Thread: Honing my DOVO 5/8 round point

So for Christmas my wife got me 1/4 Nortons, I honed a 4/8 razor I have and had great success with that at least for my first time honing a razor. I was able to get a comfortable shave with it. My ? pertains to my DOVO, I dinged it ever so slightly on the faucet so I thought I would give it a go. So I started with 1k and worked up through 8k and I can knock hair off my leg like crazy but I am not able to get a comfy shave. I don't have a loupe yet which I know would be a huge help. But I guess I can not figure out what I am missing if I can pop leg hair off but not stubble.. I will mention too that after the hones I stropped maybe 50 to 60 on the cloth side of my strop and 70 or so on leather. Any advice would be appreciated.

Is this your first attempt at honing? If not, then please describe your experience. Specifically, have you ever done anything beyond maintenance honing? Bless your wife for the intention but those quarter hones are difficult for a beginner honer to use, and they certainly are NOT 50% bigger than the average barber hone.

What are the grits? Tape? Any guesses on average amount of laps? Maybe shaved to close to prev shave?

Originally Posted by Utopian

Is this your first attempt at honing? If not, then please describe your experience. Specifically, have you ever done anything beyond maintenance honing? Bless your wife for the intention but those quarter hones are difficult for a beginner honer to use, and they certainly are NOT 50% bigger than the average barber hone.

Hey Utopian, I have honed knives for many years and have great success with that honing razors I have just started. As stated my first attempt was with my 4/8 iowa baber supply razor and that surprisingly turned out well. Well enough that I shave with it with no discomfort. This Dovo is in my limited experience fighting with me. I started with 1k and worked the ding out, I took even strokes both sides heel slightly leading x stroke. I did this until the ding was removed. I moved on to 4k after that same process looking at the edge to see best as I can when the first hone marks were removed. Then 8K same process. Then cloth strop and leather as mentioned above. So in a nut shell I am no pro at honing and I understand knives and razors are two different animals but as with most things I do in life I go about it the more difficult way and learn my hard lesson. I agree they are super tiny and most likely not the best hone but it is what I got so it is what it is for now. When I get a full size set they will work well for my carving knives Thanks

dinnermint I did not tape it, grits are 1k, 4k and 8k I honestly did not count laps. I would like to reckon my pre shave was not the issue as I do the same thing every time just for ease and consistency. Not to say I did not have an "off" day.

Likely a couple of things may be wrong. It is possible that you may not have the bevel set. I have a good idea that my bevel is set when it will do arm hair all along the edge off my bevel setter. After that you are just polishing the bevel mostly removing the stria. So an unset bevel and less finished bevel will give you a shave that is both tuggy and irritating.

Yup a loupe would be a big help to let you see if the bevel is set before going up the progression and also if you are removing the stria as you go. It does not have to be ultra high magnification either. I get by with a cheapie of somewhere between 20X and 40X, can't really recall what is.

Bob

That is the one thing I was wondering from what I have read BobH, I believe I read somewhere that if the bevel is not fully set then with in a few strokes or the first stroke you will lose the edge. So I am wondering if maybe I am getting it close, then after shaving a bit of leg hair off I am losing my edge. I will get a loupe next time I am in the big city. Thank you for the reply.

If the bevel isn't set, you don't have a new edge in the first place. Most guys will recommend that a beginner dull the edge by very lightly stroking the edge once along the rim of a glass before starting a bevel set (test to make sure it won't shave arm hair after this - if it does, give it another stroke on the glass until it doesn't) to be absolutely sure that it's brought back to a new apex all along the edge before moving on in a progression. Once you get it shaving arm hair all along the bevel again, you're ready to move up.

Thank you eKretz for that advice I may give that a shot. I am willing to learn so that sounds like a great learning experience.

So I went home this morning and very lightly bread knifed my dovo on a cup, then went with my 4k and took my sweet time and really paid attention to what I was doing and got hair popping off that stone then moved to my 8k again took my time. So either Sunday morn after work or Monday I will see what I get. Thanks again for the helpful advice everyone.