Thread: First tentative try with a straight

If you lay it flat on the edge of a desk, it should do, just keep the pressure light, make it slow and do about 50 strokes instead of 30 you'd do on a normal strop.

That's true, Just keep the strokes light, and you should do fine, Don't put that razor away just yet. Keep at it you'll get it. Let us know how you do.

There's that old Chinese saying about a journey of 1000 miles begining with a single step. Well you've taken that first step so keep on going!

Straight shaving is a skill and it has to be mastered and it does not come quickly. Some learn faster than others and more easily than others but everyone learns if they want to. Remember at one time it was the only way to shave. So keep at it and little by little your confidence will increase with your skill.

Which side of the leather do you use for stropping, the skin side or the meat side? I've read about using the meat side for pasted paddle strops for stropping knives, but if you want to use one unpasted to strop straight razors, do you still use the meat side?

Always use the smooth side.

Well, I made a strop by glueing the leather to a piece of balsa, and stropped the razor to the best of my ability, going slow and trying to keep both the point and the heel of the blade as well as the edge and the spine all touching the leather while I was moving it along, spine first. Did about 30 passes and then tried shaving with the razor again.

It felt the same as my first shave with it, although this time I also shaved my neck with it. After the first pass, I felt my stubble, decided I wasn't doing a very good job with the straight and finished my shave with the Merkur HD instead.

I think I am using the wrong angle, possibly too acute, because I'm being too wary.

Bad angle would be the next point of contention. Also don't forget that a DE will leave you cleaner after one pass, but they're about even after 2.

Originally Posted by minstrel

... stropped the razor to the best of my ability, going slow and trying to keep both the point and the heel of the blade as well as the edge and the spine all touching the leather while I was moving it along, spine first.

We like to recommend using an X motion wher you startt by making sure the heel is in contact and draw down little to include the tip by the end of ths stroke. Even if your homemade strop is wide enough to encompas your whole edge at once the chances of the edge and the strop not having some minor curves, peaks and valleys is remote, so using the X stropping motion helps mitigate these factors. Bad stropping can ruin your edge so be gentle. This may already have happened.

Try lowering the engle of the razor to yur face and use a cutting angle where the tip leads the shaving stroke slightly in front of the heel.

X