Hi Guys,
First post so I will just say a little about myself. I am 27, and have had a Dovo carbon steel razor since high school. I stopped using it for the longest time because I didn't have the skill or tools to hone it properly. Recently, I discovered that my roommate had ruined the blade also...there is a massive chip out of the edge. She probably used it to open a plastic package or something, but that's a whole 'nother story.
Anyway, upon discovering this I decided to ebay a vintage razor as a quasi-replacement, and wound up with a Wade and Butcher "Bow" razor in decent shape for a great price. I will surely post pictures of my restoration when the time comes.
Now, down to brass tacks. I have a black arkansas stone with which I could get the Dovo able to push through a hanging hair. Stropping then got it to the point where I could sort of shave with it, just not very closely at all, and only going with the grain. I've been reading up on different options of where to go from there, and while I don't have the budget for a Norton stone right now, I do have the budget for a few pastes to use on leather paddles.
So my question is, what pastes would you all recommend to get a nice (if not ideal) shaving edge following the arkansas stone? Or is there just too much of a gap between the grit of those pastes and my stone...is it even possible? I see there are the Dovo Pastes, Diamond Pastes, CrO2 Paste, etc. What would you recommend as a stopgap solution, if any?
Many Thanks.
First post so I will just say a little about myself. I am 27, and have had a Dovo carbon steel razor since high school. I stopped using it for the longest time because I didn't have the skill or tools to hone it properly. Recently, I discovered that my roommate had ruined the blade also...there is a massive chip out of the edge. She probably used it to open a plastic package or something, but that's a whole 'nother story.
Anyway, upon discovering this I decided to ebay a vintage razor as a quasi-replacement, and wound up with a Wade and Butcher "Bow" razor in decent shape for a great price. I will surely post pictures of my restoration when the time comes.
Now, down to brass tacks. I have a black arkansas stone with which I could get the Dovo able to push through a hanging hair. Stropping then got it to the point where I could sort of shave with it, just not very closely at all, and only going with the grain. I've been reading up on different options of where to go from there, and while I don't have the budget for a Norton stone right now, I do have the budget for a few pastes to use on leather paddles.
So my question is, what pastes would you all recommend to get a nice (if not ideal) shaving edge following the arkansas stone? Or is there just too much of a gap between the grit of those pastes and my stone...is it even possible? I see there are the Dovo Pastes, Diamond Pastes, CrO2 Paste, etc. What would you recommend as a stopgap solution, if any?
Many Thanks.