Leather Flakes on Blade While Stropping

Hi Everyone

I've been SR shaving about two months and so far everything has gone very well. Recently I purchased a Ralf Aust and have run into something a little unusual. I assume I'm stropping correctly since the first razor I purchased; from SRD, is still giving me top notch performance and I used that one every day over a month before I acquired more razors to rotate through my shaves. I've used the Aust twice and did not notice this happening, but recently I began stropping this razor in preparation for my next shave and noticed small flakes of leather sticking to the blade. I thought maybe I did something wrong, wiped off the blade, and started again. Again; I noticed flakes of leather on the blade in the same three places. Repeated again just to be sure and got the same result. I examined the edge under a 30x loupe and cannot see any obvious reason for this, but again I've only been handling straights a couple months.

Any ideas about why this is happening? I've used eight or nine other 'vintage' blades over the last month and have not seen this happen with any of them.

TIA

Gill

maybe it's just some coating flaking off your new strop as it wears in

Most likely it's just getting broken in....I'm curious - what type of strop are you using....my Illinois 827 did a bit of that before it settled down?

The strop is a 3 inch red latigo I got from SRD about two months ago. How long does it take to brake in a strop? I've used this one every day since buying it.

Unless the strop is getting scratches it shouldn't be razor-related. Have you tried your other razors on the strop since this behaviour began, or just the Aust?

As the other guys have said, the finishing layer can sometimes flake, and if it's only a little I wouldn't be concerned. Do you "treat" the strop by rubbing your palm along it before each stropping session? If not, try that for a while and see if the flaking continues once the oils in your hand work their way in.

One other thing that just popped into my head - did you take a look at the spine of the razor on both sides as well as the edge? Is the spine smooth where it touches the leather?

James.

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Originally Posted by Jimbo

Unless the strop is getting scratches it shouldn't be razor-related. Have you tried your other razors on the strop since this behaviour began, or just the Aust?

As the other guys have said, the finishing layer can sometimes flake, and if it's only a little I wouldn't be concerned. Do you "treat" the strop by rubbing your palm along it before each stropping session? If not, try that for a while and see if the flaking continues once the oils in your hand work their way in.

One other thing that just popped into my head - did you take a look at the spine of the razor on both sides as well as the edge? Is the spine smooth where it touches the leather?

James.

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Yes, I've stropped two other razors but only see flaking on the Aust.

I do rub it occasionally but not before each stropping session. I'll start doing that.

I did not look at the spine but since it is a new razor with only three shaves on it I would assume it is straight.

Hmmm.... Just trying to work on a process of elimination here. So you get flakes on the Aust but not on any other razor? That suggests there's something going on with the Aust. When you strop only two parts of the razor touch the leather - the edge and the spine. If there's nothing going on with the edge then you should check the spine.

You could also try a single layer of tape on the spine of the Aust and see what happens when you strop that.

Good luck, it's a bit of a brain bender.

James.

If you don't see any scratches on the surface of your strop perhaps it's coming from the edge ? Just thinking it could be the stabilizer hitting the edge knocking off edge coat. I am also wondering if it's flakes of leather or something else.

My bid daddy did this for a while while it was breaking
I used shave lather rubbed it with a bottle to speed up the break then all was good

In your original post you mention that you stropped 3 times wiping in between and all 3 times got the flakes in the same spots. I would check those 3 spots very carefully under the loupe for nicks etc. If just breaking in etc should be more random. Good luck

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Originally Posted by eddy79

In your original post you mention that you stropped 3 times wiping in between and all 3 times got the flakes in the same spots. I would check those 3 spots very carefully under the loupe for nicks etc. If just breaking in etc should be more random. Good luck

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Thanks eddy79 - I did check under a loupe and did not see anything obvious to me, but I've only been at this about two months so maybe there is a problem my uneducated eyes are missing. I kinda doubt that because it is a new blade and I would assume the fellas at SRD would have noticed if anything was wrong with it.

I appreciate all the suggestions and feedback. I stropped and shaved with it yesterday and got a wonderful shave. Its not leaving scratch marks on the strop; that i can tell, so I think I'll take your advice and just keep on using it as usual and see if the flaking goes away with time. As long as its not eating into the strop and I'm getting the performance out it I expect from a new blade then it's probably not worth worrying about. I'm including a pic so you all can see what I do after three of four laps on the strop.

Attachment 168712

Just watched Euclid440's vid about how to tell whether a blade is sharp and at one point he described 'blunting' along the razor's edge. That got me wondering so I examined my R.Aust under a better light and found something resembling exactly what he described. I also ran a plastic trimmer cap adjustment tool; basically a plastic screwdriver, along the edge going downward from the spine as Euclid440 demonstrates to verify the edge is blunt and got the same result. It catches on the part near the middle of the edge. That is where you see the biggest leather deposit in my pic above. I took another pic which shows what I can now see under a bright light w/out magnification and you can clearly see five spots on the blade's edge that appear to have been blunted or otherwise dinged in some way.

Attachment 169499


Does anyone know what may have caused this? I'm new to shaving with straights; about two months, but I've acquired nearly twenty razors, four of which are new and this is the first time I've seen one like this. If it were only one nick in the blade or maybe two then I may be convinced I could have done it somehow but five of them leads me to believe this happened before it left the manufacturer. Ideas?

Thanks!

Any sort of contact could have blunted or rolled the edge. Better get that sorted before you strop or shave with that blade again.

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Originally Posted by holli4pirating

Any sort of contact could have blunted or rolled the edge. Better get that sorted before you strop or shave with that blade again.

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Are you saying I need to get it rehoned, or would something less drastic be enough?

Well, it sounds like stropping alone didn't fix it, and it does look like it needs fixing, so a stone of some sort would be next. Impossible for me to say what it might need just by looking, though. I wouldn't keep stropping it on your leather for fear of damaging the strop.

That looks like some decent blunt spots. It looks like it will need to go to the hones. How much is hard to say but they don't look like small spots. The first 4 look very evenly spaced as though maybe all done at same time. Good luck and as said don't use it till you get it fixed.

I think it may be a wire edge/burr?? I've noticed more friction on the strop sometimes if I have a wire edge and sometimes is causes the leather (if on the rough side) to flip up a bit as it's ripped off of the strop by the burr; sometimes is has popped off the strop completely and landed on the blade.