Thread: Just can't get it sharp..

I recently got my hands on a Dovo Tortoise 5/8 razor. After countless hours of honing I still can't get it sharp or anywhere shave ready.

I've tried the norton 4k for a long time nothing..
Went back to a 800 grit wet/dry sp still nothing..

I don't know what to do next..
It's such a nice llittle razor but for some reason it just doesn't want to cooperate.

dyu ever set a new bevel on a new razor? if not you might want to send it to a honemeister here first, so you can see and feel a proper edge fin. Maintaining an edge is easier than setting one.

This is only my second razor, but I was able to put a nice edge which shaves well on my other razor but for some reason this one is just beyond me..

You can send it to me if you want . . .where you at?

I'm in New Brunswick, Canada.

Lots of guys in Canada. Whats with the 800 paper. What are you trying to do with that?

Well I couldn't get it anywhere with the 2000 grit so I thought that maybe going lower would help create the bevel. I also thought that the actual sandpaper grit was a bit different than lets say a waterstone. Something like a 2000 grit sp would be more or less similar to a norton 4k.

to quote slick willie...."i feel your pain." I have the same razor you’re talking about, and I have the same problem. I honed it to about 200 laps on the 4000 side of the Norton, then another 150 on the 8000 side. Then finished it off with about 60 strokes on a syderco ultrafine. And still, it’s not sharp. i’m not able to glide it over my face without casuing some serious abrasions that are still felt the next day. It’s really a frustrating razor, even though people swear by it!

I don’t know if the bevel is set properly. I’m thinking about buying (yet another) hone, this time one with a very low grit to set the bevel (hopefully) and start the process all over again.

In the meanwhile, I’m probably going to buy another shave-ready razor (been thinking about the Wapi I or even the Wapi II…still waiting on people’s reviews for the latter) to really see what a shave-ready razor looks and feels like.

But I swear, if I can’t get this honing thing down, I’m going to give up on straight razor shaving. I feel that if i can’t hone it and keep it razor sharp by myself, then it sort of defeats the purpose for me.

There is something going wrong with the stroke here... 200 laps on a 4k Norton is a lot of laps too not notice a differnce....

Those Dovo's are normally a very easy bevel set, and hone out, there is very, very, rarely a "Trick" to them. Every now and then you will find a very slight warp, but even then it is pretty easy to hone around with a standard X stroke.....

This is one of the rare times I am going to give actual stroke counts, and these are just for comparison sake....

On most new Dovo's (carbon steel) it takes about 30 laps on a 1k Norton to set the bevel, 30 laps on the 4k to get that bevel arm hair popping sharp and maybe 20-30 laps on the 8k to get it smoothed up...Then either use a finisher or take it to the strops and you are shaving.... Keep in mind that everyones stroke counts vary, because we all vary... They are not a step by step map to follow because we all have different sized steps but it is a general direction.... I use 10 lap sets on everything, 10 laps check the edge with whatever test is appropriate, until after the 4k stone, then I don't touch the edge any more...

Don't have a 1k no sweat, stay on the 4k and leave it there until it is popping arm hair up and down the blade and I don't mean 1 or 2 hairs, I mean shaving arm hair easily...

Question for both of you are you comfortable with the TNT, it is your friend when making sure you have a bevel.... No grabby on the thumbnail, no bevel, and not just 1 spot on the edge, THE WHOLE EDGE heel to toe must be grabby.....

When I read these type of posts I always wonder what is happening to the spine with all that time on the hone with no sharpening, and what is showing up on the hone surface.