I'm in need of some refreshment, fellas

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10
Ok, I have a Dovo Astrale which I have come to love like a brother and which was recently honed by the fine gents at The Invisible Edge (nice work guys)

The thing is, I don't want to send the damn thing out every time the edge gets a little dull so I've invested in some lapping film in order to get the job squared away myself.

Couple of questions fellas:

Is a piece of picture frame glass ok as a base or should I invest a few quid in a piece of float glass?

I was thinking of starting on a 3 micron and finishing on a 1. Sound ok just to refresh?

Also, how many passes on the film should I aim for? I was thinking around 10 on each grit.

Lastly and not leastly, what level of downward pressure do I need to apply. I've seen a vid where the guy insists that just the weight of the blade should suffice. Is he lying to me through his teeth? :D

Thanks fellas and have a great Wenzdee!

Danny
 
I think so long as the glass is completely flat should be fine, I used to lap my stones with some wet/dry on picture frame glass (the mrs wasn't happy). I did check it with a straight edge first though! Can't comment on the grits as I've never used the stuff but weight of the blade sounds about right for refreshing the edge. I only ever use pressure when setting the bevel on a razor.
 
Ok, I have a Dovo Astrale which I have come to love like a brother and which was recently honed by the fine gents at The Invisible Edge (nice work guys)

The thing is, I don't want to send the damn thing out every time the edge gets a little dull so I've invested in some lapping film in order to get the job squared away myself.

Couple of questions fellas:

Is a piece of picture frame glass ok as a base or should I invest a few quid in a piece of float glass?

I was thinking of starting on a 3 micron and finishing on a 1. Sound ok just to refresh?

Also, how many passes on the film should I aim for? I was thinking around 10 on each grit.

Lastly and not leastly, what level of downward pressure do I need to apply. I've seen a vid where the guy insists that just the weight of the blade should suffice. Is he lying to me through his teeth? :D

Thanks fellas and have a great Wenzdee!

Danny
I think so long as the glass is completely flat should be fine, I used to lap my stones with some wet/dry on picture frame glass (the mrs wasn't happy). I did check it with a straight edge first though! Can't comment on the grits as I've never used the stuff but weight of the blade sounds about right for refreshing the edge. I only ever use pressure when setting the bevel on a razor.

Thanks mate, appreciate the feedback. My missus Wasnt happy either, especially as I took the glass out of a pic of her mother ;)
 
Float glass should only cost a few quid cut to the right size. It is only when you get it hardened that it becomes expensive.

If you perfect your stropping skills you shouldn't need to be refreshing on a stone very often. It is a much more important skill when you are starting out. In fact you can keep an edge going pretty indefinitely on pasted balsa.
 
Ok, I have a Dovo Astrale which I have come to love like a brother and which was recently honed by the fine gents at The Invisible Edge (nice work guys)

The thing is, I don't want to send the damn thing out every time the edge gets a little dull so I've invested in some lapping film in order to get the job squared away myself.

Couple of questions fellas:

Is a piece of picture frame glass ok as a base or should I invest a few quid in a piece of float glass?

I was thinking of starting on a 3 micron and finishing on a 1. Sound ok just to refresh?

Also, how many passes on the film should I aim for? I was thinking around 10 on each grit.

Lastly and not leastly, what level of downward pressure do I need to apply. I've seen a vid where the guy insists that just the weight of the blade should suffice. Is he lying to me through his teeth? :D

Thanks fellas and have a great Wenzdee!

Danny

Don't count passes. It never works out well. Each progression is done when it's done. You need to develop tests for your edges - get yourself a £2-3 LED loupe from Ebay. Then watch some videos where they show what finished edges look like under magnification. Dr Matt does a few.

In terms of pressure, there are two things, downward pressure and torque. It's described in this video:


The approach is pretty much the same, whether you are using a Naniwa or the films.
 
Float glass should only cost a few quid cut to the right size. It is only when you get it hardened that it becomes expensive.

If you perfect your stropping skills you shouldn't need to be refreshing on a stone very often. It is a much more important skill when you are starting out. In fact you can keep an edge going pretty indefinitely on pasted balsa.

Yeah, I've heard great things about pasted balsa. Only reason I didn't go down that route is the fact that it needs to be lapped to get it flat, and being a lazy sod, I went for the lapping film option:) Do you put CrOx on it or is it a diamond spray job? I already use the canvas side of my strop pasted with CrOx to freshen the edge every 6 or 7 shaves and it works ok. I'm just looking to give the thing a quick refresh when that no longer cuts the mustard.
 
Dovo Razors from Invisible Edge NEED a FULL Hone Job from the 1 K Bevel Hone through a Full Progression...Trust Me Regardless of their Claims...I Have Honed More SRs from Invisible Edge than I Can Remember...I Am in the Process of Moving at the Moment and My Stones are in Storage So I Cant Do the Job at the Moment... @pugh-the-special-one Jamie Could Do a 1st Class Job if Ya PM HIm.. :cool:

Billy
 
So two strands here.

How to refresh. And is your razor shave ready enough to refresh.

Even if you put lipstick on the pig, it's still a pig.

With a straight razor it is down to the bevel. If the bevel isn't right you will never get a good edge. I know you are trying out lapping film for yourself from your posts on another forum. If that works out for you, and you get your shave ready edge, then pasted strops will take your edge up to something truly scary.

Alternatively @Fergiebilly or @pugh-the-special-one or Gary Haywood have the best reputations in the UK.

I would advise stropping on plain linen followed by plain leather. When you are starting out, best to use a flat strop - either paddle or lay it flat on a hard surface. If you get your stropping technique right you will find you need to refresh less and less. But if you mess up your stropping you will dull your edge pretty fast.

For the pasted balsa:

You will need some float glass cut to 3" by 8" - local glazier
You can get balsa from Hobbycraft

and glue it to the float glass

to lap:

Veritas Lapping glass plate from Axminster
300 - 500 grit sandpaper

You need to fix this to the plate. You can use a spray adhesive, though I have used double sided tape as well.

You want 0.5 and 0.25 diamond paste from The Invisible Edge, and if you are lucky 0.1 from Ebay. If you aren't lucky you can get some FerOx from Shaversdelight on Ebay. You need very very little on the balsa - just a little nip, and you need to spread it all over evenly.

Only use the 0.5 coming off the lapping film progression, then use the 0.25 and 0.1 for maintenance.

You might do 50 laps on the 0.25 and half that on the 0.1.

I follow with flax linen (stropped x strokes) which removes any fin edge.

If you are lazy you can go down the route of pastes on leather. For years I just used jewellers rouge. These days there are the Solingen red and black crayons in the tiny red box on Amazon and the CrOx and FerOx from Shavers delight are good pastes. N.B. the Dovo red crayon is much courser than FerOx.
 
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Dovo Razors from Invisible Edge NEED a FULL Hone Job from the 1 K Bevel Hone through a Full Progression...Trust Me Regardless of their Claims...I Have Honed More SRs from Invisible Edge than I Can Remember...I Am in the Process of Moving at the Moment and My Stones are in Storage So I Cant Do the Job at the Moment... @pugh-the-special-one Jamie Could Do a 1st Class Job if Ya PM HIm.. :cool:

Billy

Cheers Billy. Much appreciated.
I didn't buy the Dovo from Invisible Edge but I did send it to them for honing as it wasn't shave-ready out of the box. This was a month or two ago, so maybe you did it! :D
 
So two strands here.

How to refresh. And is your razor shave ready enough to refresh.

Even if you put lipstick on the pig, it's still a pig.

With a straight razor it is down to the bevel. If the bevel isn't right you will never get a good edge. I know you are trying out lapping film for yourself from your posts on another forum. If that works out for you, and you get your shave ready edge, then pasted strops will take your edge up to something truly scary.

Alternatively @Fergiebilly or @pugh-the-special-one or Gary Haywood have the best reputations in the UK.

I would advise stropping on plain linen followed by plain leather. When you are starting out, best to use a flat strop - either paddle or lay it flat on a hard surface. If you get your stropping technique right you will find you need to refresh less and less. But if you mess up your stropping you will dull your edge pretty fast.

For the pasted balsa:

You will need some float glass cut to 3" by 8" - local glazier
You can get balsa from Hobbycraft

and glue it to the float glass

to lap:

Veritas Lapping glass plate from Axminster
300 - 500 grit sandpaper

You need to fix this to the plate. You can use a spray adhesive, though I have used double sided tape as well.

You want 0.5 and 0.25 diamond paste from The Invisible Edge, and if you are lucky 0.1 from Ebay. If you aren't lucky you can get some FerOx from Shaversdelight on Ebay. You need very very little on the balsa - just a little nip, and you need to spread it all over evenly.

Only use the 0.5 coming off the lapping film progression, then use the 0.25 and 0.1 for maintenance.

You might do 50 laps on the 0.25 and half that on the 0.1.

I follow with flax linen (stropped x strokes) which removes any fin edge.

If you are lazy you can go down the route of pastes on leather. For years I just used jewellers rouge. These days there are the Solingen red and black crayons in the tiny red box on Amazon and the CrOx and FerOx from Shavers delight are good pastes. N.B. the Dovo red crayon is much courser than FerOx.

Cheers mate, that just about covers it I reckon. Great job.
Now I can give the guys in here and in 'the other place' a break from my damn fool questions :D
I intend to refresh the Dovo on the film after I've got my hands on the float glass and toss that other piece of Hiryali crap in the bin where it belongs. Either that or I'll sell it to the old woman to use on her armpits ;)
 
I gotta tell you, boys. This honing business is pretty complex. Makes me wonder how my old grandad managed to get such a good result just by whacking his battered old straight up and down one of his old belts for a few minutes and then going to it in the scullery using the cold running water, with not a single hone, piece of lapping film or bottle of diamond spray in sight :D
 
I gotta tell you, boys. This honing business is pretty complex. Makes me wonder how my old grandad managed to get such a good result just by whacking his battered old straight up and down one of his old belts for a few minutes and then going to it in the scullery using the cold running water, with not a single hone, piece of lapping film or bottle of diamond spray in sight :D
Stropping is underrated on the forums. If you perfect your stropping technique you can go for a long long time without refreshing.

I pulled out a stainless Dovo this morning, that I know was going to under-perform and by rights should have seen some paste. I have a leather strop that I have been working in for a few months and it is just starting to take off. Doubled up my usual number of strokes on linen and leather (no pastes) Really felt the blade shift and it quietened nicely. The result - the edge was back to full performance and I got a lovely shave.
 
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