Thread: Help with honing

Hello all,

I'm brand new to the forum--signed up specifically so I could ask this question.

I'm pretty new to shaving, I have a Dovo straight and have been using it for about seven months with pretty decent results. My problem is this: I very recently bought and old barber's hone (a Pike Koenig) and cleaned it up. I had been using the Ichabod Conk water hone that most people here will probably bash me for even thinking about...but I was getting decent shaves with it, not spectacular, nothing close to that effortless, no-pressure-applied perfection I should apparently have experienced by now . I've tried honing on the Pike hone, which is much finer than the other one, but here's the catch--the seems to be dulling the blade. I've done it several times with the same results--pulling, missed hairs, really REALLY bad razor burn. Is there anything that might cause this--over-honing, wrong pressure, just a bad or dirty stone? Any input would be great. I'm almost ready to give up and try a shavette, but I'm hoping you can all talk me out of it.

Welcome to SRP.

I'm not familiar with either hone, but the fact that your hone feels finer to the touch doesn't mean that the cutting media is finer. If you have a good magnification I'd look at the edge and see what's going on.

I'm not familiar with that particular barber hone but the instructions that come with the ones I have used say to only do 5 strokes because it is very easy to overhone and produce a wire-edge (a super-thin edge that crumbles easily and that would cause the problem you're describing). Try back-honing a few stokes (a few strokes in the stropping direction instead of the honing direction) to remove the wire-edge and let us know what happens.

May I suggest you read this thread?
http://straightrazorpalace.com/advan...agreeable.html
Perhaps a bit of a stiff read, but it's got a lot of good information, and in particular about the use of barber hones.

Best regards,
Bart.

Thanks!

I just tried a few of your tips this morning and the shave was MUCH better. Not all the way there yet, but I think I just have to get used to the new stone. I also started keeping the hone in a pond instead of just wetting it, and it seems much more abrasive now.