Thread: Barber Hones For Newbies

Found them over on the yahoo group .. cheers just about to watch it .
http://homepage.mac.com/briandonofri...Sharing87.html

thanks .. Garry

Originally Posted by Garry

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

I did. I had two major stumbling blocks. First, I was trying to get my razors as sharp as a Feather and couldn't do it. When I adjusted my standard it became a lot easier.

Second, the various hair cutting tests didn't work for me with any razors honed by anyone. So I had to find another test that would work. I had to learn the thumb and thumbnail tests, which took a while.

You may have it a lot easier. You never know. The only recommendation I would have is not to jump in to a razor project without knowing where you're going. That means that you need to develope a test you can work with. Shaving is the ultimate test, but it's very frustrating constantly going back and forth between shaving and honing. If you're not working with an Ebay butter knife, you may not need to do a lot of work. There's a tendency to over do until you your sea legs. That's why a plan is so important.

What I find from the boards is that newbies will often dull an edge because of improper stropping. You need to hold the strop firmly to prevent sag and a rounded edge. I started by using one on a supporting surface, like a paddle strop. The other misteake is turnning the razor over improperly. You want to support it on the spine and roll it over carefully. If you support it on the edge or raise the spine while the edge is touching, you'll dull the edge.

Good luck and have patience.

Originally Posted by Garry

Had another shave with new new unhoned Dovo last night -- no more ! it was a little more painful than the other night .

It probably needs a little honing, with emphasis on little. Work with your slowest hone and do no more than 5-10 round trips at a time until you get a feel for how fast it works.

Before you start, try a thumbnail test. It and the thumb test are explained in th the section of the barber's manual that's in our documents. The blade should feel like it's biting in a little and be totally smooth. If it slides over the thumb without bite, it's dull and if you feel bumps as as it moves over the nail, you have chips. In either case you'll need to hone until you get the smooth bite. Then do a few more round trips just to remove the effect of the thumbnail.

At that point try the thumb test where you support the blade wih the edge up and slide the thumb gently ACROSS the blade near either end and the middle. The thumb should not slide smoothly, but should grab or resist the movement of the thumb at all three locations as it passes over. Try it with a fresh single sided razor blade to see what I mean. You'll also feel an edge rather than a surface.

When that happens you can go to the strop for 30 laps. There was an experiment done here that suggests that 60 laps is better than 30. Try the thumb test again and see if the razor grab has increased and you can feel the edge more. If you can't feel a difference, just go to an arm shaving test or hanging hair. If you're really popping hairs, the razor is ready for the shave test. If you're not, but you're cutting hair without any noticeable pull, I would try it anyway. The final test is the shave. It should be better than before. If you feel the razor pulling a little, go back to you finest hone and do just a few round rips as if you were refreshing the razor, then test again. At first, there's a lot of trial and error, but chip away at it, because the most frustrating error is overdoing.

Excellent advice .. thanks , I couldn't find a better description myself for that ebay monstorsity. Im off home to now lap my little ebay hone and from there I'll begin - slowly and lightly of course ....

thanks again and happy holidays .

Garry

Well the holidays are over and I can say with a smile and clean shaven face - I think managed to hone my dovo to give a reasonable shave, I'll know better once my 'shave ready' ( it will be prepared by another shaver ) one arrives . I took your advice and also watched the video and took things slowly . the little ebay hone I purchased is nice , pre owned and also used > http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...MEWN%3AIT&rd=1
it does this business tho - still I can't wait to get my set from Tilly and no doubt I'll get a new strop also. I've been using the one that came with my ebay 'butterknife' , even my stropping technique seems to be improving vastly ... slow n easy with a gentle touch !!! is the way to go
thanks Garry