had my dovo for about 5 months now. have only gotten in pro-honed and it's worked great. I strop ok for a beginer, but like Itcurus, I tried to much too soon and reached for the sun. got a belruim cuttie stone (or whatever they're called) and tried to hone it myself today. It was still fairly sharp, but I've read up and studied honing as best one can without actually doing it, and today I tried it. within 4 passes I dulled the sh*t out of it. I mean, I couldn't even cut my finger if I tried by running it along the blade. sad. it's sad. now I had to send it off to get pro-honed and I'm without a razor.
Sorry to hear you had trouble. I wonder what went wrong. I had a pile of straights in the mail yesterday and will be getting some shapton or naniwa hones to sort the edges out. I think when it comes to honing less is more, you can't put the metal back on ! I'm hoping I'll be as good at razors as I was at woodworking chisels. Chin up Dr ! See if you can find an old razor to practice on next round.
I just ordered 4 stones the highest being 8,000 grit and Im going to try to shapen my razor soon. What was the grit of your stone and what do you think you did wrong?
it was one of those Belgium "cotti" stones or whatever they are called. Not sure of the grit. 8k? I have a Norton waterstone 4K/8k, but I didn't use that one. I have no idea what I did wrong. Literally I gave in about 8 stokes and it was dull as hell:ashamed001
Sailor, I'm assuming you ordered the norton 220,1000, 4000 and 8000, it's a decent set and what I use right now short of a substituted 8000 king stone, do not go anywhere near the 220,1000 unless your taking out a big chip or rust, it'll eat blade like nothing else. Dr. Fitness it is most likely just a simple technique error, I ordered a dvd from lynn abrhams over at straightrazorplace.com and sat in front of the tv watching his technique and then modifying it slightly for the edge I was looking for. The best trick is to buy a microscope for like $20 from the source and check out the edge on your razor when you get it back, that way you know what your looking to get with yours and it can help alot! Best of luck to you both, honing is a very enjoyable learning process and never seems to end!
Coticules can be finicky things to learn to hone with as they behave differently depending on whether you raise a slurry, use lots of water, use little water and so on. I am not saying they are bad stones - in fact they are great little stones - but personally I feel there is a lot to know about them to really get the best out of them. Or at least you need to put in a lot of time with them to get to know how it works best. Did you lap the stone? As in, did you make sure the surface was perfectly flat by rubbing it on a flat surface covered with wet/dry sandpaper or equivalent? Sometimes that can have an effect on the honing. Other than that, I would say that the idea of technique, as mentioned above, is the issue. Not to worry on that score - practice and patience are all you need, with perhaps some persistence thrown in for good measure. And of course making sure that what you are practising is correct. There are a few of us on here who hone for ourselves and others - ask as many questions as you like. It would be rare if, between us, we cannot answer them for you. James.
I use Belgian Coticules all the time to hone my razors. They're great hones, but you do have to use the right technique with them (as with any hone, really). Take a look at the honing instructions on coticule.be. I've used those techniques with great success. Also, get yourself a decent practice razor...so you can learn to hone without dulling your shaver straight.
It's not the stone its your technique, in your situation with a prehoned razor the best bet would have been to buy a barbers hone like "its a peach"etc... A few strokes with either lather or water would have kept your razor sharp, however, you would need to ask if the person/persons who honed your razor if they taped the spine. I mean it's not 100% necessary imho,to retape but it def keeps everything uniform. You could have also gotten some pastes for your strop like CROX on nylon webbing which works great. In the future consult SRp for this stuff. cheers David
Yeah, delicate touch, patience, less-is-more theory is what works in the microscopic realm of a str8's edge. I got the two Norton Combination stones (220-8,000) and the Spyderco ceramic whetstones. Norton's give good feedback, Spydercos don't really, especially the finisher. That's the common thought. It's threads like these that make me ache to try out a natural stone to see what the fuss is about. You might want to be careful with the 4,000 side of your Norton, check to see if it was made in Mexico.... trust me, you'll want to know if you have to use it on an edge your about to bring up to the 8k. Does anyone else have an idea what I'm talking about, regarding the 4k? And get yourself a microscope and don't get lost in the world of various shave tests. For many it does more harm than good.
I third the little cheapo microscope from Radio Shack. It has saved me a lot of time and you really get to see what you are doing.
A microscope is essential when learning to hont, I can fourth that James has given you some great advise on the coticule - practice makes perfect (and by a second razor just for situations like this )
