Thread: Think I really screwed up my Dovo...

But it's also fun to hone and a thing that takes time to learn, so get yourself some blades and hones and start training.
The Dovo you can send out so you can learn to shave at the same time, good luck!

I taught myself to hone in two weeks with many many hours of practice and trial and error guided by videos and reading.

I have honed all of my "collection" to perfection and even restored an old Droescher that I shaved with this morning - best shave I've had yet. You can learn but I would buy an old used razor off eBay and learn by restoring it.

I'm also a fan of taping the spine that way you don't total your razors while learning. I'm fanatical about changing the tape frequently though to maintain the right bevel.

You can do it!

John.

+1 to everything above. Focus on learning to strop properly before before devoting your time to learning to hone. Learning to stop comes in two phases (thanks Glen), not damaging your edge, and then actually improving it.
Getting from phase one to phase two is what you need to focus your energy on. That, plus developing your shaving technique and prep, will affect how well your shave will go.

Originally Posted by TSWisla

[...] I tried to hone it with nortons and a naniwa and now it is a disaster [...]

Do I understand correctly you already have the hones? Something like a 1K, 4K/8K and 12K setup? Those are often recommended and will make learning how to hone easier compared to starting with a natural hone.

Watch some videos and read up on honing. You will find these basic things, amongst others:
- 90% of honing is the bevel at 1K. Do not even think about moving on until your bevel is well-set along the entire edge.
- A 1K bevel should cut arm hair fairly easily (depends on toughness of armhair, mine is very soft and cutting takes a tad of pressure).
- You should be able to get good, smooth shaves off the 8K. No need to (in fact: do not) move on to the 12K before you can.
- The 12K is a finishing touch and requires only 5-15 strokes. If that makes no difference, get back to the 8K.
- You may want to buy a jeweler's loupe to inspect the bevel, it can be very useful

Good luck!


Edit: that sounded a bit harsh, sorry! Here's a picture of a crab to brighten my message:

Another thing that really helped me was learning to "feel" the edge with your thumb pad. A 1k bevel that's sharp feels gritty and grabs a lot - as you move up the hones this feel smooths and grabs more subtly.

Originally Posted by Laurens

Do I understand correctly you already have the hones? Something like a 1K, 4K/8K and 12K setup? Those are often recommended and will make learning how to hone easier compared to starting with a natural hone.

Watch some videos and read up on honing. You will find these basic things, amongst others:
- 90% of honing is the bevel at 1K. Do not even think about moving on until your bevel is well-set along the entire edge.
- A 1K bevel should cut arm hair fairly easily (depends on toughness of armhair, mine is very soft and cutting takes a tad of pressure).
- You should be able to get good, smooth shaves off the 8K. No need to (in fact: do not) move on to the 12K before you can.
- The 12K is a finishing touch and requires only 5-15 strokes. If that makes no difference, get back to the 8K.
- You may want to buy a jeweler's loupe to inspect the bevel, it can be very useful

Good luck!


Edit: that sounded a bit harsh, sorry! Here's a picture of a crab to brighten my message:

While you're correct and the OP would do well to remember this when learning to hone, it shouldn't have been all that necessary as it sounds like a stropping issue to me!

I would send it out to be honed at this point so someone more experienced can evaluate your edge.
Without the ability to properly asses the edge, you won't know where to go, how to get there, or when you're there.

Some people only ask you pay shipping to hone your razor for you.

Not much left to say here.

Learning to hone by watching videos is like learning to fly a plane by watching videos too. You learn the steps and the equipment and can sound like an expert but when it comes to actually doing it, well, I wouldn't want to be on that plane with you in command.

It all a matter of doing it and that takes time and patience and lots of it.

You got lots of good advice here already. if I were in your shoes I'd send the razor out for pro honing which will give you a good idea how your razors should be and then get a really basic razor to practice on so if it's ruined or damaged it can be brought back with advanced skills and for now you won't feel bad about it.

Thank you everyone.

Keep us updated when you get your razor back from honing!

All the honing talk and advice is great. I would advise concentrating on learning how to strop first. After you have shaved more and stropped you will then know enough to tell the subtle differences your edge can have. The thing is, if you can't strop you sure as heck will never be able to hone. And if you go slow and light you may be able to bring an edge back with the strop. If you can do that,, then think about hones.