Thread: First hone/shave with new razor

Hello,
I just bought my first real straight razor. It is beautiful! I tried to shave with it but it does not seem very sharp. I bought Lynn's DVD and watched it throughout. I attempted to hone and strop the razor to get a nice sharp edge to it. However it did not seem to really make much difference. I went and finished my shave with my Dovo Shavette. I am not sure what I did wrong to not sharpen the blade to a nice edge. I am a little bummed that the new razor did not really get to where I wanted it to be. Could someone please give me a little advice/encouragement on the honing of a new blade.
Thank you!

Kudos to you for making the attempt but learning to hone and shave is like learning to re-build a clutch and drive a manual car. You don't know if the fault is your shaving technique or your honing technique. Of course, most likely it's both!

It would have been easier for you if you had started with a shave ready razor. You could still send it to someone to hone it for you, but if you are set on honing it yourself, then you will need to provide more information.

Please describe both your razor and your hone(s). We can't really give much advice without more information.

Welcome to SRP!

Sorry about your situation.
i am against your idea to hone your good razors. Specially this is your first blade and you mean to use it. Lets say this. have you ever used straight razor? do you know properly edge how should shave etc?
From where or whom you bought this blade?
what is the name of the razor?
was it sold shave ready?
if yes then contact the person first.
if not
then please ship it out .
This will help you so much. you will learn at first how properly honed blade should shave.
you can check the edge with loop and see how it look like.
then go head buy couple bay junks and learn how to hone.
hope this helps.
gl

Thank you Utopian.
I have a Zwilling J.A. Henckels "Friodur" I am also using a Norton 4000/8000 wetstone.

Ditto with the above guys. The smartest decision I made when I was learning was to start with a razor that was sharpened by a pro. Look at the member services in the classifieds to find a honemeister near you and send it off to get sharpened properly.

Straight razors demand much more technique than other razors, so your shaves will be sub par while you build up your technique. Once you get it down, however, you will be getting amazingly close shaves. Just be patient. Send the razor off to be honed, and when you get it back and it still doesn't feel sharp understand that it is your technique that is lacking.