Thread: Begineer unable to maintain shave ready edge

Both my shave ready razors which were shave ready, have seen so little use (10 shaves each at most), but now not sharp enough to shave with. They were stropped before & after each shave (watched few videos for advice). Presuming they don't need honing already. Can't work out where I'm getting it wrong.

Secondly, as I've bought couple of super cheap straight edges off ebay to practice honing, advice on what stone would also be great.
Confused about what combination to buy for maintaining shave ready edge, and for honing. Thanks again for any help

ps I have a 1000 grit Japanese stone available to borrow, but was unable to improve on edge using that.

Monkeyboyo,
If these razors were shave ready when you received them and now are not after 10 shaves, I can only assume your stropping needs work as well as your technique. I would concentrate on those two important elements and forgo honing for the time being. Honing is a totally different skill so wait till you master stropping and shaving.

Welcome to SRP. You won't improve an edge to shave readiness on a 1k stone. That is for bevel setting/correction. Your best bet is to send the two razors out to a known honemeister to have something to shave with, and to compare your results once you begin honing your cheap straight razors.

Are these vintage razors or 'cheap' current production razors. World of difference. For a stone I would normally recommend the Norton 4/8 combination stone, but your being in the UK might complicate matters. Contact SRP member Neil Miller with a PM. He is in the UK, is a honemeister, and has a vast knowledge of stones and all things straight razor. He may have something in stock that you could start with, and he could certainly hone your razors for a nominal fee.

Thanks for the super-quick reply. Having watched stropping videos, it is difficult to work out where going wrong !
But yes, a re-visit is a good starting point. Thank you

If you razors have dulled to the point that they are no longer comfortable to shave with, I would guess one of two things. One, your stropping technique may need some polishing, or two, your beard is just a mutha. And actually, if you've gotten ten shaves out of your razor without any fine honing, you're not doing too badly.

If I were to buy hones today, knowing what I didn't know then (), I would purchase a 1k Chosera, a 4k/8k Norton, and a 12k Naniwa with a DMT course diamond plate for lapping. Covers everything from restoration to shaving edge honing.

G'Luck, and continue to ask questions!

Thanks Jimmy for all the info & advice in your post. Have read Neil Miller's excellent guide to honing stones, and indeed as beginner, worth asking him directly for anything suitable in stock. The two shave ready, and 'hone practice' cheapies are all vintage. The two good ones are a Kozak and Fisher.

Like the Ian Maclaren quote in your signature by the way !

Thanks Mike. Great responses here, and super-quick. Much appreciated .
Don't have an actual beard; but maybe tough hair (don't know). Wondering how vintage razors survived so long needing regular fine honing. Must be a finite amount of metal removed at any time.

Being a begineer myself I ran in to the same issue and had to revisit my stropping technique. That is where I was going wrong with a bad angle and too much pressure. I was making the whole stropping process more difficult than it had to be. Once I watched several videos and purchased the modular strop from SRD things have greatly improved. Not honing myself yet I did have to send my first razor off to get sharpened but the other two I purchased after the first one I have been able to keep shave ready and the modular strop has really helped me with that. I know this is stating the obvious more than giving you helpful advice but just trust you are not alone and when you are new to the process you will make mistakes. Good luck

Yea, never underestimate what a good stropping can do or a bad one. You get far more of the latter when you are beginning your SR journey. Suffered through that myself.

Bob

monkeyboyo,

Even after years of using straight razors, I still occasionally get into stropping 'doldrums'

WRT the flipping action, somebody described it as being like twiddling a rotary switch with thumb and first finger - that helped me a great deal

These videos have helped me the most :

hi_bud_gl

straight razor stropping - YouTube