Thread: Trying to get new Dovo into shave ready condition...

Originally Posted by OCDshaver

Contrary to what cudarunner said, I'll say don't put that microscope away just yet. I actually went up in magnification to a 200X scope. It won't hone anything for you but it will give you a good look at what is happening at each grit. As cudarunner already advised, the bevel setting is the most critical step in the process. If that is not done correctly, all your efforts from that point on are a waste of time. My biggest problems so far have been understanding what I should be looking for at each stage. Yes we talk about setting a bevel but how do you know if its set and how do you know to do if its not? I find the thumb nail test one of the most effective. However, it does damage the edge you just worked so hard to achieve. But its easy to repair it at that point. I also find that some razors are simply more receptive to the work you put in on them at the lower grits while others are not. So the shaving of hairs and catching the standing ones off of the 1k may yield different results with different razors. And sometimes to answer the obvious question of why, that microscope might hold some answers. You might find that its catching hairs aggressively after the 1k but under the scope ti looks like a mountain range with the bevel all full of dips and chips. You'll want to keep going at 1k to even that out. Or you may have some poor steel there that needs to be stripped away. Or you might find that the bevel is too wide and weak and adding a layer of tape helps to give it added strength. The scope helps you identify this stuff. Also, after you finally leave the 1k and on to your 4k, how do you know when to stop? The edge off of the 4k should be more refined than that of the 1k. Neither will feel comfortable to shave with. You might see some greater cutting efficiency after the 4k has done its job. But did you remove the deep scratches created on the 1K? You'll want to do that and the scope may help you see them better. Also, the edge should start to look less jagged after the 4k. Same situation on the 8k, you'll want to see the scratches buffed away to ensure that you're going to get a comfortable shave. How does it look? Still a lot of deep cuts going all the way to the cutting edge? If so, you might want to keep going at the 8K. And of course as cudarunner said, how does it shave? If you want to get a 1000 foot view of the process and have a box grater, microplane grater, and a wedge of cheese in your kitchen you can cut a bevel into the cheese with the coarsest grater on the box. Look at the "bevel" and "cutting edge" you have. Now move on the finer grater on the box. Look again at the "bevel" and the edge. Finally, take the microplane to it. Now look at the state of it. This is what is happening during the honing process. The low grits are cutting deep gouges into the steel. The subsequent ones buff the surface away and replace them with their own but are increasingly less aggressive. The scope helps you see the progress and can give you an indication of when to leave or when to stay.

As I've often said, 99.9% of buying, using and maintaining a straight razor is 'Personal Preference'.

OCD and I are pretty much in agreement it's just that I don't prefer to use a tool that he does. His analogy of 'seeing' what's going on is 100% correct!!! That's why I suggested working without the microscope and seeing how the shave was. THEN take another look under magnification to see what was there. If it was a smooth and comfortable shave make a mental note of what the blade looked like!

Here we are talking technical techniques and I'm going to refer to a statement from a movie In the original Star Wars when Obie1 tells Luke to put the blast shield down and 'feel' the force instead of trusting his eyes as they can deceive him is 'kind of true' with the microscope/at least from my experience.

For example; the guy who was having me hone for comparison as always looked at the edge under magnification and jumped to the conclusion that the reason my edge shaved better than his was because he saw a 'double' bevel and believed that I had honed, then re-honed adding a second layer of tape. What was seeing is where I simply hadn't changed tape soon enough so there was a slight little bit of the older more aggressive scratch makes showing further from the actual cutting edge.

OCD's description using the cheese grater is very good! It's also the same as sanding wood, starting with an 80 grit, then 120, then 220, 320, 400 etc thus making the surface smoother. They all remove the previous deeper and more aggressive scratches.

As a former meat cutter this same principle was explained to me 37-38 years ago by a journeyman who had started cutting meat in 1934 when he showed me how to sharpen a knife on a Norton Tri Stone!

ocelot27
If you purchased the razor new it should have been about shave ready. I too purchased a Dovo and it shaved out of the box, but not well. I used a 4k wet stone with 40-50 passes in an X pattern then finished on a 10k and a good strop of 100 strokes. It shaves with no effort and does not pull. Be patient you will get it if you have patience.

Thanks!

Got a brand new Thiers Issard from TAOS to play with unmolested.

I was not pressing hard enough with the TPT - I feel the blade grip my thumb skin when I press and slide gently - not enough to cut into the thumb though.

The THT is the same for my new razor as the one I just honed - so that's promising.

Didn't shave today because I didn't have to.

Will post pics of the factory Thiers blade as the bevel on that blade is much different than what I've seen in pics here.

-john

This is how your Thiers Issard was 'honed' and I'm presuming that it hasn't been altered from the factory!
Thiers Issard - YouTube