Thread: Question re a 'nick'

Hi,

I've been using my Dovo now for five months nearly daily. I've stropped every day and recently tried some Dovo paste (that worked really well). I'm at the point of trying honing. I was simply going to get some stones and hone away. I think it just needed a touch up anyway. And then I noticed the nick! I think I hit the tap with the blade. I can not feel the nick on my face but can just about see it with my eye. My leather strop is now marked because of it!

Anyway, here's my question: should I still try and hone it myself or should I just send it off to be done professionally given that I have a nick? Will the blade need pulling back and bread knifing? Or will is just need honing but starting with a lower grit grade?

I've put my blade on my scanner and took some shots for you to see the damage.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Mike

There are things on razors usually called "chips" and "micro-chips". That's a pretty good chip there.

Nicks are something you get on your face, often from chips.

Unless you are feeling very capable you may want to send it to a pro. I do not believe getting some stones and honing away is a recommended practice. Ironically, that can create more chips. Having that ground out won't cost much and will be a tiny fraction of a couple of stones and a messed up Dovo.

IMO

Hindsight being 20/20, my first razor was a lovely 6/8 Sheffield from a flea market - $20 maybe and it had a couple of bad carbon spots on the edge. Not knowing any better I bought a couple of stones and honed away. After a while it looked pretty good and it shaved like a cross between a runaway chain saw and an angry badger. SO, I owned the stones and my razor was a paperweight. I had to send it out for another $20. Should have saved the money on the stones, sent it out to pro and bought a nice old Dovo with what I saved not buying the rocks.

If you are confident in your ability to hone then do it yourself. It's not that bad.

If that is your only SR and you have not honed before but do have the hones, I'd say send it out to be pro honed. I would get a second vintage SR to practice honing with your hones without messing your only razor up. By having a pro honed SR you will also have a benchmark to compare your first attempts at honing to.

Bob

Can be done either way, but send it out and learn to maintain on a high grit finish stone.

Learn to shave well and maintain, then decide if you want to learn honing. As said, it is a lot cheaper way to go.

Good advise above. That chip will take many, many strokes to remove. It's not really difficult but if you don't already have the technique down, you may get disheartened.

You seem to have no real idea of the honing process so send it out and get a practice razor for honing as it is unlikely you get it the first couple times. It is one of those skills that you can only learn through practice and is just as easy to get wrong as right when you start

Send it out for now and the next chance you get to go to a meet go. There is a lot of hands on learning at the meets and no better way to learn to hone, unless of course you can find someone local to show you the ropes. Nothing like hands on with instruction to help you get there fast. I have not noticed any meets advertised here in the UK but I bet they happen there all the same.

Thanks everyone. This is what I've decided to do... Send my SR off to be honed as I'm miles off being ready to remove sufficient metal to get rid of that chip. I couldn't sort a new bevel out when I've only just got my head around stropping! I'm gonna get a second hand SR and practice on that. I'll probably just stick to 'touch up honing' on my 'proper' SR.

Thanks again for your help.