Beginner from Aus

Hi Everyone,

I am Ash from Brisbane, Australia. I have been lurking around the site the last couple of days and thought I should join up and stay around for a bit. Although that could be dangerous for the bank balance.

I have just bought a Dovo Natural 5/8 SR, bit of an impulse buy basically due to liking sharp things. I already have some king 1K and 6K hones and have bought a shapton ceramic 12K for finishing.

So far I have not been able to get an edge that I am happy enough to shave with but I have got it sharper than out of the box. I am not given up on it yet though It keeps getting sharper the more I practice honing it. I know I should get it honed professionally to begin with but prefer to do things myself if possible.

G'day and welcome to the forum. Did you go back to the 1k hone on the razor? If not, you should. You won't get a razor shave ready unless the bevel has been set properly. Some Dovo's come from the factory with a reasonable bevel and some don't. Also it's a pretty big jump between the three stones you have so you'll need to make sure you've got the most out of one stone before moving to the next.

Yes I had to go to the 1K and set the bevel fully as the edge had a frown near the rear, I got the edge straight then worked on resetting the bevel. I believe the bevel is set and was able to shave arm hair on the 1K, then worked on the 6K until the entire bevel had a near mirror finish as at that point I had not received the 12K. Once I got the 12K I cleaned it up even more and can take large sections of arm hair off with a single smooth cut and can get it to cut hair at mid length but not every time.

Sounds like you might just need some more time on the 12k to get it shave ready.

Welcome to the 'Place'.
Yes, maybe more 12k will help. Your stones are not really well matched in that the Kings are much softer than the Shapton & will give a slightly different contour to the bevel. The Shapton is a fast cutter tho so still be careful not to over do it in terms of time & /or pressure.

I found the shave to be a little smoother off the Pro if followed by a pasted strop.

No worries Mate, you'll find your stride after a while...it's worth it.

Welcome MrAsh from CQ
+1 on the responses already recieved from OZ & Johnmrson they are definately from the higher order of honemiester in Aus
my dumb question, as it is not noted above, have you run it over the leather strop also for the 100 passes

I can't add to the Shapton 12K as I use a Naniwa 12K with very light pressure for finnishing and it is fine after the 100 laps of stropping on clean leather only
my understanding also is that the Shapton can have a coarser finish sometimes when I was looking for a finisher, but I can not confirm from my own experience

I haven't use any pastes as yet either

Hello,and welcome to SRP. :chapeau

Thanks for the help, I have stropped it on leather but am still waiting for my paste and a 30x loupe. I will keep on the 12K and see how it progresses.
The king hones are easily replaceable if they might cause me issues, I had them already so thought I would give them a go. I did notice the metal shavings in the shapton slurry that I had not gotten with either of the kings but they did appear to be cutting okay.
What hones should I be looking at to match the shapton, would the shapton 5K, 8K be alright? or is there something better I should look at.

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Originally Posted by MrAsh

Thanks for the help, I have stropped it on leather but am still waiting for my paste and a 30x loupe. I will keep on the 12K and see how it progresses.
The king hones are easily replaceable if they might cause me issues, I had them already so thought I would give them a go. I did notice the metal shavings in the shapton slurry that I had not gotten with either of the kings but they did appear to be cutting okay.
What hones should I be looking at to match the shapton, would the shapton 5K, 8K be alright? or is there something better I should look at.

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Don't give up on the Kings without a bit more experimenting but in regards to the Shaps, I have all the Pros bar the 30k & found I could skip the 8k & just go to the 12k from the 5k. Again just spending a little more time on the 12k. They don't polish as well as the GS stones & the Naniwa up to 12k but you can always go higher. :)

I'm not throwing in the towel just yet, just over thinking things while sitting in my donger for the next week until I go home to play with it again.

Hi and welcome. Any questions feel free to ask.

Just in case you do decide on some Shaptons there is a budget model called the M5. About the same price as Kings. It is less stone than the Pros as it is bonded to a non usable side but for razors will last ages. IME it is near identical to the Pros so will match your 12k easily. 1500grit - 5k - 12k progression would be a nice minimalist approach that would cover a lot of bases.

G'Day MrAsh and welcome to the fold.
If you are anywhere near me you are welcome to drop over and see how I do things which may help.
PM me if you want to.
It's a pity you missed the catch-up we just had, but there'll always be another one

Where's your donger at MrAsh any interesting ?

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Originally Posted by Havachat45

G'Day MrAsh and welcome to the fold.
If you are anywhere near me you are welcome to drop over and see how I do things which may help.
PM me if you want to.
It's a pity you missed the catch-up we just had, but there'll always be another one

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Yeah I noticed I joined the week after Brisbane meetup, but I was out on site that week and wouldn't have been able to get there anyway.
I am down around Logan so I may hit you up about coming to have a look next time I'm in town.

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Originally Posted by Substance

Where's your donger at MrAsh any interesting ?

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I'm out on a site just past Chinchilla.