Thread: Bevel set to finish!

Great Job .Wecome to the club.

Awesome and congrats. I just experienced this same thing not too long ago--you'll want to be breaking out the stones more and more and more and more....

Gasman, I have this one razor I cant get right. I have 2 dovo Bismarck 6/8. They were simple to hone from new and still a few years later are regulars in the bathroom. Now 3 months back i bought another one new. It came in the older style cardboard case. Whereas the other two came in the dovo tins. This newer one will not shave as it should. Yep. It passes most tests. But shaves tugging and un comfortable. I honed it tape 1 layer from chosera 1K to gok 20k. I repeated it after it failed the shave test. And again it failed. I went through geometry tests. No warps or unbalanced parts of the spine and edge. Tested spine/edge with sharpie. I have now started again. This time I used tape and reset the bevel on a dmt325, changing the tape 4 times in the short time it took, just about to a burr. Still the bloody thing wont shave right . Anyone have a razor that's been cursed. This one has me beaten. in the last few days ive honed a couple Thiers issard 7/8 using normal bevel set techniques and all is good. So its not me. I need an exorcist. Any ideas?

Originally Posted by Dav

I picked this Olean cut co. razor off eBay for $10. It was beaten up quite a bit so I figured I would use it for honing practice. Thanks to the stickies and posts I've been reading here, I was able to hone it from being a butter knife to shave ready for me. It's my first razor I've honed myself and it worked great. I feel much more confident about razor upkeep now. Thanks a bunch SRP.Attachment 262133 Attachment 262134


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OK I think I need to do something like this in order to get better at honing. I am good at keeping a very nice edge once it's there, or even improving it (coming from SRD) with various strops, but I can't seem to get the honing right. What would you say was the best pieces of advice you got here?

Originally Posted by bobski

Gasman, I have this one razor I cant get right. I have 2 dovo Bismarck 6/8. They were simple to hone from new and still a few years later are regulars in the bathroom. Now 3 months back i bought another one new. It came in the older style cardboard case. Whereas the other two came in the dovo tins. This newer one will not shave as it should. Yep. It passes most tests. But shaves tugging and un comfortable. I honed it tape 1 layer from chosera 1K to gok 20k. I repeated it after it failed the shave test. And again it failed. I went through geometry tests. No warps or unbalanced parts of the spine and edge. Tested spine/edge with sharpie. I have now started again. This time I used tape and reset the bevel on a dmt325, changing the tape 4 times in the short time it took, just about to a burr. Still the bloody thing wont shave right . Anyone have a razor that's been cursed. This one has me beaten. in the last few days ive honed a couple Thiers issard 7/8 using normal bevel set techniques and all is good. So its not me. I need an exorcist. Any ideas?

I don't have enough experience to start giving out advice, but I CAN share your pain- this happens to me more often than not and every time it has been thinking the bevel was set (convinced it was) and it was not somehow (failed shave test). I am having such a difficult time setting the bevel consistently! It's like that fish that just steals the bait off your hook LOL! If you do figure out what is going on and how to fix it please share.

Setting the bevel is the holy grail of honing a razor. Far more learned fellas than me have given forum members the many favored methods. 95% of the time i go alright. But some razors do me in. Best advice. Give the ones that appeal to you like circles or half strokes a try. So many choices but the guys that do it every day dont get great edges by accident. Look at or check out the methods used by moderators. And many others who have been around the block on this. And go to the SRP library there's lots to pickup especially on the bevel. It takes a while. Im talking a few years as a hobbyist to get it right and be able to repeat it. You will know youve got the idea or knack of it if you are game to hand a razor you have honed yourself to another shaver. No one would live it down if you handed say Lynn Abrams or gssixgun one of yours and it ripped up their chins....lol. just keep your eyes and ears open and do your best.

Originally Posted by bobski

Gasman, I have this one razor I cant get right. I have 2 dovo Bismarck 6/8. They were simple to hone from new and still a few years later are regulars in the bathroom. Now 3 months back i bought another one new. It came in the older style cardboard case. Whereas the other two came in the dovo tins. This newer one will not shave as it should. Yep. It passes most tests. But shaves tugging and un comfortable. I honed it tape 1 layer from chosera 1K to gok 20k. I repeated it after it failed the shave test. And again it failed. I went through geometry tests. No warps or unbalanced parts of the spine and edge. Tested spine/edge with sharpie. I have now started again. This time I used tape and reset the bevel on a dmt325, changing the tape 4 times in the short time it took, just about to a burr. Still the bloody thing wont shave right . Anyone have a razor that's been cursed. This one has me beaten. in the last few days ive honed a couple Thiers issard 7/8 using normal bevel set techniques and all is good. So its not me. I need an exorcist. Any ideas?

Off the wall thought, but this may be a side effect of going down too far. Or another perspective, not spending enough time on the 1K to undo the DMT 325 damage, and not enough on the 3 to get rid of the 1K etc.

What I would try (because it's worked for me on a couple of occasions) is to go back down. Not to the 325 or even the 1K, but to either the 3K or 5K if you're using Naniwas. I use Norton so it's the 4K, but same principle. Pretend you just came off the 1K, or even that you're practicing a bevel set in that 3-5K region. If you're knocking on the door to a set bevel, or your edge is just a wee bit too toothy, this should clean it up and have you off to the races.

Excellent.
And que the HAD in 3, 2, 1

Originally Posted by bobski

Gasman, I have this one razor I cant get right. I have 2 dovo Bismarck 6/8. They were simple to hone from new and still a few years later are regulars in the bathroom. Now 3 months back i bought another one new. It came in the older style cardboard case. Whereas the other two came in the dovo tins. This newer one will not shave as it should. Yep. It passes most tests. But shaves tugging and un comfortable. I honed it tape 1 layer from chosera 1K to gok 20k. I repeated it after it failed the shave test. And again it failed. I went through geometry tests. No warps or unbalanced parts of the spine and edge. Tested spine/edge with sharpie. I have now started again. This time I used tape and reset the bevel on a dmt325, changing the tape 4 times in the short time it took, just about to a burr. Still the bloody thing wont shave right . Anyone have a razor that's been cursed. This one has me beaten. in the last few days ive honed a couple Thiers issard 7/8 using normal bevel set techniques and all is good. So its not me. I need an exorcist. Any ideas?

Here are some very good tips and advice for "those cursed" razors.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/honin...bing-over.html

Originally Posted by trondsi

OK I think I need to do something like this in order to get better at honing. I am good at keeping a very nice edge once it's there, or even improving it (coming from SRD) with various strops, but I can't seem to get the honing right. What would you say was the best pieces of advice you got here?

For me, understanding the correct pressure helped the most. I actually found success when I just tried doing everything above 1k with no pressure at all. I had to adjust the way I held my razor when I honed so I could achieve no pressure by raising my elbow. This allowed me to pull the razor across the hone without adding in any extra motions. Besides that, understanding that the bevel had to be set all across the blade, ( I had to go back and re-set it after I realized I had missed a spot) and learning about pyramids was the most useful. Hope my experience helps you in some way!