Thread: First time honing an ebayzor that was totally blunt from start to finish

Hi Guys,

Today I honed a razor I got from ebay from taylors1000 or ukmerchant. It was a George Buck razor that I posted in razor's not too long ago. You can see it here http://straightrazorpalace.com/razor...ease-pics.html It was completely blunt when I got it, i could run it over my thumbnail no drag whatsoever couldn't shave 1 arm hair no matter what. So I thought it would be a good candidate to practice my honing skills. I started out on the naniwa 1k, I needed to lap it with my DMT that I finally recieved today from carbatec after waiting since the end of last year, I left a bit of slury on there and kind of diluted as I went I think because I've seen gssixgun do something similar. Then I use'd a bit of Lynn's circle method and then followed with some wannabe glen two handed x-strokes getting lighter as I went. I couldn't get the edge to shave arm hair after some time so I thought maybe this razor had been honed with tape at some stage so maybe it has a double bevel. So I put 1 layer electrical tape on at this point, after doing that I managed to get it to shave arm/leg hair all along the blade so I moved up to the naniwa 3k. I basically did the same thing again bit of circles bit of x strokes just a bit of everything I've seen on youtube. When it was shaving leg/arm hair a bit more easily I moved up to the 8k and I just did light x strokes on the 8k getting lighter as I went, when I finished the razor was very easily taking off leg hair and even taking some leg hair above skin level though not consistently. I decided it was time to test shave (I have a c12k but I heard I should wait until I can shave off an 8k edge before moving to finishers) So I stropped it on my piece of crap leather strip with a hole to hang it from the wall in it, about 100 times because the only part of the leather that's not nicked and cut to pieces is about 4 inches long. So I do very short laps on the 'strop'

Anyway on to the test shave, my prep was hot shower, conditioner in beard, no hot towel or anything, just lather and go. The razor shaves, but not very well, it is definitely not as good as my other razor I honed myself but that one I did take to the balsa strop with Cromium oxide and IRon oxide so this could be the difference that I experienced. I really want to master the 8k edge. The razor doesn't really "pull" or anything but it makes a scraping noise as I shave.

Any suggestions would be great.


Cheers,


John

So it cuts the beard without pulling yet makes a popping/ scraping sound and it is a hollow ground razor ... to me sounds like you did a good job. the more hollow ground your razor is the more likely it is to "sing" as it shaves.

enjoy,
jim

Originally Posted by syslight

So it cuts the beard without pulling yet makes a popping/ scraping sound and it is a hollow ground razor ... to me sounds like you did a good job. the more hollow ground your razor is the more likely it is to "sing" as it shaves.

enjoy,
jim

It cuts the beard but it's not quite comfortable, maybe I will experiment with the c12k and see how I go, I am meeting up with a more experienced member in 2 days time anyway so I guess he can help me out with that. Just thought I'd share my experience anyway.

Good job, Saitou.

If I were you I'd do a few more super light strokes on the 8K with plain water and see if it improves - I think it might.

Feels good don't it, to hone your own?

Hey Havachat =],

it sure does =] I just did HHT with the mrs' very fine hair. I think i know the problem now, well maybe I know the problem.

some of the blade pops hairs easily whether i drag the hair across or just press the hair on the blade. but other parts of the blade it is splitting hairs, and near the umm is it the toe? of the blade it's hard to even split the hairs. While i was honing it felt like the toe wasn't touching some of the time and I kept wondering is my stone not flat? is the razor not straight? I've had this problem more than once when trying to hone. Where I feel that either the hone is not flat or the razor is slightly bent, last time I did a rolling x stroke to counter it and it seemed to work well but today was my first time having a go at honing in ages since I was waiting for a DMT so I could make sure that the stones were definitely flat. my 1k isn't flat it has a slight radius on two opposing corners but this shouldn't really effect the honing that much. I think this happened from me trying to lap it with wet or dry paper. the paper wouldn't stick to the glass and was rolled up at the sides, I thought I was only using the flat part but i mustve been hitting the part that was curling in as well.

Going to see johnmrson on sunday to get some more honing lessons. I'll take your advice and go a few super light strokes on the 8k with the plain water but I really wanna try out my c12k =[ I'll try to resist moving onto finishers until I have successfully got a nice shave from an 8k edge (without using pasted balsa strop)

Congrats John, sounds like you got it shaving, which is an accomplishment to be proud of

Tweaking the edge in better for your face is the fun part my friend, the hard part is behind you

Originally Posted by saitou

It cuts the beard but it's not quite comfortable, maybe I will experiment with the c12k and see how I go, I am meeting up with a more experienced member in 2 days time anyway so I guess he can help me out with that. Just thought I'd share my experience anyway.

As the others have all mentioned it is sharp and just seems that you need a little more smoothness the c12k will do it but an extra 50/100 laps on the linen/leather strops could vry well do it as well.

If you're like me, eventually you will be able to localize those spots that are uncomfortable, in order of discomfort. I have them lined up, and attack each in order, starting with the easiest. That's because I've found that a little bit of extra soaking time works wonders on the hard spots.

I start on an easy area, work on it until it's right, move to the next hardest, on down the line, by the time I get to my jaw line, which is my tough spot, it's been sitting under lather for a while (every time I do the other areas, I relather everything. I even relather where I already shaved--it feels soothing).

Basically, I guess you could call it area-sequential, rather than direction sequential. The hard parts on my face really appreciate the extra soak, and are a lot easier after it.

Originally Posted by gssixgun

the hard part is behind you

Why do I get nervous when someone says this...........?

Just finished shaving with the george buck which I had another go at honing today with some tips from johnmrson,
along with another razor that johnmrson honed up for me which was my W. Jno Baker (who was the biggest importer of bengall blades so it is likely this is a re stamped bengall) and both of them are shaving better than ever! John took a look at my george buck and thought it definitely wasn't at the 8k level, and recommended that I try using his 5k shapton between the 3k and 8k naniwa's and see if it makes a difference, it certainly made a big difference when I was done on the shapton the razor was poppin' hairs left right n centre! then I moved onto the 8k naniwa and a quick stropping and voila! Robert's your Father's Brother!

Once I can get a consistently good edge off my 8k Nani I think I will start looking into the higher grits and high priced finishers!

Thanks to all the guy's who have honing vids up on youtube =] I've watched all of your vidz more times than I can count and it definitely helped a lot. Also a big thank you to Johnmrson who has shown me a lot, he has one nice collection of razors btw!