know when my knives are sharp, when my chisels are sharp, and when my chain blades are sharp, and I've never had any professionally done to have to know it.

Do some guys here not hone their own blades???

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Originally Posted by BingoBango

(Not to be mean or anything, but you're not paying $20 for something you can do. Otherwise, you'd have a shave ready razor without the problems you mentioned, wouldn't you?)

If you're really on a budget,

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Well, you're right, I'll be able to do it in short order. No offense taken, but don't take offense back when I say - honing is a fairly simple process and the science behind it is easy and well known. It's a question only of learning how to do it, not whether I can do it. There's no mystery to it. It doesn't require a PhD. The proper tools with which to do it are readily available.

I read your reasons for spending the 20 (plus shipping, plus my time, plus gasoline and so on), but what it comes down to is this . . .

. . . the only compelling reason anybody's offered as to why it's worth 20 bucks if you are going to eventually hone yourself is because then you'll "know what it's supposed to feel like."

If I hone and I can shave in 5 minutes or less, closer than a store bought 3 blade, with no discomfort, then . . .

. . . is there an issue?

Anyway, this is just chasing my tail.

Let me put it this way - I'd rather spend 300 bucks on hones and many hours of my life learning to do it myself than pay another man to do it, and it seems to me that learning how to shave without knowing how to sharpen the blade you're using is putting the cart in front of the horse.

Learn how to care for the tool first, then learn how to use it.

As for "budget," I made enough money to retire at age 40, so money's not an issue. But the way I did that is by not paying other people to do things I can do myself, but for want of a little learning.

Good luck all. I'll be shaving no issues in short order - bet on it.

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Originally Posted by Slartibartfast

Sounds like you have it all figured out. Why are you wasting your time here?

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Actually, you're wasting my time here. :)
Goodbye Mr. Nasty.

Well Frank, im sorry if your not getting the answers you want , so lets try to address the problem your having. Now im not at all a hone master but have honed a couple razors, and assuming the bevel was set(dont really know) then you might need to try the pyramid method seen hear [URL="http://straightrazorpalace.com/srpwiki/index.php/Pyramid_honing_guide"]http://straightrazorpalace.com/srpwiki/index.php/Pyramid_honing_guide[/URL
] and then maybe you need more of a finishing stone to get that ultra smooth feeling, (12k, ort CrOx on a balsa strop ect) but again thats just going to cost more money. Now i know people have honed razors on the norton 4/8 only im not sure what youve already done, if it seems to be working for you then i dont think you damaged it, so try the pyramid and see what happens, hope this helps!

sorry dint post the link right Pyramid honing guide - Straight Razor Place Wiki