Thread: Advice required with Dovo Stainless Honing

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.