Thread: First honing required

I have two Dovo s/s straights I have been using in rotation for about 8 months now and it is time to give them a touch up. They were originally honed by Lynn and I have kept their edge keen by using a strop and a pasted paddle strop now and again. However, the pasted paddle strop just isn't giving me a good enough edge anymore.

I have a Belgian blue and a coticule and guess I need to do a few laps on the coticule.

How many laps do I need and then what should follow it? Perhaps 50 - 60 laps on the leather?

The bevel should be fine, just a touch up required.

Thanks

Try the coticule then, linen then leather, shave, if it still pulls go back to the coticule or maybe lower.

If you think that the bevel is fine still, you could try a hundred laps on the coticule, with just water. If this doesn't give you an improvement go back to the BBW with slurry.
I'd just do one of them & see how it goes. Keep the touch light, particularly the last twenty laps.

Just to be sure I am reading this right...

100 laps on the coticule? That seems a lot more than I thought a touch up would require. I feel the bevel should be fine as surely once a bevel is set it will stay good for quite a while?

Dovo is a little tricky razor.You will need to tape back of the blade at least 2 layers of the black electric tape.Only Dovo i have seen was hone right was dovo frozen steel.I don't know what do you have but if it is not frozen steel then tape it.100 laps is nonsense to me.shave ready edge should take a lot less then that.by microscope 30X and check the edge.if it is gone you will need to start from level 1.bevel setting .etc.hope this helps

I just honed my Dovo SS with one layer of tape and it seems to be fine. Shaved with it and didn't have any problem mowing down my 3 days growth. I did however use two layers of tape on my Dovo Tortoise so I might just depend. Maybe adding another layer to the SS would make it better but I can't really see getting much better than it is now.

Hmmmm guys,,,, Lynn does not use tape when he hones, ask him yourself..
adding any tape to one of his un-tapped edges is going to change the bevel angle, and you would need a lot more honing... going to a steeper angle by adding more tape would create a double bevel on a convex edge (I am assuming this after 8 months of use)...

I would just start with 10 lap sets with a slurry on the yellow, once the edge is sticky sharp on a TPT go to clear water and finish her off nice and smooth.....

If that doesn't work then you are going to have to start from scratch anyway... But I would try the easy way first... JMHO here..

Better yet PM Lynn and ask his opinion...

You seem to be knowledgable about the whole honing-thing. Ok let me make my brief introduction to this topic.

I haven't even begun shaving with a straight razor but it will be here in about a week. I ordered a dovo half hollow ground razor. Being someone who loves collecting swords and knives and edged weapons, I have somewhat of a knowledge of putting an edge on steel; but from what I have gathered, straight razors require a more meticulous and detailed honing than does my 3 foot renassiance war sword. And even though many of you elder members advise newbies like myself not to learn honing yet, I admit I am stubborn and find that learning how to properly hone the blade is imperative, at least for me.

I have been shaving for over a year with a safety razor and its worlds better than a mach3, but I believe a shave can be much, much closer than what merkur blades can do.

So my question is guys, which stones do you all recommend to hone a non-pre honed razor??

Originally Posted by hlee8791

You seem to be knowledgable about the whole honing-thing. Ok let me make my brief introduction to this topic.

I haven't even begun shaving with a straight razor but it will be here in about a week. I ordered a dovo half hollow ground razor. Being someone who loves collecting swords and knives and edged weapons, I have somewhat of a knowledge of putting an edge on steel; but from what I have gathered, straight razors require a more meticulous and detailed honing than does my 3 foot renassiance war sword. And even though many of you elder members advise newbies like myself not to learn honing yet, I admit I am stubborn and find that learning how to properly hone the blade is imperative, at least for me.

I have been shaving for over a year with a safety razor and its worlds better than a mach3, but I believe a shave can be much, much closer than what merkur blades can do.

So my question is guys, which stones do you all recommend to hone a non-pre honed razor??

Well... when I started out straight razor shaving, I expected honing a razor to be easy. After all, I was shaving hairs of my arm for years whenever I needed to hone my chisels, plane blades or various knifes. So how hard could it be?
The problem is: arm hairs are no beard and I didn't mind having a little irritation at a small spot of arm after testing a chisel. The fact is, that we use all those tools for cutting something that doesn't complain being cut. We slice up a carrot in the kitchen without any concerns about hurting the cutting board. Now, shaving your face with a self-honed edge is an entirely different game. The edge needs to be smooth, but the smoother you make it, the keener it needs to be to have the same cutting performance. You could opt for less smoothness, but then it will drag your upper skin layer with it in its slipstream. On top of that, razor performance is very influenced by proper shaving technique, or adversely, by lack thereof. As long as you can't confidently shave successfully with a straight razor, you're completely in the dark about your honing results. Almost daily, we have straight razor aspirants arriving at SRP that state their razor isn't up to par, while in fact it's their skills that aren't up to par.
Bottom line, learn to shave before to hone, and enjoy the learning of that. Every journey has to start somewhere. The straight razor shaving journey starts with you, a sharp razor, and a mirror. Next shave, there's the mastery of the hanging strop on top of that. It will take weeks or months before you start feeling satisfied with your basic skills and years to perfect it. But do yourself a favor, and hold off with the honing for a month or two. It will help your shaving and it will help your honing.

As for which hones, you can post a new thread about that and receive 3 pages of different answers. In the end, it all comes down to personality and personal preference. Stick around for a while on SRP, and you're going to be attracted to a certain type, or brand of hones. Perhaps, you'll read about hones you already know and/or own.
But for now, my advice is to await the arrival of the DOVO. If it comes new from the factory, there's a limited chance that it comes "shaveready". Most likely not, regardless what they write on the sealed box. In former case, you're ready to go, in the latter case, it's best to get it honed professionally. The only way to find out is to try shaving, so there's your first adventure...

Welcome to SRP,
Bart.