Thread: Beginner story - the carter way

There really aren't many of us Finns around. Only few since i started here on SRP. Most come and go.
But take it this way: as long as it's marginal, vintage razors stay dead cheap in local markets

I've had two Fillies and imho it shouldn't take that long to set the bevel. From SRP you will find a tons of info on honing straight razors.
If you are about to get you any hone between 1k and 6k there is only one shop i know in Finland that sells them (King, Sun Tiger, Naniwa, Jinzo, Suehira). Might be that you can find those also elsewhere, but i haven't looked for few years now. Norton 4/8 must be great as so many tells so, but i have no experience of it.

Honing a razor is bit different that honing a knife or tool blade. It takes some time and patience to learn but i believe everyone is capable of learning such skill. In the days of the old it was such an everyday skill that anyone could do. You've worked with knives before so it is surely easy thing for you. If you need any more help (English/Finnish/Swedish), just drop me a PM.

Tomi

Jep, I paid 17 euro for the filly, but it wasn't in good condition either. If I screw it up it wont be a big loss.

The place you are referring to is probably plektratrading. I bought my king stones from there and the guy was really helpful. Other stuff I bought from the internet. I am kind of envious for the people living in US since they have so many places to shop around and there are no postage fees, customs or vat that they have to pay when shopping around. Oh well, such is life.

I am getting a funny thing on my 6k king stone. I set the bevel on the 1k (edge looked good under a microscope) and started working on the 6k stone. I lapped the stone on sandpaper on glass and rubbed it with a nagura. Immediately when I started honing I could feel tick on the stone. When I checked under the microscope again I had some minute chips on the edge. There is something wrong with the stone. Now I will have to back on the 1k and get rid of the chips.

Thanks again.
-Mikko

I had my first shave with the new Dovo. Much better but not quite what I want or can imagine it can be. Nicked myself only two times which is a record and no horrible razor burn afterwards. WTG pass was pretty ok besides my poor technique, but the blade is still not sharp enough to shave comfortably agains the grain. The blade stops way too easily since it does not cut the hair good enough.

The dovo was not shave ready out-of-the-box so I honed it a little on the 12k, stropped it with cox on balsa and finally on leather paddle. I guess my stropping technique (or the leather strop) is not good since the last step seemed take the edge away. I re-did the honing and stropped it much more carefully. TPT seemed ok, but didn't pass the HHT test at all so I know there is room for improvement. Any suggestions? Should I go back to the 6k to hone or what? Also when I was stropping on the leather I didn't notice any draw.

If you are jumping from 1K to 6K you may need more work on the 6K level, that should help. The larger gaps between hone grits the more work you'll need on the next grit. The only real benefit for more stones in closer grits is less work on each stone.

Keep practicing and let us know!
Welcome to SRP.