Thread: Sensitivity issues

Euclid:
I bought it through Vintage Straight Razor, part of what they call "The Shaving Network", and it does come with a free honing. I will probably send it to them once I have a magnifier to check with. After I got it honed at a shop locally, it did shave better, but not great. The edge degraded swiftly after that, and I don't have the skills to keep it keen yet.

Splashone:
The local shop did make it better than it was before; they specialize in clippers and barber scissors, and will sharpen about anything else. For five bucks, I figured it was worth it to see if it would be any better.

BobH:
The seller did say it was "shave ready", but they sell mostly Gold Dollar and a few other low cost brands. One of the retailers in the "Network" is The Blades Grimm, who I understand doesn't have the best reputation. However, I understand that Tim Zowada is doing some consulting with them or Gold Dollar to improve things, so maybe it will get better?

Originally Posted by tseppish

Euclid:
I bought it through Vintage Straight Razor, part of what they call "The Shaving Network", and it does come with a free honing. I will probably send it to them once I have a magnifier to check with. After I got it honed at a shop locally, it did shave better, but not great. The edge degraded swiftly after that, and I don't have the skills to keep it keen yet.

Splashone:
The local shop did make it better than it was before; they specialize in clippers and barber scissors, and will sharpen about anything else. For five bucks, I figured it was worth it to see if it would be any better.

BobH:
The seller did say it was "shave ready", but they sell mostly Gold Dollar and a few other low cost brands. One of the retailers in the "Network" is The Blades Grimm, who I understand doesn't have the best reputation. However, I understand that Tim Zowada is doing some consulting with them or Gold Dollar to improve things, so maybe it will get better?

OK, I was under the wrong assumption and you know what they say about making assumptions. So, if it was sold as "shave ready" either it wasn't or as a beginner you damaged the edge with poor stropping or shaving technique. The later is not unusual at all, did that quite a bit in the beginning also. If the seller will re-hone it for you I would get that done. When you get it back "shave ready" don't strop it, just use it to see what the edge feels like. That would eliminate bad stropping as a cause of edge damage.

I would still say not to use a shop that will sharpen anything. Honing a straight razor is a pretty specialized skill.

Bob

They were recommended by the local AOS store; not sure how much weight that carries since this particular store does not sell straights.
Your assumptions may be different from mine; my wife says I only make an ass out of U and Umption. Still not sure who Umption is, or how much I need to apologize to him!
I am planning on installing a simple ring onto the side of my counter to help get a proper angle while I work on stropping correctly. At least now I have a cheap practice razor that should be good for testing in between sessions. What would be a good test of the quality of a proper strop or hone, without risking my rakish good looks?

Just smooth leather or fine weave nylon.

Yea, their site says it was honed “Professionally” so it probably was.

I’m not familiar with them so cannot comment on their quality, but it is not uncommon for a novice to use too much pressure and roll or break the edge.

Use lite pressure when stropping, the goal is to polish the bevel and edge.

In general, you cannot trust the knowledge of someone at AOS and the ONLY way you can trust a sharpening shop to hone a straight razor is to ask them two questions:

1. Does the sharpener use a straight razor?
2. Will the sharpener be using any motorized device to sharpen the razor?

Unless the answer is yes to the first and no to the second, you need to leave immediately. Optionally, you can slap them and tell them to never, ever touch another straight razor.

I will remember that. I learned a similar rule for good coffee.

Originally Posted by Euclid440

Yea, their site says it was honed “Professionally” so it probably was.

I’m not familiar with them so cannot comment on their quality, but it is not uncommon for a novice to use too much pressure and roll or break the edge.

Use lite pressure when stropping, the goal is to polish the bevel and edge.

Well, I can offer "professional" brain surgery but it doesn't mean I'm qualified. I'm not commenting on the vendor, just the term. It is popping up more and more and becoming as meaningless as shave ready when used by pretenders. This is what happens when beginners join here, ask questions, spew back plagiarized answers to seem competent, and within 3-6 months claim years and thousands of razors' worth of experience.

Utopian's suggestion of going to a shave meetup is an excellent one. We have them on occaison with a few members here in Vancouver BC, Canada and I can honestly tell you that that is where I learned the most about honing.

If I remember correctly, Utopian was up in our part of the province last year and one of our local guys here, Carlos (Cobre on the forum) met him downtown Vancouver at the hotel he was staying at and got some nice insight into honing techniques. If I am thinking of the right gentleman, apparently this Utopian fellow really knows how to hone! I wish I would have been able to make it downtown that day myself.

Gold Dollars can shave as well as any razor if honed and prepared properly by someone that knows what they are doing. I purchased mine off someone that specializes on selling them over at the Badger and Blade forum, Bill (known as Buca3152.) Based on my own first hand experience, I can tell you Bill knows what he is doing with those razors and fixes them up properly before he sells them. The edge as I got it from him was peerless.

I'm not convinced that the Gold Dollars do in fact hold an edge as long as some the vintage makes but there are some very experienced members on B&B who I know and trust that have used their Gold Dollars for quite a few months and they swear that the edge is still holding up just fine. I got mine when I was fairly new to the straight game so I suspect it was my own maintenance of the blade that ruined the original edge. I have since rehoned it and shaved with it a few times in my rotation and the edge is holding up quite nicely for now.