Thread: Advice required with Dovo Stainless Honing

Originally Posted by Westminster

Hi sorry lost the thread....................I still have an old mild steel razor and had it professionally prepared...........................perhaps it's a technique issue.

Hello Ian,
Well, if it’s any consolation I am finding getting the hang of the straight razor experience a much slower process than I have with learning anything else.
It has surprised me.
I started with two Sheffield razors. A 5/8” Wostenholm and a 6/8” Bengall.
I let my barber send them off to the people who sharpen his scissors, because he said they could do a good job with straights.
Nope.
Then I sent them off to someone who is considered one of the best in the UK and they all came back, yet still shaved as though I was pulling my bristles out with pliers.
Sent them back again and finally they came back shave ready.
I spoke to the guy when he got the razors for the second time and he said:
“What have you been doing with them? They are all dull!”
I hadn’t done anything other than 60 light passes on a hide strop and an attempt at a WTG.
Ouch!
All the HHTs had just bent the hair, so I thought I must have just been doing it wrong. Besides, everyone was saying that HHTs were not the right way to assess a blades ability.
After the re-honing; then 60 passes on the same strop, in the same way & they stuck to my calloused thumbs, popped HHTs and melted their way through my bristles.
I reckon anyone can have an off-day.
The trouble is, as a novice I was all the while giving myself a hard time and assuming that ‘those-in-the-know’ were infallible.
I’m now glad I stuck to my guns and finally got sharp blades, without having to bark at anyone.
Even though I’d worry that first lot like a rabid dog now, I don’t believe they are able to sharpen a straight properly anyhow.
‘twas my barber who should have known better. He was trained with straight razors too, back in the early 60s.
You never stop learning, ay.
Technique is bound to be a factor, until the apprenticeship is done.
At least I have the tools to complete mine with now.
Good luck; but stay clear of mild steel blades…..!!
Sorry this comment is so long!

Coticules vary a lot. Normally SS blades require a bit more work than carbon IME. If you know your Coticule and how if performs, you should be ok. You may want to spend more time with the slurry, possibly refreshing it once or twice. Like I said, It depends a lot on your stone. Hone it up, and check as you go. If you have a jeweler's loupe, that'll work, and use the tests, TPT, TNT, etc....

Something I saw in sonnysouthwest's post above I forgot about til' I saw his. After you have the bevel set and you are ready to start refining it you can use the tests mentioned above to assess if you are truly ready to move to your higher grits, or on your coticule start refining the initial bevel; never ever ever ever touch the edge again. The only other test you should do after that is the shave test. Touching the edge and continually doing those tests (especially the TNT) will dull the edge little by little everytime you do it; so for all you know you had a great edge, then ran it across your thumbnail, and ruined it, then you shaved, and it sucked; because you basically just ran the edge over the consistency of a cow horn (hardened keratin). Just wanted to throw that in incase neither of you were ever told that before.

Thank you for your comments

Only here to help, hope you get the razor taken care of, let us know if you need any more assistance.

Originally Posted by tiddle

Something I saw in sonnysouthwest's post above I forgot about til' I saw his. After you have the bevel set and you are ready to start refining it you can use the tests mentioned above to assess if you are truly ready to move to your higher grits, or on your coticule start refining the initial bevel; never ever ever ever touch the edge again. The only other test you should do after that is the shave test. Touching the edge and continually doing those tests (especially the TNT) will dull the edge little by little everytime you do it; so for all you know you had a great edge, then ran it across your thumbnail, and ruined it, then you shaved, and it sucked; because you basically just ran the edge over the consistency of a cow horn (hardened keratin). Just wanted to throw that in incase neither of you were ever told that before.

There's really nothing wrong with touching the edge...as in doing the TPT (thumb pad test), I use it throughout my honing progression to ensure I'm still making progress and not just mucking up the edge. The TNT however is only used to ensure that a smooth bevel is set..after the test you will have to do a little more on the bevel as you will have dulled it. I for one don't use the TNT but rather just check to see if the blade pops arm hairs above the skin.

Whoops, brain fart...I meant it mainly for the TNT, the arm hair test is a good one...can't believe I forgot to mention that one. Apologies all around.

Originally Posted by tiddle

Something I saw in sonnysouthwest's post above I forgot about til' I saw his. After you have the bevel set and you are ready to start refining it you can use the tests mentioned above to assess if you are truly ready to move to your higher grits, or on your coticule start refining the initial bevel; never ever ever ever touch the edge again. The only other test you should do after that is the shave test. Touching the edge and continually doing those tests (especially the TNT) will dull the edge little by little everytime you do it; so for all you know you had a great edge, then ran it across your thumbnail, and ruined it, then you shaved, and it sucked; because you basically just ran the edge over the consistency of a cow horn (hardened keratin). Just wanted to throw that in incase neither of you were ever told that before.

I appreciate what tiddle is saying. It seems a fair comment. Thanks.
and I really should find a local supplier for those carbon-biscuits, if I'm going to keep sticking my head over the trench on this site!
Although what I actually did was just strop & attempt an HHT and thumb-pad test, in my ignorance…followed by hot water, lather & then pain – the first time round.
I went through pretty much the same sequence after the re-hone, but that time got a result.
That is also the reason I have dug out some of my other straights, which I picked up in Sheffield (in the days when they were still 0.50p or so a go), so I can begin assembling something of a rotation.
I like to try and treat an edge with great care and also prefer to let it rest for at least a couple of days, before stropping and shaving with it again. A week would be a decent rest.
Doing an arm hair shave, at half-mast seems to indicate for me how my blades are set to go, perhaps with a minimum of effect on the blade, as Catrentshaving recommends.
By a TNT to check for a smooth bevel when honing, do you mean running the bevel flat across your nail, so with the blade at around 17*, to feel for any bevel imperfections, as feedback?
Rather like wiping around a bearing housing with your fingertip, to feel for any ‘foreign bodies’?
I should really search this site for the how-to, with these subjects.
I may have a shot at some Shapton Glass hones shortly, from someone who is giving up either before or after Chrimble, so having muddied this thread a bit (sorry Ian!) I’ll be appealing for advice if I get lucky with those, on a fresh thread of my own.

wet your thumb with water, holding the razor across your thumb nail west-east gently and SLOWLY slide the blade across your nail using no pressure at all, it should grab along the entire length but not try to cut in to the nail, if it just glides smoothly across your bevel is not set and the blade still dull. I like it b/c you can get a physical sensation of where you need more work on the blade b/c you can FEEL where the edge is getting sharp or not. No worries here, we all gotta learn somewhere somehow, I'm just glad there are folks out there to tell me when or if I do something wrong, or a trick, or just general advice to correct a problem. Oh by the way if the 17* was 17:00 (sorry yank here), then no, the edge at 18:00 and the spine at 24:00

tiddle,
Thank'ee kindly sir.