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Hello from Greece
Hi all,
My wet shaving career began about 1.5 month ago. I have received a beard grooming gift from a friend and visited a traditional barber. I really liked the blades and the process so i got myself into it. I bought a stock Dovo Best Quality 5/8 with a Dovo strop and started to shave specific areas of my beard (neck and cheeks) every 2nd day to get used to the blade.
Unfortunately it was not shave ready as i discovered later when i found SRP. I sent my razor back to the store for honing and they told me it was ok, and that they just did a few passes over an oilstone (???).
I was not happy with the result as it doesn’t shaved arm hair. A couple of days ago i received a Norton 4K/8K and a DMT 325 for lapping. After a lot of reading and video tutorials i tried to bring my razor to a sharper state. I am not there yet, but i think it is getting better. I know i spent a fair amount of money for a starter but i really want to learn and revive arts like this.
Great job guys, really a ton of information, advice and friendly people here in SRP.
Panos
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Welcome, you are in the right place to start your long road)
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Welcome Panos,
I imagine it can be quite frustrating to buy a razor that isn't shave ready and have to figure out how to hone it yourself.
I know there are a few experienced members from Greece on this forum. Why not try to see if someone can mentor you and show you a few things?
I would recommend that your razor be sharpened by someone experienced with straight razors and that also shaves with them. You need to know what a shave ready edge feels like so that you can aim to achieve that level of sharpness yourself in the future.
In the mean time, it would be best to focus on stropping and shaving technique.
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Welcome to SRP!
If you haven't already done so, then check out the Beginner's Section in the Library, the knowledge there will make starting out a lot easier.
Maybe the traditional barber can help you out with honing?
Hopefully you can find someone in Greece that will help you out. An hour with an experienced shaver is worth days of reading.
Otherwise, my advice would be to watch Lynn Abram's and gssixgun's honing videos on youtube. A bevel setting stone (1000 k) would help a lot, but you can do it on 4000k Norton, it is just going to take at least 100 strokes - so make sure you tape the spine of the razor and change the tape when it wears a hole in it.
Good luck, and ask us any questions that you have.
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Thank you all for your advice, I will definitely try to find someone near me.
But having watched Lynn's and gssixgun's honing videos you can imagine how tempting it is to try a few more passes..
Until now i have tried without tape the circles technique in 4K and i can see some wear on the spine. Can i tape now, or will i create more problems like 2nd bevel etc?
I think i will stop and find someone to show me a couple of things first hands on, before i end up with a toothpick instead of a razor :)
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Hi and welcome. Taping now will focus the honing at the edge so it may actually be beneficial. Any second bevel it creates should hone out fairly quickly but would only be a cosmetic issue not a functional one.
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Thanks eddy for clarifying that.
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Welcome to SRP!!!
:chapeau
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Don't neglect to seriously lap that Norton 4k/8k, first on a flat tile with 220 and 360 wet and dry paper (used wet) then on the DMT. The 8k side is generally not a problem and once it's flat you're good to go but the 4k will need some serious work - the first mm or so can be a bit rough and the more this side is lapped the better it becomes. This has generally been the experience of the guys here, me included. Also, remember to chamfer the edges of the stone a bit too.
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Thanks Maladroit,
i have lapped Norton with the DMT 325 using the pencil grid method for about 10-15 minutes. Both sides became very smooth, especially the 8K side is like glass. The 4K is a tiny bit more coarse, i thought this is normal, please correct me if i am wrong. I also honed the edges of the stone carefully.
Also i am not intending to hone a lot of razors for now and i don't mind a little more wear on the Norton stone, so after each honing session if it looks dirty from metal particles i lap again till it's clear.
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After a lot of effort i brought my razor to a very decent state.
It passes AHT, glides very nice on the face and offers a very clean shave.
...but what I've figured out is that i probably made a giant circle. The razor was not as bad as i thought initially.
My desire to get early to honing, led me to making the razor a lot worse at first. Only then i figured out what pulling and dull razor is...
I also damaged it a little due to excess pressure probably before taping (uneven spine wear).
I used a red marker to see where i am hitting the hone and found that the toe especially did not hit much.
I tried a couple of rolling x-strokes which i found difficult to perform consistently, so instead i taped with an extra layer the worn parts and
continued with the circle technique (I hope i did the right thing). In a while i had a much better bevel to continue with.
Finally i am very happy that i tried, but i could easily have destroyed the razor and be disappointed.
The next step is definitely having this or another razor professionally honed to have an indisputable reference to compare.
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I remember putting a lot of excessive and uneven honewear on my razors when I first started honing. The good think is your dovo best quality isn't an expensive or rare razor that you can feel too guilty about damaging.
As you become more proficient at honing razors, you will learn to focus more on the edge and less on the spine, using techniques like canting, rolling x's, side of the stone etc. to get those stubborn areas of the edge.
To avoid honewear, some will suggest you use tape, some are against it.
My approach is a compromise between the two camps. With a completely dull razor, I like to set a new bevel on a 1k synthetic with tape on the spine. I then gently dull on glass, and reset the bevel on a coticule without tape.
Glad to hear you are getting good shaves!
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Panos, welcome to our forum. As you have found out you can get advice from members and quite a bit of education from our various sources.
You seem to be headed in the correct direction and learning the basics like many of us did.
I hope you can find someone to do a honing for you. Are there any barber shops that do straight razor shaves anywhere close to you? A barber may be willing to hone your razor and let you watch.
Take care and again, welcome.
Bob
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Thank you for your responses.
Some barbers close to me are using shavette style razors, i don't lose anything to ask. I am pretty sure i will find someone who knows.
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Yassou Panos
Welcome to SRP! I am also relatively new to the straight razor game, as I started about a year ago. It looks like you are getting a lot of good advice already and making some good headway. And remember, no matter how things are going now, it will get better, and once you get used to everything, straight razor shaving will probably be your favorite method of shaving, if it's not already.
You should check out Lynn Abrams' videos, if you haven't already. He is the founder of this website. These videos really helped me out when I was learning how to properly use and maintain my straight razor. He has videos that should be helpful with just about everything, especially if you are learning to hone your razor. Here is a link to his Youtube channel.
https://www.youtube.com/user/LynnSAbrams/videos
Hope this helps you as much as it helped me!
Spiros
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