Thread: rookie follow up question(s)

okay so I got two more new straight razors in the mail yesterday - I'm slightly dissapointed to admit that I ordered them from the bay - but they are are 5/8 blades - hollow ground (I think...) - but they are not shave ready - I'm certain they would not pass the HHT and possibly not quite shave the hair off of my arm.....if I have a 1K honing block what would my best strategy be to work on them this evening????


PLEASE HELP!?!?!?!?!?

Picture and what is your 1k stone?

I will wait for zee glen and others to comment with more info.

I usually do sets of 40 circles and 10-15(sometimes i feel saucy!) strokes on my naniwa 1k until the bevel is set.

If the razors are chipped or frowning or whatever.... It is time for the dmt. but that is more of resto work than honing.

Originally Posted by jcash1

okay so I got two more new straight razors in the mail yesterday - I'm slightly dissapointed to admit that I ordered them from the bay - but they are are 5/8 blades - hollow ground (I think...) - but they are not shave ready - I'm certain they would not pass the HHT and possibly not quite shave the hair off of my arm.....if I have a 1K honing block what would my best strategy be to work on them this evening????


PLEASE HELP!?!?!?!?!?

First, forget the hanging hair test. If you want to test it try and shave the hair on your arm. A 1k hone, what ever make it is, will not give a smooth shave. It will be uncomfortable. Your best strategy is to send them, at least one, to a honemister listed in the classifieds section on the menu bar above and look under 'Members Services'. As a rookie you don't want to be learning to shave and honing at the same time. The learning curve for shaving with a straight razor is steep enough w/o adding other variables.

Read through the WIKI and the stickies in the beginners forums for more advice.

Are they actually NEW? Or just new for you?

If they are factory new, or NOS, the bevel might be fine.

If they are vintage used blades, then like said above, do sets of 30-40 circles, and then do 10 x-strokes (or rolling x-strokes if you have a smile/slightly warped edge) and rinse and repeat that until you can get it to pass the TNT all along the edge.

You do have a set of finer hones than the 1k right?

It's not an exact science, so hard to tell what you have without pics. And +1 to Joed, forget about the HHT until you know what you're doing. TNT, and TPT are excellent tests, as well as the shaving test, and you don't need to do a lot of experimenting to get it to work.

oh sorry. i did not realize that you only had a 1k stone. Ignore me..