It IS possible for a newbie to get shave-ready with Nortons!!!

[wedwards]

I cant find my old thread where I was asking for assistance getting an old Dovo Inox stainless razor shave ready after it probably never being shave ready since I bought it about 10 years ago.

Well I have made some progress. Based on the suggestions given, I had ascertained that;

- I hadnt set the bevel correctly
- Wasnt checking that I could shave arm hairs after each grit level

I also had a suspicion that I didnt have stones with a high enough grit level to finish the razor off.

Well, since then, I had been watching some honing videos on youtube late last week and it inspired me to get out the razor again and have another go. Since that post, I also acquired a Livi loom strop that is pasted on one side.

I taped the spine, and established a bevel on the 1K, and was able to shave arm hair across the whole length of the blade (was a bit rough, but it could do it).

Went to 4K for about 20 laps and it shaved markedly better.

Then went to 8K for about 10 laps and it was shaving arm hairs like I had never seen!!

I then took it to the pasted paddle for about 50 strokes, and then another 50 on leather.

The edge of the blade at this point, actually looked WAY different than it ever had - there was a clear bevel across the entire edge of the blade, similar to shave-ready razors I had recently purchased.

To my untrained eyes/hands, the razor actually seemed to pass HHT. I was stoked, so proceeded to give it a shave test. I have to say that this little Dovo cuts through my beard like butter!! I dont think it had ever been honed to a shave-ready state, and the fact that I was able to do this is a great sense of achievement for me, so much so that I pulled out an old antique store "Buffalos Own" that I had brought back to life, and honed it in the same way. I shaved with this razor tonight and it also gave a great shave!!

During my first feeble attempts, I kept thinking that I didnt have all the fancy hones/stones that the experts cite all the time, but the Nortons are clearly up to the task once you know what to do with them. Also, those taking note will see that I didnt use any kind of pyramid technique - I actually have a feeling that this was getting in the way of me knowing when to move to the next stone (but thats just my experience).

I have a chinese 12k stone on its way, which should only improve the quality of honing. Still have a long way to go, but for the first time since I started trying to hone a blade I can finally say "I get it!!!!".

Sorry for the long-winded post, but I am pretty happy with the accomplishment I felt at the end of all of this.