Thread: Why is the 1st shave after honing so disagreeable?

Originally Posted by Johnny J

OK, I'm in the process of soaking all the crud off my linen strop. While I'm waiting, I decided to try stropping on plain newspaper as a substitute. It turned my razor into a butter knife. Worst shave of my life. I'll never do that again! Hopefully the linen will be better than that.

I've been getting smooth results from newspaper. I take about four sheets and make a dustjacket for a hardcover book, just like we used to do back in elementary school to preserve the books that had to be passed on from year to year.Then I strop on the 'cover'.

Originally Posted by OLD_SCHOOL

I'm a honer, not a hone meister and my experience and knowledge is limited. However.... It sounds like an awful lot of wear happening to your razor. Just my thoughts.

I know. It's OK, all my razors are $20 eBay specials. If I grind them down to stumps, they can die happy knowing that they sacrificed their lives in fulfillment of their one & only purpose. But even at the rate I'm going, I'll probably be dead before that happens. Ever experiece how much work it takes to grind out even the tiniest of chips?

The linen (or canvas or whatever it is) is much cleaner than before, but still retains enough wax to be stiff & not floppy. To experiment, I re-honed & stopped on the linen, then leather. (I used the side of the linen that had never been smeared with rouge). Boy was that a mistake! The linen ruined the edge completely. I've never seen anything like it. I had a feeling dragging that nice new edge across those cobblestones was going to be a bad idea...

OK, back to the good old chrome ox.

Originally Posted by Johnny J

To experiment, I re-honed & stopped on the linen, then leather. (I used the side of the linen that had never been smeared with rouge). Boy was that a mistake! The linen ruined the edge completely. I've never seen anything like it. I had a feeling dragging that nice new edge across those cobblestones was going to be a bad idea...

OK, back to the good old chrome ox.

This makes the second or third time that I have seen this comment in this forum. I have never had a problem with the stiff linen damaging an edge and I have used mine regularly. This problem may be related to the fact that you also mentioned that you messed up an edge on newspaper.

Does it make sense that only an overhoned edge would be susceptible to damage from linen and/or newspaper stropping? Or could it be stropping technique? A combination??

Originally Posted by Johnny J

Ever experiece how much work it takes to grind out even the tiniest of chips?

Oh boy do I! I have one thats taking forever and a day to repair, the chip finally left after about 800 laps, but still the edge doesn't pass the TPT, feels like its got still 500 laps to go before I can move up to the next grit.

Originally Posted by kelbro

This makes the second or third time that I have seen this comment in this forum. I have never had a problem with the stiff linen damaging an edge

PErhaps it was the side that had never been smeared which caused his problem this time!? Or as you said, overhoning.

Something isn't right, so I watch this thread with great interest, to learn how the issue will be resolved.

Well, I figured out that I ruined the edge with the newspaper by not stretching it tight over a flat surface like the other poster recommended. I'm guessing the newspaper curled up enough as I was stropping to eat the edge.

As for the linen...geez, I have no idea. Before I cleaned it I had tried it once, and while the jeweler's rouge was more aggressive than I liked, it didn't eat the razor like it did this time. It's possible that the linen needs a lot of wax or soap or whatever to fill the voids between the cobblestones so the texture is not too rough. Maybe by cleaning it I removed enough wax to make the surface really brutal. I'll try re-waxing it & see if that helps.

Update: I must be certifiably insane. I was up at midnight last night doing shaving experiments instead of getting sleep like I should.

Anyway, I waxed my linen strop with a candle & smoothed it out with a smooth coffee mug. Rehoned the razor from scratch (i.e. starting with bevel-setting) and finished with 20 laps on the linen and 50 on the leather. Exquisite shave. absolutely perfect.

So you guys were right.

Here's my theory: when I hone from scratch, all those laps were raising a wire edge which I was polishing, not removing, with the Cr02. The first several shaves would be mediocre because I was removing the wire edge with my face. Eventually, the wire edge would be gone & I'd have a nice convexed & polished Cr02 bevel. I'd get exquisite shaves until the bevel became too rounded to cut hair, then I'd start all over again. The full cycle takes about a month.

Here's the question which I have yet to answer: if I do maintenance touch-ups on linen instead of on Cr02, will that effectively touch the edge up without rounding off my bevel? Time will tell. Maybe the chrome ox and I are about to shake hands & part ways. Or maybe the Cr02 is good to use when the linen stops working. We'll see. Anyone have any experience with this?

You cannot do touch ups with linen. It is not abrasive, it is a burnisher (smoother) of the steel.
To prolong the life of the edge only use the Cr ox when necessary and then for 10 laps. Then test shave. Repeat if necessary.

Sounds like you got it going now.

I use the linen occasionally and it seems to help refine the edge. I use the ChromeOx (5-10 laps max) even less frequently and that's when the linen has quit working and I don't have time to touch the edge up on a hone.

I have found that using linen for touch-ups means that the time spent when I do have to go back on the hone is much shorter than the honing time when I used ChromeOx.

I also noticed that after using ChromeOx a couple of times and then going to linen, the edge on a couple of blades got micro-chipped. That's why I think that besides convexing an edge, it also 'stretches' it making it very thin at the business edge. Just my hypothesis...

For the reasons that I mentioned, I seldom use the ChromeOx. I think it's a good tool but for me, the disadvantages slightly outweigh the advantages.

Riddle me this, Batman... If I can't do touch-ups on the linen, can I do touch-ups on a fine hone, & burnish the edge on linen afterwards? Then I wouldn't need the chrome ox. The reason I started using the Cr02 in the first place is because touching up on a hone was giving me a wire edge, which I did not know linen can remove.

That's what I usually do. You may find, as I did, that when using the linen along with the leather that you don't have to go back to the hone as often and the time on the hone is short which prevents wire edges.