I posted my experience with my first full shave with a straight over in the shaving forum but thought I'd recount my experience with a razor that I honed here. As background, I have a Dovo that I had professionally honed and a recently purchased Timor Special that I bought to practice honing. As I said in the shaving forum, I started my shave with the Timor but realized after a few strokes it wasn't going to "cut it" so I switched to the Dovo.

Here's what I did with the Timor prior to the shave:

  • A bunch of circles with a Norton 1K (well over 100)
  • A pyramid with the 1K and a Norton 4K
  • A pyramid with the 4K and a Norton 8K
  • A pyramid with the 8K and a Naniwa 12K
  • About 80 laps on a strop


The pyramids started at 25 laps (25/20/15/10/5/3/1).

After the shave, I did the "magic marker" test on it and within about 4-5 laps the marker was completely gone on both sides of the blade so I've got a pretty decent bevel (I think) but the edge definitely isn't shave ready.

I know the Timor isn't the finest razor in existence but the steel seems reasonably good and I think I should be able to get it sharp enough to shave with. The only way the poorer quality might show itself is in preparation from the factor (which I've taken care of) and perhaps the edge might not last as long as the best quality steel. If others with more experience with recent Timors have a different opinion I'd be interested in hearing it.

I'm thinking at this point that I need to do more work with the 4K/8K since there is a decent bevel. When I stopped with the 4K/8K pyramid the edge would cut hair but not really that easily. I'll try to describe that more fully. If I made a stroke on my arm the blade would end up with some hairs on it but I didn't end up with a bald spot in the area I'd made the stroke.

I'd appreciate any insights or advice on my progress so far and next steps.