Thread: Honing advice

Dear all,
I just started shaving with straight couple of month ago and even though it came “shave ready” from the retailer, I never was quite satisfied with the results. It was more or less OK with going along the grain, but quite unbearable in going in opposite motion especially under the chin. I finally decided to try to hone it myself and got one of Naniva 8K superstoneы, assuming that I will add more as I go (coming from former USSR, I used to see my grandpa maintain his straight using just chrome-bases paste # 1 only

which gave him much better results than those DR I used to use at the time). Well,.. long story short, I tried to hone my razor today and it become somewhat sharper than it was before, in particular it easily cuts my head hear when I hold by the end, but slides off if I hold it by the root, it also gave me more comfortable shave than it was before. However, I managed to damage one side of the razor itself.



So, would you advise me on following questions:
1) Is the razor good enough if it cuts hanging hair w/ slight pull in one direction only (btw, it does not cut my daughter [hanging] hair in either direction, but easily cuts my mother in law gray hair in both direction)
2) How to undo the damage I did to the razor
3) And most importantly, what would you recommend to avoid this issue in the future

if the pic shows the damage on the shoulder, I don;t think it will be an issue.
How did you damage it like that?

The real test for a razor is the shave test. If the razor pulls when you do ATG, that means its not sharp enough.

I wish I knew what exactly I did to cause this damage, and what is worse it only happened on one side. Would you advise to ignore it for now? My main concern is not to make it worse next time I decide to hone it.

Regarding the sharpness, would you recommend to step down, step up or keep using the same stone? I have quite coarse beard and it was one of the reason to go straight as DR was never good enough to go ATG either.

Thanks a lot!

I'd go down to 5k or 3k then go back to the 8k and the paste. If this is not good enough then reset bevel.

I would recommend sending the razor out for honing so you have an idea what shave ready means. Also how is your stropping technique? Stropping is very important, and if not done right will damage the edge of a razor.

Originally Posted by cmart

....
However, I managed to damage one side of the razor itself.
......

So, would you advise me on following questions:
''''
2) How to undo the damage I did to the razor
3) And most importantly, what would you recommend to avoid this issue in the future

Looking at the image it is possible that the stabiliser came
into contact with the scales and was wet promoting localized
corrosion. The solution is to dry the blade and not leave
any lather or water between the scales when closed.
If you have a safe place leave the blade half a cm from
fully closed so the scales and blade do not touch. The sharp
edge is safely tucked into the scales but there is just a
bit of closing left to do.

It is common to see a small dark smudge on the nose of
a blade near the wedge that is the result of a bit of damp
where the blade and scales come into contact near the
wedge of the scales when closed.

I suspect no simple "fix" is possible or desired. Perhaps a
bit of local sanding with 2000 or finer grit paper at the
end of a chop stick,

That damage is running from the top of the blade down to toward the edge, and near the heel, so its not likely to be corrosion from contacting the scales.
I would have to say, its either a deep gouge from hitting the stone which then corroded, or possibly even just a flaw in the steel, which opened up while honing. What type of razor is this? Perhaps one of those well built Zepek razors I have read about?

Originally Posted by cmart

I wish I knew what exactly I did to cause this damage, and what is worse it only happened on one side.

This looks like a manufacturer's defect to me...there's just no way you could do that kind of damage unless the blade was left out for 100 years or you dropped acid on it.

Originally Posted by mainaman

I'd go down to 5k or 3k then go back to the 8k and the paste. If this is not good enough then reset bevel.

Cool, I'm going to get 5k this week and than will see if I can make it better.

Originally Posted by mainaman

I would recommend sending the razor out for honing so you have an idea what shave ready means. Also how is your stropping technique? Stropping is very important, and if not done right will damage the edge of a razor.

It came "shave ready" with "free honing for life" certificate from SRD, and frankly was not any better back then. Do you know if those guys do decent job, or I should consider sending it somewhere else?

And regarding stripping, this is good question and I wish I could answer it in any other way that I do the best job I can. Usually I do 10-15 laps on a canvas, and than 50-60 on leather, pulling strop tight and putting just slight pressure on the razor (following all those intro videos).

SRD is Lynn and Don's site and their honing is done by Lynn. He's quite good with the old stones. Send it back and get it resharpened (that was a great deal by the way, free honing for life) and let Lynn take a look at it for you..