Thread: First Straight Razor

alrighty boyz .. I got my first razor in the mail last week. I tried shaving with it (said shave ready) ..kinda felt sharp-ish .. but I stropped it before the first shave. The razor seemed rough ... It didn't cut me bad or anything I was going slow steady on one side and notice it wouldn't glide smooth. It felt like I was scrapping it off instead of a smooth cut. I am thinking I need to get the razor honed. I live in Edmonton (alberta), does anyone know of honing places here? or a good guide on honing yourself?

Thanks for the responses!

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What brand of razor is it?

awesome, I will check.

Its a Thiers-Issard La Legende 1884 (replica) and used a leather strop.

Did you purchase the razor from one of the good dealers that do hone a razor before sending it out? Did they say it was shave ready from the factory/maker? Big differences. A razor from a competent dealer that states shave ready by their hand is a razor that should be shaved with BEFORE it's first stropping by you. If you are newish to stropping most likely you rolled and dulled the edge. If it was stated factory honed your stropping did little to affect it's lack of edge.

At any rate, under local help in the library is a list, by country, of help available. As far as honing yourself, even if you know how to hone a knife there is no comparison. Apples and oranges. PM RezDog and ask him if he knows anyone in your area that can hone a razor for you.

its one of these. pre-sharpened by thiers. for stropping I youtubed it .. but yea you may be right .. the newish chops may have weakened the edge.

Thiers Issard Limited Edition La Legende No. 3 Collector's Straight Razor 6/8" | Shaving

Stropping seems simple, but it has the most impact on an edge +/-. Practice stropping on some kind of smooth, dull razor shaped object for awhile to build some muscle memory

Originally Posted by newsr

its one of these. pre-sharpened by thiers. for stropping I youtubed it .. but yea you may be right .. the newish chops may have weakened the edge.

Thiers Issard Limited Edition La Legende No. 3 Collector's Straight Razor 6/8" | Shaving

Nice, good idea. I am hoping to connect with a local straight razor jedi and may be secure some 1-1 time.

After I nicked my brand new strop almost the first day, I put the razor away and practiced with a butter knife until I got the "lift the edge and flip" motion down a lot better. I haven't put slice in the leather or rolled an edge since my first month and I think the practice really helped.

Originally Posted by newsr

Nice, good idea. I am hoping to connect with a local straight razor jedi and may be secure some 1-1 time.

Nice. yea I was trying not to go barber-stealth with the stropping, still wasn't smooth with motions. So, yea, I think playing with butter knife would be a good idea.

The main thing is to lift the edge just before the turn and to lower the edge after it's going in the new direction without ever lifting the spine. It sounds easy, but until you get that down, there is always potential to mess up the edge or the strop regardless of speed. Speed of stropping is an individual thing, I go very fast others like to keep it slow, it all works.

Originally Posted by newsr

Nice. yea I was trying not to go barber-stealth with the stropping, still wasn't smooth with motions. So, yea, I think playing with butter knife would be a good idea.