Thread: Barber Hones For Newbies

Originally Posted by Garry

Yourselves and Tilly mention Lappling and 'several laps ' with the hone is this simply a term for honing your razor or is this something that should be done prior to introducing your razor to the hone ...
Looking forward to reading your advice guidance
Garry ...

Lapping is jus trueing or flattening the stone. THey have special diamond stones for it, but it can be done as simply as 600 or higher sandpaper on a wet glass sheet. Tilly sells a Little Devil hone which is great for it and cheap. It's also a pretty fast medium hone, but I don't use it that way because it's too small for my hand.

I always lapa new stone until it's flat ans smooth, which is maybe why I've never noticed anything on the Spydercos.

Ah thankyou .. I have one of Tilly's begginer set's coming over to the uk at some point , a valuable piece of advice before I start trying to hone , considering i've never honed before i could have had disasterious results .. I have a little DMT diamond stone i could use to prep the hones once they arrive...
Thanks for the advice .
Garry

This is a very interesting thread. I would be interested in finding out how many razor those of you who have posted here, have honed to date. Thanks. Lynn

Hi Lynn , firstly thanks for sharing the vid .. thats been great help to me, before joining the group I wrecked one of those ebay 'rockwell' specials trying to hone it on a draper wetstone. So to date I've attempted 1 razor . I'm going to use this razor as my tester for honeing . I have a lovely new Dovo still waiting to be honed , I'm been so impatient Ive shaved with it twice, which wasn't actually too bad .I had been using one of these disposable ( I can only describe it as a craft knife ) razors which left a lovely 1 inch nick on my jaw line .. the Dovo left like heaven compared .. I'll keep eveyone posted once my hones arrive .
Thanks
Garry

*** Gary: Yes! Stay with the Dovos. I started with one and will stay faithfully with them.
"You always can go up, but you can’t go down".
I also have strayed a bit with JA Henckels. I have bought 2 - on eBay... I know what the "group" thought IS about this and the risk involved in the eBays specials, but each time, the seller was in Germany and both times, the razor truly WAS "shave ready". I don’t know, but those guys [Germans] not only have companies that make excellent blades, but the people there know how to "treat" them too. A very "Knife/Sharp" conscious culture!

***Joe:
Explain this "600 or higher sandpaper on a wet glass sheet" procedure in detail. And would this be acceptable for Belgian blues and Shapton Pros... I just need something to knock off the "high points" of brand new hones.

Thanks!

J

Originally Posted by Joe Lerch

Lapping is jus trueing or flattening the stone. THey have special diamond stones for it, but it can be done as simply as 600 or higher sandpaper on a wet glass sheet. Tilly sells a Little Devil hone which is great for it and cheap. It's also a pretty fast medium hone, but I don't use it that way because it's too small for my hand.

I always lapa new stone until it's flat ans smooth, which is maybe why I've never noticed anything on the Spydercos.

Originally Posted by adjustme69

This is a very interesting thread. I would be interested in finding out how many razor those of you who have posted here, have honed to date. Thanks. Lynn

Well, I started this hoby of mine ~8 months ago, with one dull DOVO stainless razor and Norton 4/8K hone. With great help from Kelly and Randy managed to bring the DOVO shaving sharp, though not so comfortable. Since, my razor collection has growed to 6 razors. I have tough beard and get about 5 to 10 shaves out of a freshly honed razor. I am managing to keep all my razors comfortably sharp with only the Norton combo, but I believe they could be sharper. That's why I ordered two of the tilly's barber's finishing hones (the Belgian coticule and 15K Shapton Pro are a bit salty for me at the moment ) So far I have learned that the Norton stone cuts better when clean, and the yellow side does not benefit from soaking, it becomes "gummy", and cuts less... Maybe I will soak the white Norton only, and give the yellow a little splash or spray of water.

So, that's it. I am no expert , but I try to help as much I can, remembering my strugle to get descent edge when first starting out...

cheers,
Nenad

I get the feeling I've got a very steep learning curve ahead of me

Originally Posted by adjustme69

This is a very interesting thread. I would be interested in finding out how many razor those of you who have posted here, have honed to date. Thanks. Lynn

I've done 45-50.

Originally Posted by jmorehead

***Joe:
Explain this "600 or higher sandpaper on a wet glass sheet" procedure in detail. And would this be acceptable for Belgian blues and Shapton Pros... I just need something to knock off the "high points" of brand new hones.

There used to be a video here by Brian Donofrio. I think it should still be here or at the Yahoo group. If you can't find it let me know and I'll find the URL for Brian's site.

That would be appreciated .. I've just found out my ebay purchased hone has arrived from the good ol' US ( not one of Tilly's tho ) so I can get practising with my nasty ebay 'rockwell' -my short holiday time is starting to look better . Had another shave with new new unhoned Dovo last night -- no more ! it was a little more painful than the other night .