Thread: ok so how..............

my dovo 5/8 just skims over the hairs without cutting and basically itches the skin. i know it needs to be honed but i wanted to actuallly learn how to hone. i have a norton 4k/8k and a chinese 12k. where should i start? how many laps? should i do the pyramid? any advice would be helpful. thanx

o yeah i forgot to mention that i did read all the wiki stuff and now i wanted to actually put that info to use.......

As you said if you read wiki stuff and check video's you should be in good shape.
start with 4k side and no pressure until you will see it pops up the hair then move 8k side. you will see it cuts hairs without any pressure to the hair. as soon as it touches hair falls down.
lastly lets hope you have some chro2 . 20 on it then strop go for shave.
good luck and be patient.
hope this helps.

this all in case your blade has already bevel set previously.
if this is first time then you better start on 1k hone.

If you look in the Video subsection of the General section of the forum, you will find several honing videos. These will give you a sense of how to do what you have already seen in print.

Yo will get a bunch of different answers to this, maybe an many as there are people that hone straights so I'm not going to get into the specifics, just some priceless tips.

Set the bevel how ever you like, I do circles, some do back and forth. Don't count laps, use a timer and go for 30 seconds a side. Then do 10 to 15 laps and test the edge on arm hair. If it doesn't cut hairs for the whole length of the blade go back to circles or back and forth, then laps. Increase the times per side if the edge doesn't cut at all. Use light pressure for the circles and almost no pressure on the laps.

Once you get the edge to cut for the whole length you can go to the pyramid if that is how you want to hone. It works well. Remember, less is more and less is better.

Good luck.