Thread: New to Straight Razors, What am i missing ?? Blade not sharp

About a month a go i purchased my first straight razor from a local store. I bought a dovo razor from the art of shaving store. Along with the razor i purchased a strop, and a kit that has the brush and oil and other items. When i purchased the blade the gentlemen took it out of the box and sliced a peice of paper. He said it was shave ready, he showed me how to use the strop and all the other items that i purchased. So when i got home i did as he told me but the razor doesnt cut, its not sharp enought, i read this happens all the time with new razors. So i read about hones and the norton 8000/ 4000 seamed to be what every one was using. I called a store they said they had in in stock, when i get there they didnt have it. But they had king water stones, so i purchased a 800/4000 water stone and a 1000/6000 water stone, and i went home and using the electrical tape i tried honing my blade. I didnt get good sesults, i followed some youtube videos and how to hone the blade. then i stropped it and it was the same. When i touch the blade it fleals sharp, but not sharp enough to cut any hair from my beard, so then i read about paste and i purchased green chromium oxide paste and also a 1/4 diamond paste from norton. I also purchased anothe strop to use with my paste. When i recieved the paste, i stropped like usual and nothing happened the blade is the same it doesnt pass the hair arm test. What am i missing, Im thinking a higher grade poloshing stone which would be the 8000 grit stone, or ive read some people using 10,000 and 12,000. IS THAT WHAT IM MISSING ?? Am I doing something Wrong ??

Thanks for Helping

List Of Things That i have.
Dovo Straight Razor
Dovo Leather Strop
Another strop for my paste
King Stone 800/4000 Grit
King Stone 1000/6000 Grit
.5 Green Chromium Oxide Paste
1/4 Norton Diamond Paste

Hi Carl,
Well you can be almost certain that new blade you got was not truly shave-ready, and even if it was that guy did you no favors by slicing a piece of paper with it. I know Dovo says they are shave-ready, but they just aren't. I purchased a Thiers-Issard from Art of Shaving and after trying it for several days, ended up following the advice on these forums and sent it off to be professionally honed, in my case by gssixgun, Glen, who has done several razors for me. Very fast service, I might add. It may not seem like it, but honing just isn't that easy. It takes practice. You really ought to blow the few bucks it will cost to send it off to get it honed or you'll just continue to be frustrated. Look in the Classifieds section and you'll see that several people here will hone a razor for your, for very reasonable cost. Seriously, it's your best bet. Good luck. You'll enjoy it soon enough.
Ed

I agree with Ed. You may continue to work at the honing in frustration, and may even arrive at a shave ready edge in about six months after you have needlessly worn the edge and spine down. But I highly recommend that you get it professionally honed first to feel what shave ready really means. Then when it is time to bring the edge back you will know to what you must aspire. You have a nice setup, and it will do the job, but you need a good baseline from which to proceed with success before you spend anymore time or money.

Hang in there. The reward is worth it.

Gammaray

greetings,

i am new to this club...have used the straigt-edge from feb of 2011. i have a se dovo inox; also, i have a strop but i tell you, i have gotTen to one of the points of your comment: I HAVE LOST THE !EDGE! OF MY LITTLE DARLING. it just doesn't cut like it used to cut and therefore i have been relegated back to using a cheap triple edge safety razor and i dont think i have to tell you how much, after shaving with a straight-edge, i am impressed with the cut. the strop kept the edge for awhile but because of inexperience i couldnt maintain the precision edge needed to avoid defacing the skin getting shaving bumps and in-grown hairs. i am in the caribbean but i wanted to know if you know of anyone of reputable character that can bring the edge back to little missy? i want to eventually become proficient at honing a blade but i am willing to start by paying a professional to do it. will probably buy a new blade, honing stone, strop and work on restoring the edge of the blade i already have.
Can anyone guide me along these lines?

Pointless to discuss whether slicing paper will damage the edge. The test is useless for razors. It's not hard to push cut paper. A shave ready razor has to be much sharper.

Also pointless to take any advice on razors, stropping, or honing from anyone at AOS. At least not the one I have been to. It's a nice shop but not a source for knowledge.

Send the razor out for honing as recommended. A higher grit hone isn't what you need right no, first you need to master the basics.

Michael

I do not mean to be contrarian, but I would play around with light honing before you send it in.
I say this with some reservation, because ultimately you will be responsible for what happens to your DOVO.

Everyone comes from different perspective, but I for one value the ability to hone over a price of a razor.
You can always (and probably should) send it in to be professionally honed after you are done with some level of experimenting.
This way you can gain some valuable experience and also have a sharp razor at the end of the day.
If you send it in right away, you might be much more hesitant to do any kind of serious honing afterwards for fear of ruining it.

All of this, of course, is null if you get a practice razor offered by stingray.

Put your hands where we can see them, and step away from your wallet.

Now.


I may have missed something, but I'd wager I'm close to being right on this; Your blade either A) never had a (great) bevel set, and / or B) your stropping technique marred the edge up, with AND without CrOx, C) your honing technique never addressed the bevel issue, so you beat your head against the wall further with that, and now you think an 8K stones gonna makey makey all better?

Here's what you do; contact one of the lads in the classifieds here, or Larry at whippeddog.com, or Lynn at SRD. Say 4 words; Need shave ready razor. Either a new blade of get yours honed right. They will hook you up for a lot less than the cost of an 8k. NEXT: spend the next 6 weeks learning how to use the damn thing... and replace the strop your gonna trash. No stones, no paste, nada... just don't. You've got enough of a learning curve to worry about. Then.. go back to your original purchase, and you'll be able to judge the difference...and THEN see if you want to wrestle with honing.

And read the stickies here. Buncha smart guys thought those posts might help people. (SEE.. they already posted this stuff)


And have fun... another smart guy says that a lot.

You need a sharper razor the dovo is fine but unless you take the time to study and watch lots of videos and practice you will have a hard time getting it shave ready. send it to one of the many honemiesters there are a couple of good ones in texas if you want to try and keep in nearby, do an advanced search in the community section for users in either texas of TX sort the list by last log ons and that will give you some people to try ... some might even be in your area and willing for a face to face discussion. or simply send it to one the the guys in the member services section of the classifieds

You really mean to tell me that you read all of that advice in the OP, but never once saw the "Get it professionally honed" advice? Your first thing is, is it your shaving technique, your stropping technique or your honing technique? Getting it honed by someone who knows will tell you first shave for the first part, second shave for the second part and a couple months later for the 3rd part.

for the record, you should be able to actually shave off the 1K stone. if you cant shave off it, odds are the 120K super expensive stone or the single diamond crystal spray wont help you any.

Originally Posted by LameBMX

You really mean to tell me that you read all of that advice in the OP, but never once saw the "Get it professionally honed" advice? Your first thing is, is it your shaving technique, your stropping technique or your honing technique? Getting it honed by someone who knows will tell you first shave for the first part, second shave for the second part and a couple months later for the 3rd part.

for the record, you should be able to actually shave off the 1K stone. if you cant shave off it, odds are the 120K super expensive stone or the single diamond crystal spray wont help you any.

Yeah I read that its better to get it professionally honed lol, But I just always want to learn and do it my self, But with everyone stating the same thing i think i may just send it off, and go from there. Thanks for all of the answers.