Thread: Newly Honed Razor Has a Hard time ATG

Hi,
To qualify my question I am a newbie which I'm sure you will soon determine for yourself.

I just had a Dovo Bismarck and a couple others sharpened by a vendor and when I shave with it WTG it's a little rough but shaves but when I go to do ATG in on my neck it's not up to the task. I've tried CrOx on balsa and a 10-15 on my Naniwa 12k. It will shave hairs off my arm but very very few if I just run it through my arm hair without touching skin.

I've been shaving for 60 days now and no problems except for the usuall learning curve. I have a new a Ralf Aust 5/8 I purchased purchased from Straight Razor Designs and it shaves great WTG, XTG, ATG, who by the way is not the vendor who sharped my Dovo.

Any recommendations on what to try with the tools I have the CrOx on Balsa and Naniwa 12k? I've ordered the Naniwa 1,5,8k but don't have yet.

Thanks in advance for any advice.
Guy

If the person you had hone it set the bevel correctly I would try a few light passes on the 12k followed by your CrOx, strop and try again. If that doesn't work, I would question the completeness of the honing and either wait till you get your stones in to try your self or send it out to another person to hone that has known success and praises from here. Glen, Lynn, etc. (trying yourself may be a long journey)

Seeing as it was your first razor with which you developed your shaving technique, you probably dulled the edge beyond the capabilities of the 12K. Either wait for the Nanis to arrive and start at the 8K, then 12K and crox -> test -> bad result -> 4K, 8K, 12K, crox -> test, or send it to Lynn/Glen or any of the members offering honing services in the classifieds.

Until such time, enjoy the shaves of the Ralf Aust, no need to hurt your face with a dull razor!

I'm a barbers hone user, so that is where I would go first. Failing that, a finishing stone or send it out would be my guess. There a many many barbers hones out there and they are not all created equal. They start at 6k and go way up from there, so you'll have to do some research to find out what you should get. The synthetic finish hones are way easier to shop for.

Laurens,
The Dovo razor in question was received back from honing at approx the same time as the Ralf Aust from SRD. So I expect them both to be sharp. I'm trying to get some recommendations as to what to try to fix it as I would like to learn honing. Can I do it with a 12k Naniwa and CrOx balsa or do i need more? I plan on using professionally honed razors until I'm competent.

Thanks
Guy

If you want to learn honing, you've got a very good setup once the other hones arrive. Keep the Ralf Aust as your reference for shave-readiness and practise on the Dovo. Don't be surprised if it takes you months to get anywhere near the level of the Ralf Aust, Lynn's got some practice :P

Read up on honing and watch movies, but mostly practise practise practise. The most important suggestion I can come up with is making sure your strokes are even. Slow and steady is good, fast and sloppy will never get you there. Good luck!

All the stones in the world won't make up for an uneven stroke. It takes time to learn and get the feel for honing. Your stroke must be even and your pressure must be weight of the blade only. Go slow, one slip up can damage the edge. Slow is smooth and smooth is fast. Also be sure that your stone is completely smooth, especially on the edges, as well as properly lapped.

If you found the honing to be unsatisfactory, perhaps you should consider sending a message to the vendor. Different people may hone razors differently, depending on their beard types...it's possible that when they shave tested your razor before sending it back to you, they found it to be satisfactory for them. This has happened to me where I received my Dovo "shave ready", when to me it wasn't nearly sharp enough. Because I am a novice honer, I am still trying to find the "sweet spot" for me, particularly for the ATG pass.

Also remember that the best honing can be undone by poor stropping. Be sure that your stroke remains light, and pay attention to how your stroke sounds...if your stroke sounds uneven, it is. It is easy to slowly slip up over time. Some of the best advice from Glen is that learning to strop comes in two stages: not damaging the edge, and improving the edge.
Do not misunderstand, I'm not criticizing your stropping, merely passing along wisdom for your consideration.

Good luck and have fun.

Kyle,
No criticizing taken as I have no where to go but up at this point I'm slowly getting better in all aspects shaving, stropping, but not much effort into honing so far. I plan to use this and another razor to learn honing. I am fascinated by the whole art of straight shaving. I find it much more rewarding than either DE or disposable shaving. Until I get better I will reply on professionals.

Thanks
Guy

A good place to start would be watching Lynn's refreshing and do what he does with your nani 12k. Do your 5-7 strokes and then shave a couple times to get a good feel for what you've done to the edge. Repeat if necessary or until it's comfortable for you. Easing your way into honing is much less frustrating than learning from bevel set up, IMO anyway

Thanks for the replies so far. So if a razor was not sharp enough to begin with to shave ATG would I be able to get it there with a Naniwa 12k and/or CrOx? Or would I need to do something like Laurens suggested "start at the 8K, then 12K and crox -> test -> bad result -> 4K, 8K, 12K, crox -> test," Or start from scratch with a new bevel? Forgive any stupid questions I'm just starting down the honing path.

Thanks in Advance
Guy