Thread: Straight Razors Dull Despite Little Use

I never thought the Naniwa 12k was all that expensive.

I figured I'd share this with ya. Member just sent me two new razors to hone. Here's a pic of Dovo's so called factory honed.

Nice frown, eh!



Took about 2 1/2 hrs to repair and get shave ready.

Originally Posted by rickytimothy

Amen brother

We might have some of these acrylic solvents in our chemistry lab at work here, I'll have to check. Normally when we look at metal under a microscope we cast it in epoxy first so it's easier to handle, we do lots of plastic related stuff. I think that website you linked will probably have brutal shipping to Canada, if they ship here at all, that's usually how these things go. Apparently amazon sells blocks like that, so I'll check there too.

This film progression you're talking about, is this after the 8k, or in place of it?

What I was planning on doing was 1k stone > 4k stone > 8k stone > 1 micron film. I believe 8k is basically the same as 3 micron, so I don't really see any point in working 3 micron in there, or higher. I prefer stones to paper in general, and already spent a whole bunch of money on them, so I figure I might as well use them. The only hangup is the expensive finishing stones.

In place of. Roughly speaking, 1µ replaces 12k, 3µ replaces 8k, 9µ replaces 3k or 4k grit. 15µ is slightly coarser than a 1k Naniwa SuperStone but benefits from the flatness and consistency that film honing potentially brings. This all being my own subjective feel, having used both the SuperStone and lapping film progressions for years. If you are sure you have a good 8k and it is well lapped, and a good 4k-ish stone, just follow your 8k with 1µ film. If there is any doubt, the other grades of film only cost chimp change.

How is your shave off your 8k?

A shavette is good for showing just how sharp sharp can be, and teaches you how to keep all the blood inside your skin, and not leave your face feeling like you scrubbed it with a poison ivy brush. It can be demanding. It also gives you a benchmark for raw whisker cutting power. Don't bother with the type where you slide a half DE blade into the holder. Those work but definitely not the best. The type where the blade holder clamps onto the blade by the squeezing action of a swinging spine piece, such as below,
https://www.ebay.com/itm/17148807650...Bk9SR57gstj7YQ

works pretty good. Look for the teardrop cutouts in the scales. These are made in the same Chinese factory and resold under various brand names by various online sellers. In the above case, the Derby half blades are of reasonable quality, a bit tame and gentle for my taste though. I use Feather Hi-Stainless DE blades snapped in half. Very sharp, and very economical when you buy online by the hundred lot. These are exceptional blades and as a bonus you can use them whole, in a DE razor. Great in vintage Gillettes of every type though some really old ones are best with a shim under the blade because they were made for the old thick blade. Anything post WW1 is fine.

To up your game slightly, you can go with one of the shameless style knockoffs resembling the Feather Artist Club razors, but using the far cheaper DE blades again. Like below:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Those blades are garbage, BTW. Toss them. But the razor is very nice, and with half of a Feather DE blade in it, a very sporty shaver.

Finally there are the genuine Artist Club razors, exceptional quality and effectiveness but much higher price and use high priced long format blades. For this purpose, don't bother. Stick with the cheapies and the fake AC above would be my recommendation.

Shave with that, keep your skin stretched tight and your shave angle low and your pressure nil, and see how it goes. If you do it right it will cut as good as Paul's edge and not be severely lacking in comfort. Quite usable. Compare it to your 8k edge. Does it make you wail in despair at how poorly your 8k cuts, or is there a hint of promise there? A good 8k edge pretty much calls for a three pass shave. That's standard. The shavette should give you an acceptable shave in one or two passes at this stage, a single pass with experience. Compare shave closeness between one pass with your 8k edge to your shavette shave or the razor Paul honed for you. Gauge your progress and how far you still have to go. It's all about you comparing your shave while your shaving and your honing skills improve. When at 8k you are finding happiness at two passes, you are probably about max with the 8k stone. If you are still patchy at three passes with it but you get a very acceptable shave from your other choices, then you need to keep at it, because adding a proper finisher will not really help you until your 8k is doing its job, which will not be before the 4k is doing its job, which will not be before the bevel setter has fully done its job. When you are quite satisfied that your 8k or 3µ edge is up to snuff, time to hit the finisher. You can happily wait on the acrylic or the Naniwa or whatever until you are certain that your 8k edge is a good 8k edge. Meanwhile your shavette is a harsh teacher and you will learn or bleed. It is the Shao Lin Temple of straight edge shaving, hard core, run with the big dogs or stay on the porch, Rambo meets Crocodile Dundee, shaving. Conan turning the grain mill alone after the ox died. That which does not kill us makes us stronger, and all that. Henceforth, no blue plastic thingamabob need ever touch your face. The shavette is nice for travel, just buy DE blades at your destination or pack them in checked bags if flying. If you lose it, no biggie. Meanwhile it can help to serve as an additional benchmark.

Originally Posted by outback

I never thought the Naniwa 12k was all that expensive.

I figured I'd share this with ya. Member just sent me two new razors to hone. Here's a pic of Dovo's so called factory honed.

Nice frown, eh!



Took about 2 1/2 hrs to repair and get shave ready.

I would never recommend a Dovo to a new member, or a TI for that matter.

Originally Posted by markbignosekelly

I would never recommend a Dovo to a new member, or a TI for that matter.

Holey cow, I never seen a BL with a frown like that! Or even a Bismarck! "Best Quality", yeah, sure. My first straight razor and I passionately dislike them. I have two Bismarcks that I haven't yet honed. I think I will find them and backlight them soon, and make sure they are okay.

The shape of my Dovo when I bought it is honestly the most disappointed I have ever been with a product I've purchased. I will appreciate it in the long run though, no longer a Dovo but rather my Dovo. Like a stray dog you've trained the wild out of.

I'll try the 8k shave tonight, I have no idea where it is currently. Shavette would have been a very prudent idea if I was able to predict how much trouble these razors were going to give me when I started out years ago, at this point I have the battle scars already so I should be good enough. I picked up the technique quite quickly after recently using Paul's very sharp razor a bunch of times. My face is full of dimples and contours, and I've found out the hard way which angles hurt .

I'm not sure exactly what you mean with doing a 3 pass and having all these stray whiskers. My approach to shaving with a straight is super scattershot to the point I wouldn't even call it a pass. There's 20 slightly different regions of my face that I approach only once each. I'm constantly looking out for areas that I haven't shaved yet as they all have such a totally different approach when I use a straight razor, there's never really been a moment where I've tried to shave one part and there was hair leftover.

A "pass" is a term that doesn't really translate strictly for some people, maybe most people. It can be loosely interpreted as 1 time across but some use it to mean with the grain (WTG) as 1st, across the grain (XTG) as 2nd, against the grain (ATG) as 3rd but that assumes that all the hair is growing in the same direction and down the face/neck. Some of mine grows up the neck. A better set of terms would be down the face, across the face, up the face but that still wouldn't constitute a single pass for me as I mix them. Each beard and skin is different so do what works.

It makes perfect sense for safety razor shaving. It's a couple minute long process where I can definitely get my whole face with the grain, then against, or across. Straight razor shaving for me is like a whole ordeal where I'm meticulously sniping little tiny patches of hair over the course of 15-20 minutes. It does keep getting faster over time, however.

For myself a pass means one lather. If I lather 3 times that is a 3 pass shave.

Originally Posted by 32t

For myself a pass means one lather. If I lather 3 times that is a 3 pass shave.

I have to lather 5-6 times in a straight razor shave haha, gotta bring that shaving time down.

Originally Posted by 32t

For myself a pass means one lather. If I lather 3 times that is a 3 pass shave.

That's how I refer to it also. How it is defined though depends on who you ask.