Thread: Am I getting there? Story + a few questions

I have always been fascinated by straight razor and after shaving with a DE safety razor I knew it was the right way to go.

I started drooling around this forum and picked up a few names and decided to buy a ebay razor and restore it. At this time it was more of a collecting situation instead of having a tool.
So I ended up with:
Green lizzard, Cattarugus cutlery - Patina, some really small chips in the bevel, some shallow pitting, a smale piece was broken off from one of the scales so I am going to make new ones.
993, G.baker & sons - Came in a pretty good condition, slightly patina, scales and edge looks good, only thing that made me a bit upset was the blade etchings fadeing away.
model, maker followed up with some info on what condition I recieved them in.

I cleaned them up as nice as I got em. I do not own a buffer wheel, so I'm not going to get them looking new, but that belongs to the future.
Bought some Naniwa super stones, 1k,5k,8k and 12k. When I first started out I didn't get them sharp at all, they could shave arm hair with force. Did not want to shave with that. After trying to hone both razors two times I decided to take a break out of frustrating and put the razors away for a while.

I recently brought them back up and I think I've managed to get a decent edge now with the help of Lynn's videos. I can cut arm hair easily and the hanging hair test usually works.
Now, would you guys be comfortable shaving with this? I have tried, but with slight irritation (might as well be the technique).

I am using a stropping paddle with synthetic fibers, I should probably switch this out for some real stuff?

If anyone got some informations on the razors I would love to know more, I'm also going to do some research on them. I wont post pics before I can get them buffed up nice.

PS: I love this forum.

Would I be comfortable shaving with it. Knowing what I do now versus when I started probably not. Took a decent amount of work before I had a truly shave ready edge and I wouldn't have known that if I hadn't had 1 pro honed. Send one out and check the other. Sure you will find a real difference. As to the razors the green lizard is a good razor and you should be able to find a good amount of information. Not sure about the baker. Try posting in the razor forum as the guys over there really know their razors and will be sure to help you more. A strop is very important so do make sure that you get a decent one as it will make a huge difference. Good luck

Condition is far more important than brand name.

Post some photos of the razors and the strop, if you want the best advice.

As far as the condition of the shaving edge, what does the edge look like?

What method are you using to establish when the bevel is set?

Are you using magnification? How?

As said the strop will affect the final shaving edge. If the strop is inferior or damaged, you may be undoing any good, you may be doing with the hones.

Though, I suspect your edge issues are either bevel setting, stropping related or both. Photos may help, magnification definitely will.

The edge as of now looks even and does not reflect light when looking down on the edge.

I was using the thumb pad test and arm hair chest while setting the bevel.

I do not own a decent magnification glass so I havent had the chance. Looking with my DSLR camera focused in at 10x, it looks pretty clean but could maybe be more polished?

Theese are the best photos I could get of them. Pretty high resolution so you should be able to magnify them a bit without loosing too much focus.

I would add that if you include where you are in your profile you may be able to arrange a meet-up with someone local who can show you the ropes for honing. The amount of knowledge that can be learned in an afternoon is equivalent to about six months of reading and asking questions. Either way works, but I highly recommend trying to meet up with a local mentor.

When enlarged the photos show a chipped edge with heavy deep stria on the bevel. It could be too much pressure at the low grits and not polishing out previous stria before moving on to the next stone or a dirty strop and or too much pressure when stropping.

Was that stropping material new?

The strop is way too rough for a razor also and will roll the edge if used with too much pressure.

I would re set the bevel to remove the chips and deep stria and get a proper, smooth, clean strop.
Honing without magnification is like driving with your eyes closed.

Originally Posted by MattCB

I would add that if you include where you are in your profile you may be able to arrange a meet-up with someone local who can show you the ropes for honing. The amount of knowledge that can be learned in an afternoon is equivalent to about six months of reading and asking questions. Either way works, but I highly recommend trying to meet up with a local mentor.

All done

Originally Posted by Euclid440

When enlarged the photos show a chipped edge with heavy deep stria on the bevel. It could be too much pressure at the low grits and not polishing out previous stria before moving on to the next stone or a dirty strop and or too much pressure when stropping.

Was that stropping material new?

The strop is way too rough for a razor also and will roll the edge if used with too much pressure.

I would re set the bevel to remove the chips and deep stria and get a proper, smooth, clean strop.
Honing without magnification is like driving with your eyes closed.

The strop was completely new when I bought, I have always regreted that I didnt put in the extra bucks for a real one.

So to sum it up, better polishing after 1k and new strop + being easier on the touch when stropping?

40x jewelers loupe is also on its way

Thank you all for being so helpfull

Sorry to have to say that, but I'm afraid you start the wrong way.

For a straight shaving beginner, starting with a razor of unknown condition that has a damaged edge and needs to have the bevel set before being made shave-ready is a daunting task.

How do you know what to look for, how to achieve it, and how to tell when you're there - both in straight razor shaving and in straight razor maintenance?

How can you tell when you have arrived at a shaving technique that will give you consistently good shaves?

You remind me of a man who wants to learn to drive a car and buys an odd assortment of spare parts together with an old clunker, trying to learn how to restore a car and learn to drive at the same time.

My advice is to reduce the number of variables by getting a truly shave-ready razor that was professionally honed, and get your shaving technique sorted out first, After learning how to shave and strop, the next step would be to maintain (note I did not say "restore") the edge on this razor and when you have come close to your final technique (maybe 100 shaves later) start thinking about putting an edge on razors that does not require too much work otherwise

What I am suggesting is an incremental approach; an approach where you master steps of increasing difficulty to ensure that on each step along the way you reward yourself with success.

The way you pointed yourself right now makes that extremely difficult to achieve
.

I came to straight shaving via years of DE shaving, have thus travelled that route myself, and would like you to succeed and stay with straight shaving.


B.

I really do see your point Beluga.

I would probably have bought a completely new straigt razor now if I had the money for it, and also I am sort off more interrested in learning to hone instead of shaving. I understand that it would be easier to have a nice knife to compare it with, but I dont mind trying and failing. The joy for me is more working with it.
I have been looking into getting it honed at a professional, sadly they are hard to come by in my country. Most of them dont even have the time.
I guess im sounding really stubborn here, and I guess I am. I will atleast take a better look at the knifes when I get my loupe and the new strop, if I see no progression I will have to look into a new razor.

I second everyone else's statement with learning to shave before honing. I actually fall in your category, more interested in the honing and restoring of a blade, but what damn good is it to do something that you have no experience of? Its not only like trying to rebuild a car while learning to drive, butt more like wanting to be a mechanic that can't drive. :rofl:
A good example: I carve flutes, and enjoy the hobby quite a bit. The flip side is that i had little interest in playing em when I started, let alone even knowing how to play em. You have no flipping clue how long it took before I managed to get my first flute to make a (maybe) noise, simply because i had no clue how to play one in the first place! I had to struggle with learning how to play on an instrument that wasnt even remotely capable of making a noise, just so that i can pursue the art of the craft. Moral of the story: I should've bought a darn flute first and learn it