Thread: Success at last!!!

After almost two months of frustration, I've finally been able to hone my Dovo 5/8 tortoise. I finally got her wicked sharp by adding two layers of electric tapes on the spine prior to hitting the 4k. Within about 50 strokes on the 4k I could see and feel an edge forming. So more strokes on the 4k followed by the 8k, yellow coticule and Cr0 and wow!! Can't wait to shave with it tomorrow! I can't believe I spent all that time trying to figure out what was wrong with that razor!!

So why did it need two layers of tape?

Congrats Dups! I've read about your trials with that Dovo in passing recently and I don't envy you for all that frustration. Question - do you think that your success was due to taping the spine in general, or that the razor was taped originally for the initial honing (requiring taping during subsequent honing sessions)? The reason I ask is because you never know HOW it was honed originally, and maybe that was the source of all your troubles.

Ryan

I really don't know why it worked but I figured that I should give it a try before really giving up on it. I was told from the previous owner that the razor was bought new from classicshaving. I'm assuming that the two layers of tape changed the angle and helped in getting that nice edge.

Always nice to see some fellow Canuck!

Cheers,

JF

Not being an expert at honing, or even a novice for that matter, I'd say that it was taped by the original honer. What effect did it have on the bevel after you tried honing w/o tape? I have to ask as I'll be purchasing a hone soon. My main goal is to have one or two finishing hones for touch ups as I don't have any restoration ambitions. But if there are any bevel problems (such as taped spines, etc) then I might have to re-think my hone situation.

PS - How's the weather out in N.B. right now? Edmonton's pretty seasonal, I guess.

I've been asking myself whether wider bevels are more prone to get dull by inexperienced hands...

Congrats Dups, I too have been watching all your threads and keeping my fingers crossed, now it seems finally you may have the thing sharp. But so far so good... Let up know how the shave test goes.

It's -36 as I get up this morning!!

The razor is definately sharp from all the test I can do. It sticks to my thumb pad like crazy and it's nice and shiny. (something I couldn't even think about before when I was trying to hone it)

Apparently the razor was never honed with tape...I don't understand why it needed two layers of tape to work...Could someone with more experience shed some light here?

Congrats, Dups! That's great that you finally got it honed properly!

As for why two layers of tape? Well, my understanding is that Dovo "hones" the razors with the spine lifted off the stone (or rotary wheel) which may account for the more acute bevel angle - as with anything that is done by hand, perhaps a person there had a particularly acute angle of attack that day...I know this is why it takes 2-3 layers of tape to re-establish a bevel after bread-knifing...so it may have been that 2 layers of tape were needed to get over the shoulder of the bevel and on to the edge.

Just a though...

Mark