Thread: First shave with self honed razor

Well my Norton came in today, so I decided to put my Loxley on it and see if I could get a good shaver. The razor *would* shave before, but it was major razor burn and not all that pleasant although the razor has a wonderful feel to it, so it was always tempting to use it.

Anyway, since it was possible to shave with it, I went pretty light on it overall.. couple quick passes on the glass hone with 2k grit sandpaper , 5 passes at 4K, 10 at 8K... checked it on my arm.. back for another 10 passes at 4K then 20 at 8k. Closer now so another 5/10. At that point it would cut through the free standing arm hair (a few mm away from my arm), so I touched it real quick to the CrO strop, and then took it for a test drive. Also, using my new tub of Castle Forbes cream.

So I got a *decent* shave... not my best shaving razor, there's still room for improvement, but its about 100x better than before tonight. Still a slight feeling of accomplishment since I haven't done any others myself

Sounds like you are very close! Don't give up. Try a few more passes on the chrome-ox. If that doesn't do it, go back to the Norton and the chrome-ox another time or two.

I didn't read any plain leather stropping in your report. Did you strop on plain leather? It's a good finisher.

Excellent! I had the same experiment a few days ago! it is quite a nice feeling of "achievement" to shave with a self honed razor (even if we are not yet up to Lynn's level )
So, on with the next one!

Sounds like nirvana is on the horizon!

Yes, I did plain leather strop. Didn't list that, as I consider that part of the shaving routine, not part of the honing technique.
I think I'll try to retouch this one soon, and see if I can get to where I'm real happy with it, then maybe start retouching some of my "old trustys" since none of them have been honed since I've had them (going on 6 months worth of str8 shaving now).

Its also worth stropping a bit more then you usualy would when you have a freshly honed razor. I also strop on newspaper as a finishing technique before the leather (but only after honing) .

As always YMMV though......

Great job, actually _improving_ an edge during your first time honing is probably
more of an accomplishment than you think

- Scott

Originally Posted by sebell

Great job, actually _improving_ an edge during your first time honing is probably
more of an accomplishment than you think

- Scott

+ 1 Good job! You will get there...

Excellent mate. Going 'light' is what you should always be doing. Try going even lighter and you might find your shaves get better

Good luck!

Congrats on your success! Hopefully you lapped your new Norton. If not, you should definitely do so as there is not guarantee that they will be flat just because they are new. I have bought 7 Nortons and all needed quite a bit of initial lapping.