Thread: news on honing my pearlex dovo...

yesterday i have made 160 laps on my yellow belgian.... this morning i have seen that the cutting power is increased.....but my dovo shavette shave better than this one yet....

should i continue for another 100 laps?? could i damage the blade???

thanks a lot my friend!!!

It is very hard to make something as sharp as a disposable.

If the razor is shaving cleanly both with the grain (WTG) and against the grain (ATG) without pulling then you are doing well

You're absolutely correct Alex. Disposable blades are made of harder steel, coated and at more extreme bevel angles because they were not meant to be re-sharpened. Straights STILL give you better shaves as long as they are honed properly.

A true SER versus a DE blade will always feel different. As FiReSTaRT mentioned, their geometries are different.

my razor pull against the grain......i had a lot of irritation this morning.....

randy help!!!

danzyc,

Sounds like your razor isn't quite sharp enough yet. Be patient. This is a hard skill to learn, and you have made good progress already.

I would recommend going back to your blue stone for a while. You need to get your razor really sharp with this stone, then polish it on the yellow one. Have you been trying the hanging hair test?

If your hair is thick like mine, this test helps a lot. I lay the razor on its spine so the edge points upward. Then I take one hair and hold it over my razor, then move it toward the edge slowly. The goal is to get the hair to cut when it touches the edge of the razor. You might not be successful right away, but with practice you'll get it.

I think you should work with the blue stone until the razor cuts the hair. That'll give you a good, sharp edge to work with. Then you can polish it more with light strokes on the yellow stone.

Try doing 20 to 30 strokes on the stone, then test with the hair. Keep doing that. At first the hair won't catch or anything. Then it'll start to snag on the edge. Then it'll cut.

I don't have Belgian stones, so someone else might want to weigh in here if I'm off base.

Keep at it,
Josh

i prefer the shave test......

i don t want to spend the money for another hone( norton )!!

with a lot of patience i ll work on my yellow belgian....

If you got your hands on a good piece it should give you great shaving edges. Try starting your honing with a bit of pressure (about 2lbs worth) and start reducing it as you go along until only the weight of the blade is pressing down on the hone. Once it stops improving, move up to the yellow and repeat the process.
Another thing to keep in mind is to be careful with the blade angle when you shave. It's supposed to be about 30 degrees. Flatter won't cut effectively, perpendicular will snag and scrape your skin.

i have made 300 laps on the yellow......... cross the fingers

how i can avoid the hairlines on my blade during the honing??? could i apply a scotch?