Anyone near Raleigh? Because I am horrible at this.

OK, I've had the razor for a while, and I've been shaving with it even though it's probably not even close to sharp (yeah, it's painful and rough, but I'm stubborn).

I got a pretty good honing stone (I think...a Norton 4000/8000), but it turns out, I'm horrible at this. Every time I attempt to "sharpen" it, it's way way worse, and only eventually with lots of stropping does it get to where it feels like I'm not scraping my face off.

I was told I could probably find someone here to send it off to to sharpen it, but I'd kind of like to know what the heck I'm doing wrong so I could do it myself. So...anyone near Raleigh that could spare a little time to show me what I've got all wrong?

I really don't want to go back to disposables. Help.

Thanks.

--Mark.

We have that GoogleEarth thing on the main page with all the members locations on it, you might try that. If that doesn't work I have done quite a bit of diagnostic work. If you want you can send me the razor, I can explain what your doing wrong and I can hone it for you and send it back. Then when you get it you can look at it, say under a microscope and you'll "get it".

Its also not that hard for us to figure it out if you describe the situation.

Finally, you could speak with one of us on the phone.

Mark, I'm just learning, too. I'm in Fayetteville. Give us more details about the razor. Is it new or old? Was it ever a good shaver? One thing I do know is that you have to establish a good bevel to get anywhere. Pyramids really won't help you do this. You'll probably need a loupe or scope (I have a 30x) to see the bevel and make sure it goes all the way to the edge. Per Josh Earl (an SRP honemeister), one mistake newbies make is that the bevel is not set, and they are just polishing the middle of the bevel and not the edge when they move to higher grits.

I,m in the center of NC. I've been trying to get a gettogether going. I'm no honemiester, but maybe I could help. Me and boourns have been trying to exchange ideas for a time.

Phil