Razor Not Shave Ready?

Hello everybody. As stated in a previous post I was planning on trying my first straight razor shave this saturday. Well, my battalion got lucky and we got today off as well! ( It is friday on my side of the world ). Anyways, I went ahead and tried my new razor out. Let me start out by saying that it shaved, but it pulled and tugged just about as much as my mach 3 razors. From what I have been reading on this forum, it needs to be honed, and isn't shave ready as they advertised it. I bought it on amazon, and just got lucky that I received a good quality razor instead of one of the knock offs. I'm just wanting to make sure I am right in assuming that it needs to be honed before I try to do that using the honeing process that Lynn has on youtube with the norton 4k/8k.

You would happen to have a pasted Strop over there would you? If you did I would try that 1st.
If not I'm not sure that you need to go thought the 'whole' Honing thing. If you had a Barber Hone you could try that ...or ( here again its what I'd do and it might not what others would recommend) I'd just lightly use the 8,000 grit side of your hone and just do ~ 10-15 light passes then strop and try it again.
Go luck. ( you might find a Barber that can do it for you! Ask, you might get lucky.)

From Amazon, it's probably straight from the factory and therefore not shave ready. New Dovos usually come with the bevel just about set, so the 4k/8k should be all you need.

Having the factory edge, I think it needs honed. If it had been sharpened by a professional, then I would say no, the problem is most likely technique. However, since it was your first attempt with a straight, I feel comfortable in guessing that in this situation, it's both....technique and sharpness, and that would be for anyone starting out, it's just par for the course. We all start out with technique, prep, stropping, etc. issues, but having a shave ready razor is necessary to really work on the others.

On honing, some points to kind of think about, remember. Your razor should not be damaged, you're just refining the factory edge. It shouldn't need much pressure in setting the bevel and probably light (we call it no, or just the weight of the razor) pressure after that. Keep the elbow high to help with keeping the blade level on the stone at all times. Have just enough water on the stone, after soaking, that you can see the water being moved by the edge, it should be consistent across the edge.

Here's another really good video by gssixgun helping a new member with his first honing attempt. It's very representative of first attempts, and you'll hear the same points I touched on above. I learned them watching and trying Lynn and Glen's vids. Once again, :gl:

Howard :)

Edit: Just thought, they set the bevel on a 1k, I think, I haven't seen it lately, but, you can set a bevel on a factory edge razor using the 4k with no problem :D

YouTube

http://straightrazorpalace.com/begin...tml#post908878

This might be you :)

i made the mistake when i started of assuming i was the problem when it was the razor

if possible i would recommend having it professionally honed so you eliminate that problem all together

I got one of those Col Ichabod Conk razors by Dovo my first time off of Amazon too. Surprisingly mine was in fact shave ready. Not that I would have known the difference at the time. A couple of weeks later I bought one from another site that I know hones their razors and the two were comparable in sharpness. Its always good to ensure your first razor is shave ready. You need a point of reference to judge all other razors by. Send it out, start out fresh, and if you are still having problems you will know its technique. I know it sucks to wait but well worth it

Well, I thought I got lucky and one of the old Japanese ladies that works in the barracks thought she knew somewhere to get the razor honed. So, I gave her the razor and off she went. She came back this morning. Everywhere she went to have it honed doesn't do that anymore. On top of that, the unit mail room is now inoperable for the next month. Not sure why, and I am moving back to the states in June. So I can't even order a shave ready blade as it would probably never get to me. So now, I am going to read through this thread that gssixgun posted a link to and see if anything in there will help me figure out how to do this, and also look at some youtube videos that have been posted on honeing. The worst that will happen is I will mess the blade up and not be able to try it again until I get to the states and can have it professionally honed. Which it seems like that will have to happen either way. Unless I get lucky and manage to get a good hone on this thing. Thanks for all your help and I will be sure to let you know how it turns out.

I think you can do it, just try not to over do it. :) It's easier to add a little honing, than trying to undo some honing. Good Luck with it, wish we could help more!! You'll be home in a couple of months and things will normalize.

Howard :)

I did my best at trying to hone my razor this morning. At first it was even more dull than when I got it. So I kept trying. I finally got it to be sharper than when I got it, but it still wouldn't cut hair just by touching it like gssixgun had his in his video. I went ahead and attempted to shave with it and it still pulled and tugged a little, but that could have been error on my part of shaving. I was feeling a little confident after I did my cheeks this morning and went for more. The next thing I knew, I had shaved my entire face WTG and only cut myself once. It was a small cut on my chin. I used a styptic pencil and it worked amazing. Needless to say, I think I am hooked on straight razor shaving already. I just need to find out how to get my blade sharp enough that I can barely feel it cutting the hair.

Good work

Quote:

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sharp enough that I can barely feel it cutting the hair.

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Stropping, lots of stropping. Take a look at Beginners, The 1k shave the experiences in that thread teach how valuable stropping is.

Jonathan

Sounds like an excellent first try for being in the position of having to do all aspects of it on your first attempt. Congrats!!!

On testing the edge by cutting arm hair, it's not consistent between guys. One may have very coarse hair, and another very fine. Both will cut differently, so as you learn honing you'll have to calibrate that test to your own hair and find that match between sharpness and hair type. When you do get it down, it's a pretty good test. I use it regularly.

You'll find that having to learn everything at once may be a little frustrating because when the shave isn't that good it's hard to figure out if its the edge, or the technique, or, even both. That's the reason for us suggesting a professionally sharpened, shave ready, razor all the time, and of course we know that wasn't available for you this time around. But for any other new guys reading this, do yourself a favor and start with a pro honed razor.

Anyway, congrats on the first honing and shave, and, Keep Having Fun!!! :tu

Oh, and, you are hooked!! :D

Best Regards,

Howard :)