Thread: First Attempt at Honing & First Shave!

Ok...I just finished my first hone, and first shave with an inexpensive razor I picked up on Ebay. I purchased a couple of fine razors (Filarmonica's Doble Temple) but figured I better practice restoring/honing on a 'good' but inexpensive one or two or three first, before I even touched those...

I followed the techniques described in the Wiki using my full set of Naniwa superstones that I have had for some time now, except that I stopped after the 8000.

First because this razor (Wester Bros. Solingen) had a bit of a frown, I 'Breadknifed' the blade on a coarse Arkansas stone, then went to work on it with the 400 & 1000 to set the bevel, and since it passed the TNT, the TPT, and arm hair test after the 1000, I went through the 3000 and the 8000. I skipped the 5000 because it 'felt' almost ready after the 3000. After the 8000 I decided to strop it up and do a TST.

The upshot: I got a pretty decent shave, no nicks or cuts, a slight razor burn on the jawline (too many passes I think) and I am a pretty happy fellow! Now tomorrow I will take it back to the to the 1000 and do a little more bevel work and then run it up through the 12000 Naniwa.

I think I am starting to get the hang of this...thanks mostly to this website and it's tremendous wealth of knowledge for a beginner. Because I took the last several days to read and study as much as I could here I felt confident that I could do it also.

"Knowledge = Confidence = Enthusiasm = Success"

Thanks to all here...

WP34 Think I'll have a beer now!

Congratulations! That's not a small honing achievement there, getting a decent shave out of an ebay junker. You certainly are correct, more knowledge equals better success rate, and the forums and wiki here are full of knowledge. Keep at it and you will soon see your shaves getting more comfortable. Thanks for posting, and best of luck.

str8fencer is spot on, no small achievement!
It is such a high when you finally feel able to completely control every part of shaving and caring for ones equipment.
I salute your efforts!
Great work

Congratulations. Honing your first razor is a huge lift, and a great achievement.

After all of your reading, did you decide to tape or not tape? And may I ask, what type of stroke worked best for you on this razor? Did you bevel set with circles, or with x strokes and pressure?

Great job!

Took me bout 60 hrs of "honing" before honing successfully (still learning). CONGRATULATIONS! Feels great to bring a rusty,pitted,90-150 yr old creature back to life after years of neglect.

Originally Posted by Wolfpack34

Ok...I just finished my first hone, and first shave with an inexpensive razor I picked up on Ebay. I purchased a couple of fine razors (Filarmonica's Doble Temple) but figured I better practice restoring/honing on a 'good' but inexpensive one or two or three first, before I even touched those...

I followed the techniques described in the Wiki using my full set of Naniwa superstones that I have had for some time now, except that I stopped after the 8000.

First because this razor (Wester Bros. Solingen) had a bit of a frown, I 'Breadknifed' the blade on a coarse Arkansas stone, then went to work on it with the 400 & 1000 to set the bevel, and since it passed the TNT, the TPT, and arm hair test after the 1000, I went through the 3000 and the 8000. I skipped the 5000 because it 'felt' almost ready after the 3000. After the 8000 I decided to strop it up and do a TST.

The upshot: I got a pretty decent shave, no nicks or cuts, a slight razor burn on the jawline (too many passes I think) and I am a pretty happy fellow! Now tomorrow I will take it back to the to the 1000 and do a little more bevel work and then run it up through the 12000 Naniwa.

I think I am starting to get the hang of this...thanks mostly to this website and it's tremendous wealth of knowledge for a beginner. Because I took the last several days to read and study as much as I could here I felt confident that I could do it also.

"Knowledge = Confidence = Enthusiasm = Success"

Thanks to all here...

WP34 Think I'll have a beer now!

You are confusing me a little? how you could shave with the blade which bevel hasn't set correctly?
Or if bevel set correctly before why you are trying to go back 1k again?
Now if you are trying to fix frown that is totally different conversation.
this is how i would do.
1 fix frown.
2 set the bevel
3 hone that beauty and test.
until you get what you like.
gl

Originally Posted by Maxi

Congratulations. Honing your first razor is a huge lift, and a great achievement.

After all of your reading, did you decide to tape or not tape? And may I ask, what type of stroke worked best for you on this razor? Did you bevel set with circles, or with x strokes and pressure?

Great job!

Thanks! I just followed the instructions exactly on 'Honing a restored Blade' in the Wiki: I taped it with 3 layers of tape and then did angled heel first lap strokes down the hone and then X-strokes. I used a 'Bit' of pressure on the 400 and much less so on the 1000. By the time I hit the 3000 I felt I had a pretty good bevel so I used very little pressure from then on.

WP34

Originally Posted by hi_bud_gl

You are confusing me a little? how you could shave with the blade which bevel hasn't set correctly?
Or if bevel set correctly before why you are trying to go back 1k again?
Now if you are trying to fix frown that is totally different conversation.
this is how i would do.
1 fix frown.
2 set the bevel
3 hone that beauty and test.
until you get what you like.
gl

Sorry for the confusion...I felt I had a pretty staraight bevel after 1000. Not perfect but pretty evenly ground across the edge. The TNT indicated (based on the Wiki instructions) to me that it was pretty good...i.e no micro chips etc...as it performed as explained in the definition. I am going back to the Honing because it's not perfect yet. There is still a 'very, very slight frown' and the heel and toe need a tad more work as well. But...it was good enough to at least try to shave with it. It popped the hairs on my arm easily so I felt confident that I wouldn't 'Massacre" my face!

Originally Posted by Wolfpack34

Sorry for the confusion...I felt I had a pretty staraight bevel after 1000. Not perfect but pretty evenly ground across the edge. The TNT indicated (based on the Wiki instructions) to me that it was pretty good...i.e no micro chips etc...as it performed as explained in the definition. I am going back to the Honing because it's not perfect yet. There is still a 'very, very slight frown' and the heel and toe need a tad more work as well. But...it was good enough to at least try to shave with it. It popped the hairs on my arm easily so I felt confident that I wouldn't 'Massacre" my face!

Try not to worry about perfect bevel. as long as you have cutting edge doesn't matter in 1 point wider bevel to compare rest. this is usually what i do.i am not against you going back to 1k and start all over.this is learning curve go head do so. It will help.
gl

Congratulations on a good start!

You can learn to live with a little frown, especially if you're married.

I would avoid going back to 1K unless you absolutely must. If your
bevel looks good under magnification and under bright lighting, you
have no need to go back to 1K. I spend more time going "backwards"
through the honing progression than up through it and am happier for
it. That is, don't use a lower grit until a higher grit demonstrates the
need for it. Good luck with your honing!

I would add that there is no reason to diss Ebay blades. Many of them
are made in Germany, England, and in the U.S. and once honed are
fine shavers. I tell that to my face every morning.