Week Three

[jeffegg2]

Well, so far my honing is not up to par. Shaved yesterday with my best try so far and the results were disappointing. Better than the first try at honing, but still sub-par.

Shaved this morning with the shave ready razor and wow! A world of difference! My stropping seems to be doing well!

Received Lynn's DVD this morning so that will give me something to review.

[dward]

A few questions come to mind. Was the razor shave ready when you received it? If so, why would you be honing it so soon? If it was truly not shave ready, then I'd bite the bullet and send it out to get honed by a professional. Believe me, it's worth the $25. It's better to work on your shaving techniques first than trying to figure out if the problem lays in the honing or the shaving technique. Also, good job in getting that CD. It's worth its weight in gold.

P.S. I'm originally from Jackson...

[jeffegg2]

A few questions come to mind. Was the razor shave ready when you received it? If so, why would you be honing it so soon? If it was truly not shave ready, then I'd bite the bullet and send it out to get honed by a professional. Believe me, it's worth the $25. It's better to work on your shaving techniques first than trying to figure out if the problem lays in the honing or the shaving technique. Also, good job in getting that CD. It's worth its weight in gold.

P.S. I'm originally from Jackson...

It was not shave ready. I have two, one that I've been trying to hone myself, and a second that is what I think is shave ready.

[spechobbies]

Lynn's DVD is phenomenal! I bought an inexpensive razor to start on. I did not mean cheap.

[mbrando]

Hi,

When I tried to hone an ebay razor I bought, it was giving a bit of greif. I turn out my approach was off.

What is your hone setup like?

I have the 220/1000 and 4000/8000 norton set. What I found works well for me is to make sure you have set you bevel on the 1000 and cut arm hair there. Then I go back and forth from stone to stone like 15 on 1000 then 15 on 4000 then 10 on 1000 then 10 on 4000 if the edge progresses well I do the same for back and forth (pyramid sceme) on 4000 to 8000 then 8000 to my barbers hone then linen strop to barbers hone then leather strop.

This works most times for. Hoever the other day a friend came by with a few razors he had. The first 2 were in done about 40 minutes. Hair would leap from your arm. The last razor just did not want to take an edge. Or I should say only half of it would, about mid to heel was really sharp, but the mid to tow felt like a butter knife. while it was not a straight cutting edge, it looked like it was angled up a bit, I thought it would hone up. I gave up on that one.

Cheers

- Mike

[jeffegg2]

I am assuming that the purpose behind the pyramid system is to prevent the over honing problem of a wire edge while still building to a nice smooth shaving blade.

But there has to be that initial bevel to start with or all the work is for naught, and you'll have to start all over again.

My current setup:

Norton 220/1000, 4000/8000. (both lapped)

Filly ruprazor.com strop with cr-ox .5micron on one side.

I have a 12k chinese stone on the way to me for a light final polish.

[mbrando]

Hi,

Yes, the pyramid technique is make for a very even edge highly polished edge. It ensures that the you are removing all of the marks from the previous grit and seems to cut faster.

I also test edge with a thumb pad check for edge progression. But the real test is a shave.

How does the razor perform if you don't use the .5 micron side of the strop and test/shave straight form you 8000 stone? Maybe your stropping is dulling the edge? Just a thought.

- Mike

[BKratchmer]

If you'renew to straight shaving PLEASE do your self a favor and send both razors to someone to be honed, learn to shave for 6-12 months, and then-- ONLY-- then start worrying about honing. Even if you're doing the honing right, how do you know what shave ready is? And how do you know that a truly shave ready razor doesn't feel dull to you because of poor form?

[mbrando]

If you'renew to straight shaving PLEASE do your self a favor and send both razors to someone to be honed, learn to shave for 6-12 months, and then-- ONLY-- then start worrying about honing. Even if you're doing the honing right, how do you know what shave ready is? And how do you know that a truly shave ready razor doesn't feel dull to you because of poor form?

You are correct. You have to come at this with the perspective of what is correct technique in shaving with a known good professionally honed razor. The same goes for honing. Having a second professionally honed razor to compare results to helps the learning process. Trying to do is all at once is can lead to misdiagnoses of shaving challenges, "Was it my shaving technique, Stropping technique, is the blade not honed properly?"

If you have the learning bug and want to learn both I think you do it in less than 12 months. You just have to get your learning in the correct order, shave well first then learn honing.

- Mike

[jeffegg2]

Thursday of week three:

received my Carson MicroMax 60-100X microscope in the mail today.

Did a through exam of my Dovo Astrale with it. Looked to me like a good edge, just some scratches (probably still left over from my "un-lapped" stage.) so I took it back to the Norton 8k for about 50 x strokes. Then I took it to the filly. I think one of the problems was that I was not aggressive enough on the strap. Now I keep a firm tension on the strap and allow the blade to deform the strap slightly. I gave it about 90 strops, none on the CrOx paste this time.

Wow! Great shave!!!

I still have much to learn on my shaving technique as it still has a somewhat awkward feel, but I am on my way!!!

Nice shower with Neutrogena face scrub
Provaso pre/post-shave cream
Provaso shave cream
My new 100% Badger brush (not silver tip, but the softness compared to the boars hair is amazing, rated good enough!)
Dovo Astrale 5/8