Thread: Newbie

Hello all,

New to the forum but have a question or two about Damascus steel. I bought a new razor last month for Christmas. It was not shave ready so I decided to try and set the bevel and as of right now I am having trouble with the bevel. The blade is a 7/8's and I started honing on a 800 grit oil stone and then tried to move up to a 4000 grit Norton. It seems to be getting close to being sharp but I have worked about three hours off and on and it still seems dull. It won't cut hair off my arm or leave a mark on my thumb nail.

Any suggestions other than send it to a person that knows what they are doing?

Thanks

Danny

I think you already answered to the question yourself.

Welcome. First off pictures of the razor would help. Second if new to straights I recommend you get it professionally honed. Honeing will come much later. Concentrate on how to shave.

Welcome to the Forum.

As said, get it honed by a pro.

Here is a link to find members near you.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/memberlist.php?do=search

Yes, photos of the razor would help.

If you have some honing experience, perhaps you could do it, yourself. Reading the first 3 threads in the Honing Forum will go a long way, to getting you started. As will finding a local mentor for some hands on instruction.

Are you using tape to protect the spine?

First look at the edge with magnification, what you see will dictate your actions. Ink on the bevel will tell you if you are honing to the edge. The 800 and 4,000 will work, if they are quality stone, though you will need something in the 8,000 grit range, to get a straight, smooth shaving edge.

Lastly, many/most of the inexpensive razors that are advertised as “Damascus Steel” are not meant to be shaved with and are what we call Razor Shaped Objects. They will not take and hold an edge. There are custom made, Damascus Razors, but they are several hundreds of dollars. If you have one of those, sending it out would be a good idea.

Your razor may not be capable of being honed and shaved with. Photos will tell.

My razor was only $40.00. So you are probably right. I have a AP Donovan and a Dovo in the mail. Once they arrive I will take both to a honer to get them shave ready.

Thanks

Welcome to SRP as you can see there's a lot of great folks and info here

Enjoy your shaves and have fun

If you've worked on the edge for 3 hours, that's way too much. Send it out, live to hone another day.

Originally Posted by Redlega6

My razor was only $40.00. So you are probably right. I have a AP Donovan and a Dovo in the mail. Once they arrive I will take both to a honer to get them shave ready.

Thanks

Be sure you get a real razor honing expert, not just a "sharpening" guy. The owner of the local kitchen store sells and sharpens expensive kitchen knives and tried to convince me to bring mine to him. I said, no thanks, I sharpen them myself. I went on to say that I shaved with a SR so I was pretty handy sharpening knives and honing razors. He asked if I used the same grits on both....I said no, there was quite a difference and left, smiling to myself. He shall never touch my kitchen knives and certainly not my razors.

When I was starting out honing my razors, I referenced this video regularly. I hope it helps you. My only suggestion would be to watch how much pressure you're putting on the spine. You don't want to wear the spine . Rather focus pressure on the bevel.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vgJce7mpUEg

There are more vids in this series. Good stuff overall. Tho I don't see a need for the slurry stone.