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More questions on sharpening

Hi everyone, I've been really enjoying the forum, the nicest one on shaving I've visited. Anyways, a year or so back I bought some straight razor equipment and put it aside after a month or so of limited success. I'm a visual learner and its hard sometimes to pick up all the details from written instructions. I have a couple of razors, a dovo carbon (5/8), and a Timor 6/8 (also made by dovo I think).
I've picked them up again and have been having more success. I think the key has been in the sharpness! I have the Norton 4/8 combo stone. My techniqie is getting better but don't think I could ever pass the hanging hair tests. I've gotten some "decent shaves", much less luck on my neck but that could be my technique.
I'm thinking of trying the pasted strop routine on top of the hone. If I buy a paddle strop, what two pastes should get to make my razors sharper? (Considering that I"m probably not getting them nearly as sharp as a honemeister on my norton). Any advice will be much appreciated.
 
HeadandFaceShaver said:
Hi everyone, I've been really enjoying the forum, the nicest one on shaving I've visited. Anyways, a year or so back I bought some straight razor equipment and put it aside after a month or so of limited success. I'm a visual learner and its hard sometimes to pick up all the details from written instructions. I have a couple of razors, a dovo carbon (5/8), and a Timor 6/8 (also made by dovo I think).
I've picked them up again and have been having more success. I think the key has been in the sharpness! I have the Norton 4/8 combo stone. My techniqie is getting better but don't think I could ever pass the hanging hair tests. I've gotten some "decent shaves", much less luck on my neck but that could be my technique.
I'm thinking of trying the pasted strop routine on top of the hone. If I buy a paddle strop, what two pastes should get to make my razors sharper? (Considering that I"m probably not getting them nearly as sharp as a honemeister on my norton). Any advice will be much appreciated.

It is driving me nuts - I can't remember this guys website, but for like $50 or so he had 4 sided strops with all sorts of paste options (even diamond paste) which made it quite economical/practical. Maybe someone else will chime in, but if I remember - I'll post it.
 
I think Joel's referring to Tony Miller.

http://www.thewellshavedgentleman.com


Paddle Strops

http://shop.thewellshavedgentleman.com/categoryNavigationDocument.hg?categoryId=4



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another question, on my norton. I've read about the pyramid guidlines that seem to suggest doing so many laps on the 4000 side and then alternating to the 8000 side. I would have thought that the 8000 side, because it is finer, would be the last side one would use when honing.
 
HeadandFaceShaver said:
another question, on my norton. I've read about the pyramid guidlines that seem to suggest doing so many laps on the 4000 side and then alternating to the 8000 side. I would have thought that the 8000 side, because it is finer, would be the last side one would use when honing.

Depends who you ask.... honing is like fishing.... you ask anyone who does it - they are immediatly an/the expert and have a very particular way of doing it. Personally... I don't like Nortons. I could get a razor sharp with one.... but they never really worked that well for me, and I enjoyed the smaller carbo or other style barber hones. Some cut mighty quick, others mighty slow - but they were superlative, cheap and easy to come by. I currently use an "it's a peach" a "Skute" and a "Carborundum" razor hone to hone my razors - and a hand american "leather hone" (leather with green paste) to keep my straight razors in tip top condition. Since this past year has been mighty hectic, I really haven't used straight razors much this year (legit straight razors, not a feather) as I have been "rushed" in the mornings, and the brain dead DE's have been much easier to go into autopilot with in the morning, but now that I am done with college (finally) and I will have more and more free time, the tables will be turned and I'll be going back to my beloved Dovo Genuine MOP razor as my daily shaver.
 
Ditto on the Norton vs. barber hones. I love the barber hones. Yes, you should finish on the 8k, or preferably an even higher grit than 8. Tony can advise you well on pastes, for you I'd suggest 1m, .5, and perhaps .25 for a paddle strop. Keep one side clean for daily stropping. You can keep two sides clean for a while until you decide later what you want. Two sides with .5 might make good sense too. They do get overloaded eventually, and two .5 might be better in the long run. Off the Norton 8K I'd use the 1m then the .5, I actually only use .5 personally.
 
I'm on the other side of the line - I like the Norton stones. A common mistake guys make is assuming the hone is flat out of the box resulting in inconsistant results. The first thing I do is make sure it's perfectly flat by lapping it. I regularly lap my stones as they see much use.

The final stone I use is a 15k before going onto pastes with my hand american leather hone.
 

ouch

Stjynnkii membörd dummpsjterd
Rik said:
I'm on the other side of the line - I like the Norton stones. A common mistake guys make is assuming the hone is flat out of the box resulting in inconsistant results. The first thing I do is make sure it's perfectly flat by lapping it. I regularly lap my stones as they see much use.

The final stone I use is a 15k before going onto pastes with my hand american leather hone.

15K??? Why don't you just rub it on a cinder block? Try Shapton's 600 buck 30K!:lol:

http://www.shaptonstones.com/stones/profseries.php
 
Rik said:
I'm on the other side of the line - I like the Norton stones. A common mistake guys make is assuming the hone is flat out of the box resulting in inconsistant results. The first thing I do is make sure it's perfectly flat by lapping it. I regularly lap my stones as they see much use.

The final stone I use is a 15k before going onto pastes with my hand american leather hone.


What specifically do you use/ how do you lap your stones?

-Brandon
 

ouch

Stjynnkii membörd dummpsjterd
A simple stone fixer for roughly $20 does the job nicely for almost all stones save the Shaptons. They're a bit more persnickety, but they may be the finest stones made.
 
Thanks for all of the replies. Those dmt stones are expensive! Norton has a stone for lapping that is a lot cheaper. What do you use for a base for the wet/dry paper? You know, I've watched videos, tried the x pattern and the other pattern sometimes used and I definitly get the razor sharper but never sharp enough with the norton. I can't wait to try out the pasted strops from Tony; that sould help. I'm also tempted to look into getting an old fine barber hone to try and finish up on or maybe an old belgian stone I sometimes see on ebay :001_smile .

-Brandon
 
HeadandFaceShaver said:
Thanks for all of the replies. Those dmt stones are expensive! Norton has a stone for lapping that is a lot cheaper. What do you use for a base for the wet/dry paper? You know, I've watched videos, tried the x pattern and the other pattern sometimes used and I definitly get the razor sharper but never sharp enough with the norton. I can't wait to try out the pasted strops from Tony; that sould help. I'm also tempted to look into getting an old fine barber hone to try and finish up on or maybe an old belgian stone I sometimes see on ebay :001_smile .

-Brandon
True the diamond stones are expensive but they get a great deal of use. An excellent base for sandpaper is 3/8" to 1/2" plate glass. I mounted it 8"x36" in a wooden sub-base. I first read about this system about five years ago on a woodworking forum and was called the scary sharp system. It works incredible on chisels and plane blades. Klingspor is known for producing some of the best sandpaper available.
 
Rik said:
True the diamond stones are expensive but they get a great deal of use. An excellent base for sandpaper is 3/8" to 1/2" plate glass. I mounted it 8"x36" in a wooden sub-base. I first read about this system about five years ago on a woodworking forum and was called the scary sharp system. It works incredible on chisels and plane blades. Klingspor is known for producing some of the best sandpaper available.
Rik,
Will you post a pic of this setup?
 
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