Thread: Newbie-Help with dull egde

hello,i have been using straight razor with replacable egde for 8 months,and i decided to buy a dovo straight razor.
When it came,i shaved without do anything on it,the shave was mediocre,so i decided the next time to strop it,BUt i think i dulled the edge with unproper technique,because after that,the razor wouldn't cut the hair.
It could cut the skin though(i tried to cut my hand on the surface),and couldn't cut the arm's hair in midair.
so i ordered a 10000grit naniwa superstone,in thinking of restoring the edge.now i am waiting the stone to arrive,will this stone be enough to make it shave ready?

You should ask a mod to move this to the honing forum.

It depends on who you got the blade from if it's shave ready or has a "factory edge". New Dovos usually aren't quite there edge wise unless the vender hones them.

A 10k Naniwa will be fine for touching up a razor that was previously shave ready

Add your general location so someone local may be able to help get you started

Welcome to the forum.

If your Dovo came with the factory edge it may not have been 100% shave ready in the first place. Yes, you could have made things worse by improper stropping.

The 10K Naniwa may or may not restore the edge depending on how bad it is. If you dulled the blade by improper stropping then your chances of a DIY touch up honing are also slim imo. Proper stropping and honing techniques need to be learned and that takes practice. I would not try honing with no experience on a brand new blade. The hone will come in handy once you learn to shave and maintain the blade with proper stropping.

I'd suggest you send the razor out to be made shave ready by a reputable honer. That when you get it back and use it without stropping first you will see what a proper edge feels like to shave with. Strop it before the next shave and you will see if you have dulled it from poor stropping. While you wait the razor to come back practice stropping to et your technique down. You can try this, possibly, by using your shavettee without a blade in it as a substitute for the straight razor.

Bob

If you messed it up by stropping you can mess it up more by honing. I'm not saying that you should not do it. You need to watch some stropping videos and figure out what you did wrong. After the edge is fixed, hopefully just with stropping, then you need to work on your shaving. A straight razor requires a lower angle than a shavette. Put the spine closer to your skin, not more than a spine width to start. Experiment with the angle till you get it to work. Of course now though your edge is suspect so you have some sorting out to do.

Don't worry. You figured out the shavette so you will be able to figure out shaving with the straight, after the edge is fixed.

Thanks for your replies, i live in Greece so it's not so easy to find an expert for honing. Also, the razor came straight from the factory, so it wasn't 100 % shave ready. I tried to save after the mistake from stropping, and I could hear the sound of steel touching the hair, pulling and tugging without cutting.

Contact member Vasilis. He is in Greece--somewhere!

Yes, a 10k Super Stone, can make your razor shave ready.

You will need to lap your stone on some 320 wet & dry or a diamond plate before using.

Do read the first 3 threads in the Honing Forum at least and ask any question you may have here, before you put the razor to the hone.

It would be best to find someone local if possible to help you out. I believe Ron/Utopian gave you a lead, please follow it.

This area of the forum may be of some use, check out vids by afdavis and jimbo. There is also a thread called stroptober which may be of use too.