Thread: Hone a new razor?

I'm very new to straight razor shaving.

My wife bought me a razor for my birthday, and I'm not quite sure what to do as far as honing goes. This razor was SUPPOSED to be honed at the factory, and I guess it's kinda sharp. I tried cutting some arm hairs and took off a few with effort. I tried shaving with it twice, and both times it was pretty painful and I had to clean up with my cartridge razor.

I wouldn't mind honing it myself as I have a Norton 4k/8k stone and a 12k stone as well, but I have some reservations about that:
- I'm not good at it
- How can I tell that it has an edge that matches up with the spine already, so that when I hone it I don't have to reset the edge?
- If I did need to set/reset the edge, I'm not sure the 4k stone will be course enough.
- I'm afraid to ruin a brand new, expensive razor.

What should I do with this razor? It's half-hollow (I think), BTW.

Your best bet would be to send it to a hone master to have it honed. Once you know what shave ready feels like you will have a benchmark to aim for. Plus if properly maintained, the razor should perform without needing to be re honed for some time. I'm new to this two soooo take it for what it's worth

Brand of razor ???

And yes some do claim "Factory Honed" but factory honed is not really what we (SRP) consider "shave ready " here is a good article I did about just this exact problem

http://straightrazorpalace.com/begin...ry-2012-a.html

Yea, get it honed preferably by a pro so you know what a shave ready edge really feels like. The only new razor I have had did shave out of the box but improved greatly after I honed it.

Bob

If you are in Australia I'll hone it up for you for the price of return postage.
Welcome to SRP BTW

Thanks all for the advice.

If I have it professionally honed, how will I know that it is not only sharp, but also that the edge is in alignment with the spine so that I can re-hone it myself later without resetting the edge?

Is there any way for me to tell if the edge is already set in line with the spine, in which case I might give it a go myself?

Am I making sense with this question?

mdavis, in my opinion you should focus on the shaving, stropping and touchups. Honing is another thing.

I learned from experience too that a factory sharpened edge is not sharp at all. I had my razors sent to a honemeister. They came back incredibly sharp.

Now after almost a year of straight shaving I still leave the honing to the masters.

That's a fantastic offer from Glen. Do take advantage of it.

Glen is the man. Take the offer! Its one you shouldn't be able to refuse.