Thread: First razor to pass HHT!

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Sounds like you went to a lot of trouble to get it to pass HHT. You couldv'e got that at 1k..... Oh, I see you shaved with it as well .

Baby steps lol. I don't know at what point it would've passed the test. I didn't even try until it was stropped, and even then mostly for laughs.

Steel - I agree, it is a great sense of accomplishment lol. I do have it a bit backwards though, I'm sure this razor is honed properly, but I'm still a bit ham fisted when it comes to the actual shave. Then again I could just be burnt from shaving with it this morning prior to honing it. Adding another shave on top of that isn't the wisest thing I've ever done, but I couldn't wait to check out my handiwork. Worth it.

Congratulations!

Honing can be frustrating in the beginning, but when things start working, it is a nice feeling

Originally Posted by Bruno

Congratulations!

Honing can be frustrating in the beginning, but when things start working, it is a nice feeling

It is fun to read these threads and remember the journey. Now, it seems like no big deal, but man it felt great when it first came together. Then when it became a consistent thing... Good stuff. Congratulations

Originally Posted by richmondesi

It is fun to read these threads and remember the journey. Now, it seems like no big deal, but man it felt great when it first came together. Then when it became a consistent thing... Good stuff. Congratulations

Heh, I'm sure eventually I'll shrug off sharpening a straight like I shrug off sharpening a pocket knife. Then again there are so many methods to play with. Water stones, oil stones, slurry stones, naturals, synthetics...One of these days I'm going to have to hang a sign and offer honing services just to fund the habit. Gonna have to wear out this poor Gold Dollar razor on the stones I have first though. Don't want to put the cart before the horse.

I was poking around the hones section of the forum and stumbled into the post about Arkansas stones. Well that got the gears turning and I remembered the old ceramic like naturals my grandfather used to run his knives over. I inherited them, so I dug them out and started lapping them to flatten them up and underneath the years of dirt, honing oil, cooking oil, used motor oil and knife swarf I discovered one black and I suspect a translucent Arkansas stone. They're small. Black one is about 1" X 5" X 3/8", translucent is 1 3/8" X 4" X 3/8."

Several hours of lapping, polishing, breaking in (and one dished Norton lapping stone) later I had 2 small Arkansas oil stones flattened and ready for a test. So I took the Gold Dollar out (In case I guessed wrong on the nature of those 2 stones) and started at the 4k mark. I polished the 4K and 8K Nortons (could not lap because my lapping stone is now a bowl) and the 12K slurry too. I noticed a big difference between polishing them with 1k and 2k wet or dry paper over just lapping them with stones. But the real magic came after running the blade over those old Arkies.

I had written those stones off as keep sakes or mementos. One was badly dished in the center from years of knife sharpening. The other had been dropped and split almost clean in half lengthwise along the thinnest dimension, leaving one side completely unusable while the other was scratched and gouged pretty deep. Both are probably several decades older than I am. But with a few hour's care and a little 30 weight motor oil, they put a polished edge on that blade same as they would were they fresh off the hardware store shelf. Well, if there were such a thing as a hardware store that sold Arkansas stones anymore. Ours only carry the super cheap synthetic stones anymore. Good enough for a pocket knife maybe, if you aren't too picky. But I digress.

The shave? Magnificent! I've never been able to go ATG on my neck. Too much razor burn, too many ingrown hairs. It was a nightmare. But I got brave enough to try it this go around on the second pass. Zero razor burn. BBS for the most part. We'll see about ingrown hairs in the coming days. I think once I've worn out my Nortons I'm switching to an all oil stone setup. I've tried water and slurry stones. It was educational, and they certainly get the job done well. But my first sharpening stones were natural oil hones. It's where my roots are, so to speak.

Tomorrow I'll be un-dishing that lapping stone with some 320 grit wet or dry on a piece of glass. Then my Dovo will get the full treatment, from bevel setting on the 1K up through the Arkansas stones. And thinking about that, it's a crying shame I won't need to shave with it until Monday. Once again, thank you SRP for delivering the knowledge that has made my venture into shaving with a straight razor a complete success.

Excellent Work Marshal: Nothing like using grandpa's honing stones to make your Dovo "Shave Ready"

Just some observations on your journey.

The Arkies are great finishers but they can be unforgiving bst*&%ds, You can stuff up an edge on them pretty easily in my experience. It sounds like you're on the right track though in getting them properly flat - you'll never have to do it again, they are seriously hard.

Re the Chinese 12k: in you first post you said "I would wager it was behaving more like a 6k or 7k hone" - never a truer word has been said. What you have found is a reflection of the high degree of variability inherent in natural stones, especially the one we call the "people's hone of indeterminate grit".

Sounds like you've got over the hump in honing, and as many others have said before me, don't underestimate the usefulness of the Norton 4k/8k; you can actually get terrific shaving edges off this stone.

Let us know how you go.