Noob + naniwa stones = love. or not?
Hey everyone,
I'm pretty new to straight razors, discovered some 8 months ago that I get a much smoother shave with a straight razor rather than off those mach 3 cartridges, so I started investing in some good razors, hones, strops and so on. Right now I have two razors made by thiers issard - a spartacus and an eagle, and a dovo renaissance. I also have 4 naniwa stones - 1k, 3k, 8k and 12k, and 4 strops of various leather types, the finest being that wide russian leather strop made by dovo.
All went good so far, never got even the smallest nick, the entire ritual is relaxing and the skin feels great after shaving. I used to get really this really bad rash after shaving with them gillettes, I am happy to be over that. I do however suck at honing. Here's what happened:
About 2 weeks ago I found this barely visible dent in the dovo, like a quarter of a millimeter, hardly visible with the naked eye, so I figured I must have touched the harder leather at the end of the strop when stropping... anyway, figured I might try to fix it: soaked all naniwas in luke-warm water, started with the 1k, gave it 30 passes (these naniwas are wide enough to work with the whole blade without having to do the x pattern) on each side, then moved on to 3k, then 8k and 12k. I never apply too much pressure. I always apply duct tape to the spine to protect it. I am not sure how I am supposed to "let the weight of the blade do the job" because if I don't at least apply 20-30grams of pressure (used an electronic scale for "tuning") to the blade it just doesn't sit properly on the hone, so that would result in an uneven finish. I kind of guide it with one finger at the tip and two fingers at the tang.
That little dent is no longer visible but I can tell/feel the razor doesn't cut as it did 7 months ago when I got it. Which is quite uncool considering the closest straight razor restoration shop I'd trust is like 3000kms away so I'd have to DHL the razors in and wait for 2 weeks to get them back. The other shops nearby are more likely suitable for axes and such, definitely not straight razors.
The dovo does not pass "the hanging hair" test, and the TI eagle also doesn't anymore. The spartacus still does, I haven't tried messing with it and also didn't use it that much.
The scarier part is the thought that if i can't seem to be able to work with the dovo, i won't be able to do the eagle which is the one i like best and use 2 times each week. The TI eagle is by far the most awesome straight razor I've ever tried, and I've tried like 20 of them in the $200-$500 range. Also having to do the spartacus at some point will be a disaster also because of the irregular spine design.
So I'd appreciate any tips and pointers y'all can share.