What Hones required to shave-ready a store bought Dovo?

Hi There,

I'm about to buy my first straight razor. I've been shopping around and know of a couple of reputable places I can buy pre-honed razors from the US.

However - I'm located in Australia, and the shipping from the US not only takes time, but the more I think about it - the more it worries me. Call me old fashioned - but I get nervous waiting for products to come in from overseas. I've bought the odd small item off eBay - nothing pricey though.

Back on track though - I've located a source of Dovo razors in Australia, at a good price. However, they're 'retail', and will come as-is, from the Dovo workshop.

If I were to consider buying in Australia, and honing myself - what would I need?

I would imagine they'd come pretty close to being shave-ready, and just need to be finished? I.e. I shouldn't need a great deal of stones to get the razor to where it needs to be? Or could pastes on balsa wood adequately do the job?

The hardest task might be locating the stones within Australia. But I'd love 'brands' and grades to start with so that I can begin my search.

Cheers!

Aaron.

This is the only source of hones (with grades listed) in Australia:

Japanese Sharpening Water Stones : Kizlyar Knives Australia, Hand Made Russian Knives

There are plently of sellers of stones, but they list them as fine grade or course grade.

Unless I can get away with pastes considering the razor would be brand new?

Thanks in Advance!

Aaron.

.... and here: HNT Gordon - WATERSTONES

Talking to myself here (I guess you blokes must be all asleep, seeing as you're in the wrong part of the world...) :)

Just thought I'd update:

I've located and ordered a Norton 4000/8000 for $134AUD. It appears it's going to be something I'll require whether or not I buy a pre-honed blade.

Is this all I'll need to get a factory Dovo razor ready for use?

Cheers,

Aaron.

Hi Aaron,
I am yet to buy my first stone too. I feel I'd rather a 'graded' stone than a natural. I'm thinking upwards of 8k just to keep the edge for now, then a Norton 4/8 later. I found a 10k Naniwa at Straight Razor Designs (SRD) for 64 bucks (I'm assuming USD). The page the posted first shows a Naniwa 8k at 97 AUD. With the current exchange rate, even considering postage, for ME, I'm going to get the Naniwa 10k from SRD as soon as I can. In my own experience, I have never had a problem with postage or buying from overseas, and SWMBO will attest I do it a LOT. Yes, I'd rather keep the dollars in the country, but until someone actually STOCKS what I want to buy for a reasonable price, the overseas sellers will get my money. I'm getting increasingly frustrated by the stupid blank looks I get when asking about shaving gear in South Australia. No-one even knows what I'm talking about. Even the shop which sells ONLY shaving gear didn't told me there was no such thing as Proraso aftershave balm, only sold ONE strop, didn't know what a scuttle was, doesn't sell hones, etc. I walked for two hours round town and found THREE shaving creams (other than Palmolive), one in David Jones that cost 80 bucks, the Proraso (I already had) and finally Body Shop Maca Root (which I got and which is great). The shop assistants constantly told me to go to a chemist or supermarket. When I said I wanted 'high end English type stuff like Taylor's of Old Bond street' they looked at me like I was asking for LSD...

Carl

It seems like the cut-throat method is something not covered by the market in Aus. I went to Chadstone on Saturday (one of the largest shopping centres in Melbourne) and The Shaver Shop only stocked two brushes. One was $10, and one was $50 with a crappy stand. Both, and I don't exaggerate here at all - literally had broken apart, and had their synthetic hairs pushed back in using Blue Tac.

I'm pretty sure the guy behind the counter was taking LSD...

Cheers!

Aaron.

I generally don't refer to them as 'cut throats', unless I need to to clarify what I'm talking about, I don't think it's the 'done thing' :-). The Shaver Shop here in SA isn't THAT bad, they actually had a few brushes; and that's where I got mine; a Windsor, it's quite nice. They've now got to understanding the market a little better and actually sell THREE strops!!! (I know!, THREE!!!). They DID believe me in the end about the Proraso after shave balm and actually got it in for me, so they ARE learning. I think I and the Shaver Shop shall go on a teacher/learner journey over the next few months. On the other hand, it's all about shelf space and 'dead stock', I do understand the retail industry; having worked in it in the 'dark ages' 30 years ago (think 'Are You Being Served' TV show...), which is basically why it's an issue at the moment in the media (re GST ect). What I want to hear is, "No, Sir, we don't have that at the moment but we'll get it and match the price including what you would have had to pay for postage". That is, if it's 100 bucks on line, and 20 bucks postage the shop will get it for me and sell it to me for 120. That way, those of us who are reluctant to part with money to possibly 'iffy' sellers from that country that Borat comes from are happy, as is the guy in the shop who gets to keep his job AND build a relationship with the customer. Sorry to get off topic :-)

My first razor was vintage and shave ready right out of the post pack. Buying from someone who sells such razors and hones them before postage is MAYBE better than a new one that's not actually shave ready. I really REALLY think my journey would have been MUCH harder if I had to try to work out what 'shave ready' was. Might actually send that guy an email, he did me a real favour :-)

Aaron the best places in aus for stones is some of the butcher supply sites but the sad fact is you can buy from the manufacturers overseas for a hell of a lot less than here,there are a lot of good stones to choose from but not every aussie place sells a good selection so you need to search a lot,some sort vof finisher would be my first choice you just might have to do more strokes but if you look around you can get a couple stones from overseas for the price of one from here

hey austy we have a few members from down under here on this site use the site map to see where they are and see if they will hone your blade up for you . never try to hone your first razor get a ebay razor for honing attempts

You can also get stones from Carba-Tec. They have branches in a few places.
Do yourself a favour and read like crazy before touching a razor to a hone. Also look into getting one honed by someone who knows what they're doing so you have something to gauge your efforts against. There's listings in the classifieds here, including people in Auz.

Hey Austy, welcome to the world of straight shaving and SRP. You might find this thread interesting, http://straightrazorpalace.com/down-...-supplies.html in the Aussie forum.
Grant

Thanks for the replies guys :)

Would this be suitable for working up a slurry on the 4000 stone?

Nagura Cleaning Stone : CARBA-TEC

Cheers,

Aaron.

The Dovos that I have bought were pretty close to shave ready. In fact you could shave with them, although it would not be the most comfortable shave. To touch up their factory edge a little barber hone would be fine. I'm sure you could dig up a Swaty or something similiar in AUS.

Would the 8000g Norton do the job?

8K is fine for getting the edge ready for final polish. ( starting out a small barber hone or paste is fine for the polish) It is very easy to invest a small fortune in hones that one might not really need. However, that final polish is a MUST for a smooth shave. I recommend investing in Lynn" DVD and really watch and study the section on honing. Over time you might work out your own process, but Lynn has done an excellent job of laying out the basics for new and old shavers alike. Best regards and Happy Shaving, wildhog

Quote:

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Originally Posted by austy

Talking to myself here (I guess you blokes must be all asleep, seeing as you're in the wrong part of the world...) :)

Just thought I'd update:

I've located and ordered a Norton 4000/8000 for $134AUD. It appears it's going to be something I'll require whether or not I buy a pre-honed blade.

Is this all I'll need to get a factory Dovo razor ready for use?

Cheers,

Aaron.

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FWIW --

I use a Norton 8K, followed by a CrOxide (roughly 0.5 micron) pasted strop. That's sharp and smooth enough for me to shave with. I haven't yet been able to shave off the Norton 8K alone; my technique needs improvement.

Other people have "finishing stones" of 12K and higher, rather than (or in addition to) using a pasted strop.

Charles

PS -- you should be able to find CrOxide "honing compound" or "honing paste" in Australia. It's commercially useful, not just a toy for nutty craftsmen like woodworkers and razor honers.
CHarles

PS -- since Lynn gets to sharpen a lot of factory Dovo's, his opinion will be definitive.

I'm a Master Barber, when I sharpen my straight razors I will use a 5000grit ,8000 grit, and 12000 grit water stones. Look at --www.classicshaving.com------www.japanesewoodworker.com
I paid USD---62.00 for the 1000/8000 grit, 90.00 for the 5000, 45.00 for the 12000 grit.
Also buy a good leather and canvas strop. This is around 35.00 from a Barber supply.
Go slow--you can not put metal back on after you have taken it off.
Contact some Barber Beauty supplies in OZ.
Gary

What area are you located in Aaron? I'm in Brisbane just before Redcliffe. If you are around that area, let me know, I'll be glad to help. Hones can be had for reasonable prices from Carba-Tec. Razors and shave gear can be bought in Australia from Himage.com and Mensbiz.com. Shave shack is in the middle of changing it's location but they will also be a good source of supply. I bought my hones from King of knives and classicshaving.com, but that was a costly mistake as I paid too much. What I use in terms of grit are 1000/6000 combo, a 3000/8000 combo and a C12k (Carba-tec call them 'Natural Waterstone').
Shaver shop, in my opinion, are a big waste of time.

Carba-Tec are out of stock of the C12K right now (Aug 1st) but tell me they should have some more in this week some time. (I screwed up my order, so they rang me and we had a bit of a chat. Seem like pretty nice people.)

There are sellers in japan who will ship to australia.

There's a guy named Stu Tierney who runs a site called "tools from japan", who either has or who can get just about anything other than natural stones in japan.

He's an aussie who somehow ended up in japan - I'm sure he ships to australia.

I have not bought anything razor related from him, but I've bought scads of woodworking-related stuff from him. His favorite brand of stones are sigma power, who make stones through about 1/2 micron (like a shapton 30k). They are well regarded among the folks who have bought them, and seem to be preferred by the high end tool dealers who carry them. The ceramic versions of the Sigma Powers landing somewhere between the soft stones (nortons) and the somewhat hard shaptons.

So Yamashita also sells the sigma powers, I think he's in australia. He's got his website shut down from time to time to catch up with orders, though, and I think he might be a few bucks higher than Tierney.

Apologies if I'm talking about people who are already known, I'm fairly new here, but I have a serious problem resisting hones.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by austy

I would imagine they'd come pretty close to being shave-ready, and just need to be finished? I.e. I shouldn't need a great deal of stones to get the razor to where it needs to be? Or could pastes on balsa wood adequately do the job?.

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You should never assume :p :)
Get some practice in on some cheapies first & learn to identify if a bevel is set or if a spine is warped.
Honing a razor, even a new one, may not be as straight forward as expected.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by onimaru55

You should never assume :p :)
Get some practice in on some cheapies first & learn to identify if a bevel is set or if a spine is warped.
Honing a razor, even a new one, may not be as straight forward as expected.

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I couldn't agree more, especially with a new Dovo. I'd recommend having it honed by a pro. You don't want to take a nice new blade, and practice honing with it. It's a skill, really, and takes some practice. As previously mentioned, Get yourself some Ebay specials, or other inexpensive razors to practice honing on.

The Norton's 220/1k and 4/8k with the lapping/flattening stone are excellent stones, and you can get a great deal on the set. Get yourself a 12k, and your good to go. A new Dovo isn't going to need much honing. Go to Youtube and search for Dovo Straight Razors. There's a vid there from the factory. It shows you production, start to finish.