Thread: Taped a razor that Lynn honed

I'm relatively new to honing although I have gotten several razors to the point where they shave acceptably using the Norton 4/8 combination.

The problem I have is that about 2 years ago I bought a Dovo Best Quality that was honed by Lynn. I have been using a Swaty barber hone to occasionally refresh the razor but I didn't realize that Lynn didn't use tape. I used a layer of tape every time I refreshed the blade. The razor is at a point where it needs to be rehon ed. I'd rather not get into details why.

I want to do the honing myself but don't know whether to use tape or not. I only have the Norton combination and some 1 and .5 diamond paste on balsa. Also have chromium oxide and red and black Dovo paste.

In addition, how can I get my razors as sharp as the Dovo was when I bought it?

Any ideas would be appreciated.
Thank you.

Yup use the tape. There have been a lot of discussions back and forth on this, but adding tape won't hurt you, and in fact may create a small secondary bevel if anything which is considererd advantageous by some.
When you say it needs to be rehoned do you mean it's pulling/tugging? Or was it damaged such that bevel needs resetting?
If just refresh then maybe do your 8k side, and finish with your diamond or CroX.
As far as getting it back to when you bought it, I assume Lynn uses a finisher beyond the 8k, but with your 8k and pastes seems like you should get a good shave... JMO

I would continue with the tape. Others might not, but you have indicated that you have been using tape which tells me you are comfortable with doing so. No reason to change.

Exactly as RC states above, you should be able to achieve a perfectly fine shaving razor from your 8k and a paste, despite the fact that Lynn likely used a higher-grit finisher before pasting.

I happily shaved off the 8k with no pastes before i learned "better".

It is pulling and tugging really bad. On my other razors I used circle and x strokes. Same for this? Can I use the barber hone to finish or do I really need a higher grit finishing stone to get a really smooth shave?

Yeah I think there are plenty who finish on a barber hone- it probably just depends on your particular hone. That being said, you could go to 8k, then barber and paste if you like. See what that does. If that doesn't fix your problem maybe you'll have to go back to 4k.
I think circles and X's are accepted at any level, although people tend to just finish with a few nice x strokes.

I have a Naniwa 12K that I usually use as a finish hone, but I find that I can get a comparable shave with the 8K Norton as the finisher.
I have an old leather strop that is very smooth, no pebbly top grain type of surface.
I rubbed it with a crayon type of chromium oxide and wiped it with my thumb to even out the green smears.
Coming off the 8K I need to take a lot, maybe 40 passes, on the chromium strop held quite taught and then loosen up on the taughtness until light strokes put a 1/2 to 5/8 inch bow in the strop and do 2-6 passes.
Coming off the 12K I tend to need only about half as many passes on the quite taught chromium strop.
Experience will tell you that different steels will require more or less passes on the strops to get your desired results.
Also a really wide bevel will take a lot more passes than will a very narrow one.
After that, I repeat the taught and less taught strokes on an untreated leather strop.
Held very taught, the strop surface acts more like a hone's flat surface and works on the whole bevel.
When held with less tension the slight belly in the strop allow more contact with the edge,
which does slightly round the edge and produces smoothness on the edge. That is why those passes are held to a minimum.
I hope acheive your desired results on the Dovo.
If it doesn't happen right away just stay with it.
Honing and stroping tend to be as much an art as it is science.

P.S. I use a good quality tape (3M) on the hones, wipe the blades to assure cleanliness, and then on to the strops.

Yep keep using tape now it will be less work unless you want to fully reset the bevel

Originally Posted by cskumin

It is pulling and tugging really bad. On my other razors I used circle and x strokes. Same for this? Can I use the barber hone to finish or do I really need a higher grit finishing stone to get a really smooth shave?

Lynn has a video to watch. He shows in the video what hones he uses and how to hone. just type in lynn abrams straight razor honing and it should show up. watching him is how I got to the point I am. I'm not as good a lynn but trying.