Thread: no success

I'm one of the guys claiming 15-30 minutes, but that's after almost a year of struggling and spending hours on one stinkin' razor...

One key to remember is that you're close, so lots of honing probably isn't necessary. A little of the right kind of honing is what's called for. Take things slow; you're really touching up the razor, not doing a heavy-duty honing session.

I'd stick with the 1-5s or 1-3s for a couple of days. Maybe try lathering up and testing and honing while you shave to speed things along.

If that doesn't work, maybe five or 10 laps on the 4K, followed by 20 to 30 strokes on the 8K... (Switching things up like this helped me when I was starting out.)

Another thing that helped me initially was to not worry so much about pressure. You want to keep the pressure relatively light, but I think it's more important to keep it even. So use just enough so you're not worried about the blade coming up off the hone. Use your pinkie and ring fingers to hold the scales up and prevent the tip of the razor from wanting to lift off the hone...

If you are still having trouble, write a detailed post describing everything you can possibly think of--that might give us a few clues as to what you could change.

Keep at it--honing's not hard once you get the hang of it.

Josh

I'm a newbie myself, and I have only recently had any success at sharpening a razor, but your story reminds me of my own tale.

For me, the key was to get a pasted strop. I know... I know... Everyone claims to be able to get nice shaves right off the 8K norton, and I believe that one day when I'm all grown up, maybe I will be able to as well, but for now my pasted strop is my best friend.

I was nearly ready to sell my straight razor on ebay, when at last everyone on this very helpful board came to the agreement that I needed a pasted strop to get me by until my honing technique improved, and I honestly wish I had bought one to start with. I ordered exactly what was recommended, a "3-inch wide, two-sided paddle strop [from Tony Miller] in honey brown leather, and have him pre-paste it with 1 micron diamond and .5 micron chromium oxide." Best. Advice. Ever. Now I shave daily with my straight razor without pain or pulling, and my razor also happens to be a stainless DOVO (not that I think that has anything to do with it).

Good luck, and if you'd like to read the rest of the suggestions people gave me, the thread is here:
http://straightrazorpalace.com/showthread.php?t=12294

(It starts to get somewhere around page 6)

Once you get good at honing the 4k/8k will be all you really need (though not all you really want :-). But while you're learning that paddle strop is an awfully handy crutch because its so easy to get good results. So get the paddle and use it to keep your razors shaving sharp, but keep banging away on the Norton because it'll pay off in the end.

Lap your norton every 30-60 mins of use; those things wear quickly and you want your stone as flat as possible for the best edge.

thanks all for you help and advice

well i returned my XL russian strop for a two sided paddle from Mr. Ayers

will be getting that by friday

just dont know where to get the chromium??

well i will do the 1 on the 4k and then the 15-20 on the 8k

will try that tonight and post later to see how my shave went like

thanks

no shave with the dovo today--had in-law pop in and used the disposable straight

will have to wait a couple of days to see how it went--will hone anyhow tonight

It is normal to be frustrated when you start honing razors. Work through it and keep at it and you'll learn to do it. You'll learn nothing by sending it to a honemeister. Where are you located geographically? Sometimes five minutes with an experienced honer will save weeks of experimentation. I'm in Massachusetts and people drop by to chat, hone, check out different kinds of stones, etc. fairly regularly. The most important advice I can give you is to use quality tools. Get a decent stone like a Norton 4k8k to start out with before you go to the expense of a natural waterstone. When you know what to expect from a razor and a stone, move on to a better stone. Honing is a progressive process going from coarser to finer grits. By all means get a magnifier like the one from Radio Shack so you can see what the edge looks like and then what it looks like after you've worked on it. That's the quickest way to figure out problems. Tackling a stainless steel blade right out of the gate is a bit of a rough entry into honing. Stainless behaves very differently from carbon steel.

There's no magic to honing... just knowledge.

@howard--thanks for the advice man--i have a 4/8k norton and i am in the miami area for now looking into going to puerto rico soon
so if anyone in the miami area or san juan area wanna lend a helping hand i am open to it


well i intended on honing last night but i ended up going to sleep with my norton in the water all night!! (is it damaged???)

well i did the following this morning--sorry if i screw terms here---but i did one lap (1-up and down) on the 4k and i did 35 on the 8k-then did 1 again on the 4k and 55 on the 8k--and then i finally did 1 on the 4k and 75 on the 8k

it is amazing how much time flew by (took me almost an hour) but i was really concentrating on my technique and going fairly steady and slow with emphasis on keeping my dovo as level as possible on the stone

didnt have much stubble but i shave my sideburns --and i must say with no hair prep and just some soap and warm water on the sideburn it took the hair off pretty go--i am not sure but i might have felt initial pulling but when i switched to the other sideburn i did not feel alot of pulling

what i did feel was like alot of scraping and ofcourse hair coming off
but i guess i will find out for sure when i shave with it---

should i try shaving as soon as i have something to shave or do i hone again??

it passed HHT with surprising ease (best i have seen yet) so i think i am going somewhere lol

anyways thanks

BTW -now i know where to get the diamond paste--like i mentioned earlier i am getting a Tony Miller paddle from Vintagebles sometime this week so i will probably need some help with that too

thanks again all

If it passed HHT with surprising ease and felt no pulling on the second sideburn - you may be better off just test-shaving it to avoid risk of overhoning.

Let me say that "scraping" may mean inappropriate angle.

If the shave is pretty good - you might try 10 light laps on the 8K to see if it improves. Repeat process (10 light laps) until you see / feel no more progress on the edge

Cheers
Ivo

thanks izlat for the advice

will definitely try a shave with it today then and post later to say how it went

will check my angle when i first begin to shave incase of scraping

BTW it will be ok to do 10 on the 8k even though i it may be the best i can do--in other words if i do 10 too many will i jack things up???

Disclaimer: Personal oppinion here - No, I don't think 10 more on the 8K with very light pressure will ruin the edge, in general. But it depends where you start from, of course. If it's already risking being overhoned (which I don't think it is, from your description) - you may do some damage. This will not be too hard to fix though...

Cheers
Ivo