Thread: Beginner story - the carter way

Originally Posted by Wintchase

Aaaaahhhhhh!!!!!

Is that as in "aaaah, what have you done!" or as in "aaaaah, is see what's the problem."

The edge had a crack that was probably 2-3mm deep and serious frown so I had to grind it down as much as you see. Ok maybe I used excessive force but the filly is much better now than it was.

It sure ain't purdy, but if you can get it to shave, that's all the matters. Does the spine wear on the other side match the wear on the side in this picture??

Have fun

Originally Posted by MikkoK

This is what the razor looks like

Attachment 85984

as you can see it is really worn down and I am not even sure if I can get a good edge on that anymore, but at least it is good to practice on.

Originally Posted by Lynn

It sure ain't purdy, but if you can get it to shave, that's all the matters. Does the spine wear on the other side match the wear on the side in this picture??

Have fun

Yeah, the spine wear is even on both sides. I figured that if I had used a tape on the spine when I grind it down the bevel angle would have changed dramatically. On my other razors and this one too I now use the tape because the profiles are set to slight smile.

Thanks for your input Lynn.

Oh, an Lynn I have a question for you since you have seen so many razors. Do razors end up looking like the one in the picture when they have been used and honed a lot?

What you have there is virtually a wedge. That razor has done one of two things: Lived a long, long life (like a hand down from father to son) or has been used & abused. If it was used and abused it was someone who simply didn't know what they were doing, I.E.: learning to hone, honing tooooo often, you get the drift.

Oh ya, while it may not be purdy, once honed properly...wedges shave quite will too!

What you see is two things: me learning to hone and a serious frown being worked away (the frown was on the blade when I got it)

Originally Posted by MikkoK

What you see is two things: me learning to hone and a serious frown being worked away (the frown was on the blade when I got it)

A good way to remove a frown is to lift the spine off of the stone (1k or less), that way you are removing the high spots and not damaging the spine any further. I would also use a few layers of tape during honing (the pictured razor), probably starting with three and see how it goes.

Yeah, you're right and that is what I did at the end. First I just tried to hone to problem away and the resulting spine and bevel wear is what you get. Oh well, everybody has to make their mistakes so they can learn. What is funny is that I've been sharpening knives on jstones for two years before this and I have to admit that I still have a lot to learn. Knives and razors are so different. I thought I would have mastered this easily, but the procedures are very different with these things. I would say that razors require much more finesse and that knives are easy to sharpen in the aspect that they dont have to as perfect as the razors.

Originally Posted by MikkoK

Yeah, you're right and that is what I did at the end. First I just tried to hone to problem away and the resulting spine and bevel wear is what you get.

Been there, done that with a frown myself! lol! I check for frowns now before I even start otherwise it's a total waste of time until they are honed out.

Lesson learned.

What's important is that my shaves are getting better. Today was already comfortable and I managed to get only two small nicks.

Honing the new Dovo has been interesting. I have taken it cautiously so that I dont mess it up, but it seems that there is a slight twist to the dovo razor. The bevel width is uneven along the edge but is symmetrical in the sense that on one side when there is a small bevel then on the other side there is a larger one. I have managed to get the razor sharp and shaving despite this problem. Passing the HHT quite nicely and feeling sticky in the TPT along the edge. It is funny having these problems, on the one hand you know that your skills are not quite there yet, but on the other hand your problems might not be completely due to the poor skills and it is frustrating when you are not sure which is the culprit.

Now you're learning how nice it is to have a razor that's dead straight, with a good hollow and a small even bevel. It makes life easier. But, it's not necessary to get a good daily shaver.

I have some razors that are like your dovo, and they are good shavers. I go straight off of a natural hone to leather (and sometimes straight off the stone period) with no pastes or powders and shave (every day) very comfortably, so keep at it.

I didn't see this thread before, though I saw some of carter's videos on youtube and was a bit mortified by them. Not because you can't get a sharp razor using them, but because of how they'll prematurely wear a razor.

I don't know anything about the knife world (well, that's not totally true, but I don't follow the trendy knife people and the hucksters), but I get the sense that murray carter is constantly trying to sell himself rather than the right answer, and he's stepped outside of his realm of expertise, and it's more important for him to try to prove he's right (so he doesn't lose credibility with the people he's trying to sell his persona to) than it is for him to find the best way to do something (which will ultimately be the way everyone else hones their razor).

It's important to recognize that when you want to learn something about making knives, then the razor forum isn't the place to go, just as when you want to learn to do something with a razor, the experts on razors (barbers and people who hone razors for money) are the place to get the advice. There are people who do both knives and razors, but the good ones don't get irrational like MC does on the youtube video comments, and they sharpen knives like knives, and razors like razors.