razors from pakistan

Hi folks, i found this site by mistake and boy,i'm glad i did.
my question is about razors from pakistan called "zeepk", very cheap ones
but they really look nice...
anyways,im working really hard with "shapton glass stones" trying to hone them.
after about 300 laps on the 4000 grit i gave up and started with a 1000 grit...
that made the edge a little sarper and then i moved to the 4ooo grit followed by 8000 grit. now the blade can beraly save the hair of my arms.... i tried the dovo red paste also... nothing, maybe they just cant get to a fine shape for shaving?
or is it just me?
thx for any attempt to help
Perry

Hi Perry. You are absolutely correct. I've had one of those and could never get it shave ready. I did get a couple of scars from trying anyways though. Keep the Zeepk for restoration experimenting but don't waste your time on honing it. They just use bad steel. If I were you, I'd invest in:
1) A nice shave-ready piece from one of our real honemeisters like Bill Ellis
2) An antique e-bay razor to practice your honing on. Someone might offer to give you a project piece they didn't like for some reason but that you can still shave with. Good luck and welcome aboard!

Hi Perry.

Honing for the first time is not an easy job. You need to develop tactile skill, and get a feel for the razor on the hone. You need to practice some more. Too bad the razor you have is good for practice only.

You can start honing on some 1000 grit sandpaper sticked with some double stick tape to a flat surface, like kitchen counter top, marble slate, or glass plate. Use water too. After that, go to the 4000, for some 30-40 laps, and look at the edge with magnifier, or/and do the thumbnail test. After the 4000, you can start polishing on the 8000 or whatever similar grit you have...

I am not familiar with the glass hones, but I expect them to work similar to regular hone.

The Zeppk is not a keeper, and not suitable for longer use, but for starters, you might try and shave with it when you think it's honed enough. In the meantime, go trough the help files and forums.

cheers,
Nenad

While I respect Nenad's expertise, I would NOT advise you to actually shave with the Zeepk, based on my experience. When I talked to the Shapton people, they SPECIFICALLY recommended their glass hones for this purpose as opposed to their Pro series. What are you using for lapping those?

Actually for what you paid for the thing I think it is an excellent razor for basic practice in honing and stropping. Of course you should never shave with it and it will be hard to tell what progress your making but I think just the basic moves involved in honing and stropping can be started with that and then move on to a real razor.

thanks all for answering so fast,i must clear some things befor i start...i am a chef,and my hobby is sharpening kitchen knives for fun... i know a lot about honing and sharpening those(at least i wanna believe i do..) i have succeed in honing razors made from a none stainless steel and got some good reasolts though,i had a lil prob with my stainless steel DOVO which i got to
the degree of which i can shave with...but not as clean and smooth as the other razors...anyways these pakistanien just cant get a decent sharpness of even a good fillet knife......but i already got the impression they worth nothing at all so i guess what you get for such a cheap cost worth what you paid for... btw,i lapp the glass stones with a sendpaper and it works out well
thx again ppl :-)

Perry, INOX (stainless) steel is a bit more difficult to hone than carbon, but the difference shouldn't be TOO bad. The Pakistani razor can also be used for opening letters :D Kitchen knives and razors are two different ballgames when it comes to honing. Always keep that in mind. Well that and to remember not to use the same hones for knives you cut meat with and razors you shave with lol.