Thread: Zeepk Honing

Before you cringe at the title I would to know how I can practice honing with a cheap razor. I've followed the tutorials here but I can never get the cheap Zeepk to pass a hanging hair test. Is this due to my lack of skill or the razor?
I'm using a Norton 4k/8k.

the razor. the steel is so soft it'll never form the fine edge needed to pass HHT.

If this is the case should I practice on my DOVO? I'm afraid of ruining the blade but do I just have to bite the bullet and practice with it instead?

Don’t beat yourself over the head trying to sharpen the cheap razor. The steel just crumbles when it gets thin enough to actually be sharp. You’ll need to look at it under a microscope to see for real.

I’d tape the spine on the Dovo and hone away. With the tape you will not inflict “hone wear” on the spine as you experiment, and you will probably create a different enough bevel angle that you will get a feel for some real sharpening/honing and you will see that it’s pretty hard to actually destroy a blade. It may take you a while to get it shave worthy, but doing it is the only way to learn. Ideally it would be nice to have a good blade honed by a Pro as a reference, but you will get it eventually by yourself if you keep at it.

Originally Posted by canyon289

If this is the case should I practice on my DOVO? I'm afraid of ruining the blade but do I just have to bite the bullet and practice with it instead?

yes. tape the spine. my first razor was a Dovo SS 5/8. I did a lot of spine wear learning to hone it, but no real long term damage. it's kind of scary, but the only way to really learn it is to sharpen a good razor until it is comfy to shave with. keep after it! you'll do just fine

Or you could get a cheap old one from ebay and practice on that. Just make sure its not one of the new crappy ones.

Steven

Learning to hone on a junker razor my cause you to develop poor honing techniques. An inexpensive quality razor will aid in developing proper technique. There are a lot of great honing tutorials and videos available to pick up the techniques that you need to know so you won't ruin a razor. I often have razors sent to me that the owner tried to hone and did not achieve a satisfactory edge. I often find uneven wear on the spine or bevel that I believe may be caused by frustration. Should you become frustrated when honing. Lay it aside until you can approach it again objectively. Developing a good honing technique takes time, patience, and objectivity. It is very satisfying to finally achieve a shaving edge from your own efforts.

Buy a double arrow from stamps222 on ebay, its a cheap 10$razor, but at least its honable(new word for wiki?). Save the DOVO!

Originally Posted by Kenrup

Learning to hone on a junker razor my cause you to develop poor honing techniques. An inexpensive quality razor will aid in developing proper technique. There are a lot of great honing tutorials and videos available to pick up the techniques that you need to know so you won't ruin a razor. I often have razors sent to me that the owner tried to hone and did not achieve a satisfactory edge. I often find uneven wear on the spine or bevel that I believe may be caused by frustration. Should you become frustrated when honing. Lay it aside until you can approach it again objectively. Developing a good honing technique takes time, patience, and objectivity. It is very satisfying to finally achieve a shaving edge from your own efforts.

+1 I agree here that honing an e-bay junker to shave sharp is not the easiest thing to do for a new guy.... I think Ken is dead on here get an inexpensive Dovo etc: and take it nice and slow...

The other thing you can do is send the e-bay razor to one of us and ask us to only set the bevel and not to do the final sharpening, that way you can sharpen your own razor with confidence that the bevel was set correctly....

Just some thoughts

Now too practice a bevel set the Zeepk will work, but so will a low priced named steel razor off e-bay and with enough work you might end up with a shavable razor where the Zeepk etc: will never be a shaver...