Thread: Diamond pastes

I just started shaving with a Dovo 5/8, badger brush and paddle strop a few days ago. I'm getting a reasonably good shave but realized that the razor probably isn't sharp enough out-of-the-box.

I just ordered diamond pastes (1.0 and .5 microns) and a double-sided sharpening strop from classicshaving. My question is this: will this equipment put a good edge on a new razor and will it be enough to maintain it? My idea was that if I used the pastes, the blade shouldn't dull to the point where a stone is necessary. Am I correct or should I get a stone as well?

Thanks in advance!

If you plan on doing your own honing, the stones are necessary. The diamond pastes work pretty well on an already sharp blade, to smooth it up. Eventually, though, they have to be re-honed on a stone. The pastes merely extend the length of time between true honings. You can maintain an edge very well with the pastes, but occasional honing is necessary. The pastes wear away the edge, keeping it smooth and sharp, but they also round it off, blunting the bevel, and eventually making stone-honing necessary. I, and several others on here, provide this service. I would recommend having it honed first, before using the pastes. You can establish a better than factory bevel, and your razor will shave closer, and more comfortably. The factory lifts the spine a bit, to prevent any hone wear on a new razor. This will get one sharp, but provides a less than optimum edge bevel.

Read up on edge maintenance before sending your razor off to Joe for a honing. You don't want to spend money on getting your blade honed by an expert and then messing it up while stropping.

Thank you both for the info, I probably will end up having it professionally honed so that I can start with a good edge as a reference point. I'd say I'm getting a "fairly good" shave as is but then I'm new to this, so I don't really know how it should be.

-Reid