Thread: Beginner story - the carter way

Hi all,
I come from knife sharpening background and decided to try out SR shaving. Because of my background, the murray carter stuff is familiar to me so I decided to try it out. This is how it went thus far.

So I bought two old razors. One biedermeier 4/8 from solingen and a filarmonica 14. Both had some dents and rust in the blade. First I polished the blades with a dremel and some paste. So far so good. First up was the biedermeier. I started setting the bevel straight off with a 1k king stone. Mistake #1, I should have checked the edge profile for smile/frown. I went ahead a honed a burr on one side (like we do on knives) and then the other while using normal knife pressure. Mistake #2, but more on that in a while. Few more light draws on the 1k and up to the 6k king stone. Took my time with lighter pressure and did few dozen passes. Felt sharp in my hands, not knowing what I should have been looking for. Honed 10 laps on the newspaper and stropped on crox pasted leather with little pressure, in knife sharpening perspective. Did the HHT and got the hair to catch here and there so I thought I was ok for the shave. Not so. Well, eager to shave I went ahead and prepped me some lather after a shower. I did the shave carefully and ended up with a dozen nicks and cuts and some serious razor burn. Ouch! Wasn't my first sweet sixteen.

I know that my shaving technique wasn't good so I wasn't turned down by the less than good results of the first shave. I thought I would give the filarmonica a go and did the same stuff as above with all the same mistakes. And the second shave was not pleasure either. Ok, it was better since I had some idea how to shave with a straight.

It turns out that both of the blades had some serious frown edges. I also used way too much pressure and ended up with small chips in the edges when checked under a 60x microscope. The light pressure term is hard to understand when you have sharpened kitchen knives before.

Well I had to admit my shortcomings and start over. Now I have ordered a dovo pearlex and a nani 12k finishing stone, 1um and 0.25um diamond sprays. And some leather to build a hanging strop. I will do my first shave with the dovo tomorrow and see if there is difference (I hope there is). Also I have started over on the old razors, which is good practice but surprisingly hard and slow work. I have bread-knifed the filarmonica and started building a slight smiley profile free of cracks. It is good to have the new dovo as comparison.

Well, as you can see the carter way wasn't the best for me, but may work for someone with the proper experience in straight razors. I hope this gives something to think about.

Oh and one question: what do you think about the hone progression 1k king, 6k king and 12k nani. Should it work or should I expect problems?

Welcome. That sounds like a pretty decent progression.

Originally Posted by MikkoK

Oh and one question: what do you think about the hone progression 1k king, 6k king and 12k nani. Should it work or should I expect problems?

The progression should be fine,,, Let me put it another way "Yes I could hone and shave quite comfortably with an edge that I could get with those hones"
The trick is how you use them...

To summarize the Carter stuff, quite a few tried this method, but I've yet to see anyone that would actually prefer it to established honing methods... And the progression sure sounds fine, you'll get great shaves when you get the hang of it I'm sure.

Welcome to SRP.

I'm using almost the same progression as you. I have the 1k, 4k, & 6k King stones and then a natural chinese "12k" stone. Works well enough for me. You'll probably end up spending some time on the 6k but if you work up a little slurry on it and dilute it to water it may cut a bit faster at first to ease the jump.

BTW, newspaper should come after CrOx logically. I'm not familiar with Carter's method though.

Welcome to SRP. Let us know how things progress. As has been said your progression of stones can certainly work.

Originally Posted by MikkoK

Hi all,

... Oh and one question: what do you think about the hone progression 1k king, 6k king and 12k nani. Should it work or should I expect problems?

Welcome to SRP. As noted above the hone progression will work if they are used properly. I am not familiar with King hones but if you notice a slurry forming than the hone is too soft for the metal in your razor. Also, the greater the jump between hone grits the longer you will need to spend on the hones to get the best edge. I suggest reading through the honing forums to see how our members hone razors for a better chance of success w/ less effort. Good luck.

Hello, welcome and tervetuloa!

Originally Posted by MikkoK

Oh and one question: what do you think about the hone progression 1k king, 6k king and 12k nani. Should it work or should I expect problems?

IMHO you are ok with your stones although you probably have to spend some time with 6k. Would speed up a little if you had something between 1k and 6k.

I have no name 1k, Sun/King 3k and 6k and Chinese 12k. + several no name lower grits. With these things go fine. I use exactly the same stones with my tools & knives up to 3k.