Thread: Sharpening razor

And even when a razor does come shave ready, bad technique/poor angle can lead to a feeling of pulling and tugging. Patience and practice. You'll get there.


Mick

I might add: don't strop your razor after you sent it out to be honed and got it back. As stated before, you can dull a razor by bad stropping and to eliminate that possibility, just don't strop the first time

Good luck and enjoy! Don't give up, it's not your fault that razor is pulling.

Originally Posted by Laurens

I might add: don't strop your razor after you sent it out to be honed and got it back. As stated before, you can dull a razor by bad stropping and to eliminate that possibility, just don't strop the first time

Good luck and enjoy! Don't give up, it's not your fault that razor is pulling.

Yes, as I found out from my visit to my honemeister...after a year, thought my stropping was at least adequate...but it turned out I had rolled the edges on a few of my blades!! And once that happens, until fixed, the rest is just moot.

As he recommended, I'm going to use the bench strop I have for awhile in order to go back to the all important fundamentals - basic stropping skills! From my experience, until you get all the fundamentals down, adding in to many additional factors just takes away from learning the basics!!

Start stropping slowly and keep an eye on the razor to ensure it is completely flat on the strop. Both the spine and edge in contact at the same time. I had issues with raising either the spine up or not having the edge in contact with the strop when I first started out. Take it slow. Gain the muscle memory of correct stropping, and then work on stropping faster. Also keep in mind that you want to roll the blade over the spine before you get to the end of the stroke, and before you stop the motion. this will ensure that you don't inadvertently nick your strop. The same applies with the start of the movement. Get the razor moving before laying the edge down on the leather. Speed comes with practice.


Mick