Thread: Hello from Maryland / Question I was unable to find an answer for

Hi,
First I would like to introduce myself. My name is Tim and I am very new to straight razor shaving and this website has been a godsend. I have used the begginers guilde to shaving on this site and I followed Lynns directions, just doing a small portion at a time. After 5 shaves I am able to get the right side of my face to the jawline, I can also do the same to the left side of my face with my left hand but its gonna take more practice till I can get it as well as I can with right hand.
Here is the question. I have been using a Dovo professionally honed, I believe with a strop I can keep that in working order for several months. I also have a 12,000 grit water stone and a $15 Krieger. I was thinking about practicing honing on the Krieger until I am able to get and sharp enough for shaving. I realize the Krieger is not a good knife but that is kinda why I figured I would practice on it. Is this a good idea? Will I be wasting my time honing with the Kreiger as I will never be able to get it sharp enough? Thanks in advance for any advice you can give me.

you will never get a good shaving edge on the Kriegar, so I'd say it will not do much for you as far as practice goes.
You can try antique stores for a cheap razor to practice on, other than that e-bay is the other place to get a decent practice razor for cheap.
E-bay is not safe for a newbie to buy razors though, you have to know what to look for in a razor to be successful.

Welcome aboard Tim! Yes, you'll be able to keep your Dovo ready for action for several months with your strop. If your strop has a linen/felt side, that's all the more better. Of course you can practice on your Kreiger, however, most of us reccomend getting a cheap "e-bay special" to learn on. Usually any razor made in the U.S., Germany, England, Spain, Sweden, or Russia will provide you with the quality of steel you'll need to get the feel of honing. If funds are tight now, by all means use what you have. There's nothing wrong with that. It'll get an edge on it. It just won't hold it long enough to be considered an acceptable shaving razor. I'd practice on a butter knife if I had to. Good luck, Don.

Thanks, I thought that might be the case and I wouldn't be learning anything by practicing on the krieger.

wait, so your saying practicing on the Krieger will be benifical? Money is not too tight so I think I'll start looking around for a better one to practice on. I am doing the method where I put a strip of electrical tape on the spine and just hone it flat. I believe I followed the directions correctly. I will say, this hobby takes patience but the shaving at least has been going well, I just add a small part of my face each time.

Rolltide
I ignored the counsel to learn the shave first and jumped right into honing. There's a reason my screen name is pinklather. It can be done, but expect some frustration & suffering.

What CAN be learned from the Krieger is a stroke on the stones & strop. Individual skill/talent varies, and I'm not on the high end of that spectrum with only 200 blades honed. The skill that gives me the most challenge is keeping the spine and edge in consistent contact w/ the stone with only the weight of the blade or less. It sounds ALOT easier than it is. 25-50k finishing strokes has helped alot, but I've a ways to go. I say this just to give some perspective on what you're taking on. Some guys have more talent and will learn more quickly than I.

On the 'rescue' razor from fleabay or an antique store - there are significant issues with learning on them. Decades of honing by owners that weren't experts leave the spine and edge in a state that's far from ideal for learning the skill. Certainly you want a blade that has no smile or frown, either by design or by poor honing. If you choose this route, don't spend much, and it would be worth paying someone to correct the wear and get a bevel set. Even if you deliberately re-dull the edge for practice, at least you're giving yourself a chance to make the practice effective, rather than the frustration of fighting the improper wear. Certainly a hollow blade will be easier to learn with than a wedge. 30-40 blades and a shavable edge is quite possible. That many more, and on the few you work with, you can have some nice quality edges on those razors.

You don't mention which 12k stone you're using. I started w/ a c12k. Its painfully slow, but if developing a stroke is the objective, maybe that's not bad. Expect hundreds of strokes if this is your stone. My c12k can give adequately keen (sharp) edges, but my stone & some others who use it can get sharpness, but not smoothness. The edges are quite harsh. This can be corrected to a large degree by use of a strop pasted w/ even the spent slurry from the c12k, or with Crox. You can have satisfying edges this way and probably using dozens of other methods I've yet to try. A few months w/ a Nani 12, and I'm loving it. 1/10th the amount of strokes, and the resulting edge gives a nice shave. It continues to help if you use a finer stone after that.

Perhaps the fastest way to crank up the quality of the practice is to get w/ other guys experienced in honing, or attend one of the meets with such guys. I'll be attending the NW meet up in Spokane later this month for the same reason.

'Hope your progress is heavily seasoned by lots of fun & humor. There's plenty to be had.

Welcome to SRP Tim.
I know where you are coming from as my first straght razor was a Gold Dollar (GD) which I tried to use straight out of the box - how was I to know it should be honed first?
I then found this place and started on the learning curve.
It's good to see that you have started (what I would call) correctly and have taken the advice from the wealth of experience to be found here.
Well done BTW on your successes so far.
My suggestion would be that you have a look at You Tube for gssixguns honing videos.
Glen is a master when it comes to honing and can use many and varied methods to get the same result - a great shave
I learned to hone on the GD and recently rescaled it and gave to my eldest son after teaching him to shave with it.
It taught me lots about honing, and shaving for that matter.
I have no experience with Krieger, however, I would learn to hone on it - even if it only lets you experiment with pressure, slurry, tape or the general muscle memory required for proper honing - you never know it may get to shave well.
Anyway, enough from me - hang on and enjoy the ride and never forget that we're here if you need to ask questions.
Geoff

Originally Posted by Havachat45

Welcome to SRP Tim.
I know where you are coming from as my first straght razor was a Gold Dollar (GD) which I tried to use straight out of the box - how was I to know it should be honed first?
I then found this place and started on the learning curve.
It's good to see that you have started (what I would call) correctly and have taken the advice from the wealth of experience to be found here.
Well done BTW on your successes so far.
My suggestion would be that you have a look at You Tube for gssixguns honing videos.
Glen is a master when it comes to honing and can use many and varied methods to get the same result - a great shave
I learned to hone on the GD and recently rescaled it and gave to my eldest son after teaching him to shave with it.
It taught me lots about honing, and shaving for that matter.
I have no experience with Krieger, however, I would learn to hone on it - even if it only lets you experiment with pressure, slurry, tape or the general muscle memory required for proper honing - you never know it may get to shave well.
Anyway, enough from me - hang on and enjoy the ride and never forget that we're here if you need to ask questions.
Geoff

+1 to this

I practiced on a cheap enzo razor and i can get that more then shave ready... not that i would shave with it lol

By practicing to hone on a cheap razor your not necessarily trying to get it shave ready but your learning the hone strokes and pressure. My advise would be if you have a cheap razor that is next to useless, make use of it and use it for practicing.

Originally Posted by Brighty83

+1 to this

I practiced on a cheap enzo razor and i can get that more then shave ready... not that i would shave with it lol

By practicing to hone on a cheap razor your not necessarily trying to get it shave ready but your learning the hone strokes and pressure. My advise would be if you have a cheap razor that is next to useless, make use of it and use it for practicing.

Originally Posted by Havachat45
I have no experience with Krieger, however, I would learn to hone on it - even if it only lets you experiment with pressure, slurry, tape or the general muscle memory required for proper honing


Not arguing here just trying to understand how ya'll are saying practice honing on a blade that may not ever get shave ready can help learn strokes and pressure. If it won't sharpen correctly then the stroke and pressure says nothing. This is only my opinion and am greatly known for being wrong.

Tim: welcome and congrats on the success with the shaving.

For me it was learning the repetition, learning the strokes, taping the spine, removing chips and learning how to setting the bevel, i have lost count of how many times i have bread knifed my enzo razor and brought it back to life.

I also use it to test new hones, test what natural hone removes scratches from my synthetic hones etc and rather then puting a perfectly good razor on a new hone to test it i use my enzo.

When i first started using my enzo to practice honing i thought this razor would never take an edge, now i can get an edge on this as sharp as any of my razor. I just don't think it would last for more then a shave lol maybe one day i will be game enough to give i a go.