Thread: First honing compared to professional honed razor

I have been shaving with my Dovo Best Quality for a month, or more, with the usual beginner experiences.
The Dovo seemed to want more than stropping and CO paste lately, so I tried honing.
Went through 4k, 8k and 12k, starting with circles on the 4k. Ran X strokes on all.
Finished with CO on web followed bu 100 laps on the leather.
I felt the shave afterward could have been better, and planned to go back to the stones with maybe the pyramid method.
Today my new Ralf Aust from SRD arrived. To my surprise, it shaved equal to my Dovo that I just honed. I used the RA right out of the box, so that my stropping wouldn't come into play. Both razors seem equal.
The whiskers felt like they were fighting the blade, almost pulling.
I never can get a hanging hair test to work for me. I didn't try it with the RA; wished I had.
So, I figure my honing is up to par. Maybe my prep needs to be punched up some. I'm using Tacac Original soap after coming out of the shower.
Any suggestions would be welcomed.

I've been only 8 months in this, but if your razors are truly shave ready, then work on your skin stretching and the angle your coming at the face with, this is what gets me sometimes when I,m not getting good results and tugging, but there is some more experienced guys out there who have a lot more ideas ,this is just what I have had problems with before hope it helps. Tc

When you are new at this it's hard to tell if it's the razor or you. Assuming the razor is up to snuff the usual factors need to be addressed. Using minimal pressure, the correct angle meaning shallow around 30 degrees to start with and knowing what strokes to use in what areas of the face. I know when I first started it took a few weeks before I started to get decent shaves in the easier areas of the face. Don't rush this. Do the easier parts first and when they are down move on to more challenging areas.

-beard prep, I reccomend trying a shower and shampoo immediately before shaving.
-keeping the lather in the mug and on the face wet. Do not be afraid to add water and remix lather to keep it moist, or to reapply and remix the lather on your face. I always touch up my facial lather immediately before shaving difficult spots. Wet hairs cut more easily.
-skin stretching flattens the skin and raises up hairs making them easier to cut close to the skin.
-keep the spine closer to the skin. This helps reduce catching on hairs, nicks, and skin irritation.
-a sharp blade. Good prep and technique help a razor cut well, but cannot compensate for a dull razor. The sharpest razor will not deliver a good shave on drying hair, or with poor technique.
-learning good stropping and how to refresh an edge is key because stropping is needed after every shave and refreshing is needed periodically. Rehoning can often be done professionally because it does not have to happen frequently, assuming good stropping and refreshing.

Today I did the pyramid hone on the Dovo starting with 25 strokes. Ran 25 strokes on the 12k stone. Finished with 25 laps on the web and 100 on the leather.
The new Ralf Aust got stropped today. 25 on the web, and 50 on the leather.
I then shaved the right side with Dovo and the left side with the RA.
Again both shaved the same, but better than yesterday. Re-hone helped the Dovo and stropping improved the RA. No pulling. I think both can be better.
The 5/8 RA is much lighter than the Dovo 6/8. The Dovo had momentum from the higher weight. Wouldn't think that 1/8" would mean that much. I like the weight.
Tomorrow may see some Cro Ox and stropping.
Prep will be reviewed for changes to the good.
Still can't get the tree top hair cutting thing.
A lot of crap went wrong with my day, but the time shaving fixed everything.