Thread: First Time Honing Help

I honed my Dovo razor today for the first time on a Norton 4k/8k stone following the instructions from Lynn's youtube video about the circle method. It will still shave, but I get the feeling that it isn't as sharp as it could/should be. I didn't see any metal debris in the water on the stone, so I don't know if I should be pushing down harder or not. I looked through a couple posts and only saw success stories. If there is already a post out there about this, then please refer me to it.
Thank you in advance.

First some practical sugestions.

If you havent already lap your hones.
Do incraments of 10 weight of the razor passes. Test for sharpness, based on the results either proceed to shave test or more hone work.

Here is some additional homework.

JaNorton
All of the pages in Library:Honing

Extra credit for reading the entire Library

Jonathan

P.S. Welcome to SRP

History of the razor. If it was a factory edge then it was likely dull as a spoon. If not was it shave ready before.

A few questions. How was the Dovo shaving before honing? Do you have another razor that is shave ready? Do you have a pasted strop? Have you been wet shaving long? What prompted the honing?

Do be aware that your razor may have been finished on somthing with a higher grit ~12k. There is a difference in the feel of the edge between 8k and 12k.

Jonathan

First and foremost is did you do a very thorough job of lapping that Norton? If nomt then all your efforts are wasted.
Lapping away a significant layer off the factory surface will bring a surface that cuts pretty fast and won't have dips, holes, rocks and such. Also it will remove a sort of glaze that is on a new stone.
The waterstones wear fast and, in theory, provide a constany renewed and thereby nonglazed surface to work with.
In actuallity, in order to get them to perform like you see them do in the videos, they must be frequently lapped to remove a glazed over and contaminated surface.
Freshly lapped equals a fast and efficient cut.
Unlapped equals frustration.

Lapping it was definitely the key to success. I did the grid markings with a pencil, and that help me out tremendously. Thank you all for your quick feedback!

Also worth mentioning is you will need to round off all the edges both to protect them from chipping and also to make them nice and smooth so when you accidently ride up against them you won't feel like you just hit a series of speed bumps.

Was the razor shave ready at the start and tugging when you decided to try your hand at honing? Was it a brand new unopened razor from the factory? Are you using tape? By "It will still shave..." what do you mean like it takes off arm hair against the skin, popping hairs above skin, feels better or worse prior to your honing session? Honing is really hard until it gets really easy like you see in the videos; so don't get frustrated and plow through steel. You are taking the first step in what is a long journey. I have been honing for a year now and still have my issues at times; so keep this in perspective. A good idea might be too look for a mentor nearby. I did not, but I bet it would have saved me a ton of time and frustration learning how to hone.

Hi.
I'm also new to it all. About six months.
I use the shapton stones 1k up to 16k.
Personally I found my biggest help was the microscope. Once I could see what I was actually doing to the edge it made a vast difference.
Just my experience.
I also found that the 16k was overkill, and didn't necessarily equate to a better shave, sharper and cleaner edge under the microscope, but not a better shaving edge. Again, just my experience.
Cheers
Matt

You mentioned pressure. You really shouldn't need to use any more reassure than it takes to wipe the water down the hone. Any amount of pressure is for grinding, like for chip removal and such. As long as you are wiping the water down the hone it is enough pressure. Try a couple of strokes light enough to not clear the water and then add enough to clear the water. Too much pressure on the finish of a blade won't increase it's sharpness, that is when less is more.