Thread: "Shave Ready" new straight razor

Originally Posted by manuforti

Guys, I need some advice. I bought the Norton 4000/8000 grit sharpening stones. I've sharpened my SR, well at least I thought I did. I stropped it before shaving and it still isn't sharp. Maybe it's my stropping technique, I just don't know?? I thought that I'm doing things right but it's starting to get frustrating. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

It could be a combination of never having honed a razor before and newbie stropping leading to a dull razor. Did you lap your Norton before attempting to hone the razor? There are many more questions but lets start with that. As said before honing and stropping look easy but are not and that leads to frustration. You just have to stay with it.

Bob

As I see it from what you wrote initially, the first error, by what you said, was you stropped the razor before shaving with it for the first time. If it came from SRD it was honed by uber meister Lynn. All that was needed was to wipe it carefully and then shave with it. Stropping starts with the second shave of any freshly honed blade. You need two razors. One professionally honed as comparison to any you want to hone on your own and one you want to practice on till you get decent results. And I can not stress any more strongly than this - DO NOT DO YOUR OWN HONING TILL YOU CAN LATHER, SHAVE AND STROP SUCCESSFULLY! After a year of shaving and refining my abilities I have started down the slippery slope of honing. First objective is getting a decent, decent shave off of an 8k stone. Thought I had one, sent it to the person that does a lot of honing for me. He tested it and reset the edge by his standards. My shave, this morning with it was stellar. Not quite the same as an edge finished on a 12, 16 or 20k stone but a long way ahead of mine. The variables in learning to hone will distract you from learning your face and perfecting your shaving skills. Make this a eternally pleasant event in your daily life and back up and take it slow. The hare in this race is the one that ends up posting ALL his equipment for sale. Good luck.

We do not know the following and without this all the advice in the world is useless

1. Make of the razor
2. "Shave ready" was it "Factory Shave Ready" or was it honed by somebody that knows what they are doing..

Without those two answers we really have no idea how to help and are just shooting in the dark

Now that you have "Attempted honing" things are really in the air but the above info will still help us help you

More info on the razor would be great, pics could be even better. If you do have a decent razor capable of taking an edge without too much trouble I would pick up a cheap vintage blade from someone known to put a good edge on a razor and learn to use it & maintain it with a strop. Whilst you learn to shave and strop you can work on getting your current blade up to par. Personal opinion on honing: Forget the 4K/8K/12K progression, make sure the 4K is lapped flat & keep it flat, work with the 4K alone until you can shave arm/leg hair all along the edge, or pass one of the other bevel tests, once that is done strop it & shave with it. I spent a long time polishing poor bevels with finer stones, then I sat down with my 1K, set the best bevel I could, stropped & shaved, a light went on. I do enjoy my fancy high grit stones but they only come into play once I've got a razor which can shave at the base level. Edit: apologies for the block of text, I seem to be having an issue with formatting

The best advice I can give in this situation is to eleminate as many variables as possible. Start by sending your razor to someone who you trust can give you a truly "shave ready" edge. Many on this forum can make this happen. At that point, you can eliminate the "sharpness" of the razor as a factor and focus on technique. Don't forget, though, prep and lathering play a very important part as well. While your razor is out getting honed, practice making lather. Then, practice making more lather, and finally, practice making lather. Once you can eliminate the edge and the lather, all that's left is technique.

advise has been given to help ,please listen and you will eventually get good shaves ,, can not hone if you don't know how to shave ,, no way to tell if you've achieved a shave ready edge ,, good luck and give these guys all the info, pictures and your ear they will lead you down the right path tc

Originally Posted by tcrideshd

advise has been given to help ,please listen and you will eventually get good shaves ,, can not hone if you don't know how to shave ,, no way to tell if you've achieved a shave ready edge ,, good luck and give these guys all the info, pictures and your ear they will lead you down the right path tc

I'm in total agreement with my friend TC. Once you can provide as much information as possible about the razor (what brand) whether or not it was a factory edge (which is always 'Lacking') or honed by someone else and then listen to the advice/especially those from the Mods/Mentors and the many others who have a lot of experience.

You will probably find slightly differing opinions but a Major Theme will emerge. Just as it has so far.

Don't be Discouraged! This Age Old Art of Shaving has a HUGE LEARNING CURVE and the most important thing about learning it is something that is called PATIENCE!!!

If you can't find a way to be patient then this lifestyle isn't for you. However if you can be patient, then the rewards are bountiful.

It's a long strange trip, but well worth the journey

I've read many posts of new straight users thinking a razor is not shave ready, only to learn they haven't learned how to shave with a straight yet. I sold a NOS ERN with a factory edge that gave me a wonderful shave to a local friend. He had not used a straight in several decades. I let him try different razors honed by me or other experienced honers. Finally, he figured out he had to relearn how to shave, the angle, the lather, etc. Then suddenly the ERN had a terrific edge.

Gentlemen,
Sorry for the late response from me, summertime here in New England and I've been on vacation.
I want to thank all of you for your responses, believe me, they are more than appreciated.
I've tried and tried and tried straight razor shaving, but it's not giving me the desired results. Honestly, my safety razor gives me a much better, closer shave. My issue with the SR is that under my chin and my neck, my beard grows in the opposite direction of shaving with the straight razor. I've tried every angle possible and I've cut the heck out of myself, yes I've been patient, but it's just not working. So, in the end I'm going to stick with my grandfathers old safety razor.
Thanks for all of your advice and many happy shaves in the future!

Originally Posted by lindyhop66

I've read many posts of new straight users thinking a razor is not shave ready, only to learn they haven't learned how to shave with a straight yet. I sold a NOS ERN with a factory edge that gave me a wonderful shave to a local friend. He had not used a straight in several decades. I let him try different razors honed by me or other experienced honers. Finally, he figured out he had to relearn how to shave, the angle, the lather, etc. Then suddenly the ERN had a terrific edge.

Originally Posted by manuforti

Gentlemen,
Sorry for the late response from me, summertime here in New England and I've been on vacation.
I want to thank all of you for your responses, believe me, they are more than appreciated.
I've tried and tried and tried straight razor shaving, but it's not giving me the desired results. Honestly, my safety razor gives me a much better, closer shave. My issue with the SR is that under my chin and my neck, my beard grows in the opposite direction of shaving with the straight razor. I've tried every angle possible and I've cut the heck out of myself, yes I've been patient, but it's just not working. So, in the end I'm going to stick with my grandfathers old safety razor.
Thanks for all of your advice and many happy shaves in the future!

Do hope you will stick with SRP. There is a large contingent that uses only, or mostly DE's or SE's and appear in the SOTD regularly. We support many approaches to shaving as a delight for the day (except maybe carts except in emergency).