Thread: No beginners luck

Thanks for all the replies! Yeah I'm not going to give up on this, I realize I'm going to have to get some experience both in shaving and honing. I'm going to continue reading up on this- might take a little while to get over the learning curve. There is a barber in town who offered to hone it for me. So far he hasn't been at the barber shop the same time I have, but I will definitely look him up. I ordered a 8000 grit whetstone also- from Japan so I might have to wait on that one understandably. I guess I should get a 3000-4000 one too. I do want to learn how to properly hone the blade myself though.

Oh, thanks for the advice on stropping. I forget what brand of strop it is- but relatively cheap with a leather strop and a canvas. I haven't used the canvas, and I don't have any conditioners or anything like that for the leather, I just use it like it is.

OK I did achieve a step in the right direction I think. I received my Naniwa 8000 grit stone in the mail, and I honed the razor for about an hour, since I don't have a coarser grit. Well, I was actually able to shave with it somewhat- and it would not cut beard hair before. My face was getting raw so I abandoned the shave, but at least it worked somewhat. I think if I keep honing it, it will eventually get there. I'm another one of those guys with sensitive skin and a really coarse beard, so it's going to have to be sharp!