Thread: I dropped and chipped my razor before my second shave with it!

After stropping, I set my razor (opened) on my very small glass shelf where I keep my equipment. I felt uneasy about it and made more room for it so I wouldn't have any mistakes. When I placed it down again and went for my lather I bumped it and it fell. Then every thing went into slow motion as I reached for it but my brain said no don't do that. Then my razor preservation kick in again and I reached for it again but better judgement brain area kicked in again and I retreated. It hit the tile floor....but not a straight fall because my attempts to stop its decent manage to slow it down. I did receive a superficial cut to my wrist below my thumb.

You know My first shave went so well. Then I nicked my strop and now this! The toe end of the cutting edge of the razor had a length wise chip 2 mm +/- in length.
The chip was only evident within the bevel and all else looked ok. I am using past tense because Im in the process of honing this thing.

I wanted to get into honing at some point after I learned to shave. Those plans are gone and I guess I am learning to hone first! I have a decent amount of experience with my water stones and sharpening my kitchen knives; so, honing a razor will add to my skill set. I have come to learn that my razor has a slight warp. I have also come to learn the rolling x-stroke. So far my attempts to set the bevel are looking good under my bausch and lomb stero zoom microscope. I'm waiting for my naniwa 8k and 12 k stones from SRD to arrive.

Now I know why straight razors have scales!! I should never have placed an open razor on a shelf especially being a newbie. So let this be a little reminder to fellow new straight razor users to think better than I did about what your doing.

I would have ordered a replacement razor as well but they are sold out: wanted a shave ready from SRD. I would have sent it in for a honing, but then I would never learn to hone for my self so I'm jumping in.

Oh well back to the grind stone for me!

you should seriously think about sending it out. For a variety of reasons. You have only had one shave with a shave ready razor, giving you not much experience to judge an edge. The stone are a bit of a cash outlay, which may or may not be an issue. Most of all it may simply be the fastest way to get your blade back to shave ready. Thats my perspective and a couple of quick thoughts to ponder.

Yeah I thought about it but the cost of a honing and shipping and waiting for it.. Na I'm a hands on person and have confidence in my ability. But yes having a limited amount of shave time is a concern for my ability to judge the edge. But I already started honing and made the investment for additional stones. I enjoy honing its like meditation. I'm going to invest in a new razor from SRD when they get one in that I like. Until then Ill shave with my DE if I cannot get my damaged razor shaving again. Only 2 weeks in and I have RAD.

There are also the classifieds and a couple of other really great vendors. There are so many razors out there its hard to decide what to try next. I just want to try them all. Where you are also changes what vendors will work best.

Ah well, lesson learned and you won't be doing that again any time soon I am sure. Dropped a razor meself once.

Bob

Yes lesson learned. I only have my self to blame for being so careless and disrespectful to the razor. My first shave went well and I likely became cavalier. But in a way this is a good lesson going forward and I now have a signature quote as a reminder to my self.

And here it is below

+1 to not honing it yourself and sending it out. You're putting the horse before the cart, big time.

Again its to late I already honed it up to a 5k stone. Im waiting for the 8 and 12ks to arrive. In the mean time I did 3 passes on a paddle strop with Bark river white compound (about 12k grit) to release the burr. I then took it to the microscope with one of my wife's hairs. I tested my progress and managed to pop or peel the strand at every test touch. I'm not saying its shave ready; but I feel confident. Its not that I don't have the resources to hone it myself. Everything boiles down to finding the proper stroke for this particular razor and being consistent.

In all actuality, I am becoming more acquainted with this razor by learning how it needs to be honed.

However with that said I do heed the advice to send it out. I understand But If I don't at least try, I wont sleep so well!

Try shaving with it so you know what the razor feels like at this point, then shave after the 8K, then after the 12K. Doing it like that will help you learn as you go because you'll be able to compare how everything feels. I almost want to say that you should try to get the best out of the 8K before you use your 12K, but that's up to you. I personally would because you should be able to get a shave ready edge off an 8K (years back that's as high as people would finish on), and once you can get a good edge off the 8K, you'll get that much better of an edge off the 12K...
Again, that's all up to you of course! The main idea when learning is to get as many reference points as possible so that you're not flying blind

If you can't get the same quality of edge that you had when you first got it, send it out so that when it comes back your shave ready reference point has been restored.