Thread: Difference in shave from a brand new razor from the store and a rehoned razor.

If you guys saw my other thread, you would know that I chipped my brand new razor on the faucet after shaving. After posting about it here, a member contacted me right away to help me fix the chip be rehoning the blade. We went from a 1k stone to a 4k, then 8k, then 20k, and finished it on a cloth strop that was 60k on one side, and either 80k or 100k on the other. I can't remember which was the final number. At this point the blade was pretty damn smooth.

Yesterday I had my first shave with it since it got rehoned so since I had the experience fresh in my memory, I thought I'd post it here to talk about the difference. When I first bought the blade, it was already pretty sharp. I did the hanging hair test and it popped those hairs in half pretty effortlessly. After getting it rehoned, it did pretty much the same thing. That test didn't feel any different in that department. But after the shave, there was a considerable amount of difference in the irritation. I guess I have pretty sensitive skin. When I first got the blade, after I finished shaving there would be some slight irritation. I needed the moisturizing aftershave to relieve that irritation.

With the rehoned blade, it really didn't feel like I needed aftershave at all for the irritation. The quality of the shave was pretty astonishing. I noticed some left over stubble that I missed after I was done. At this point I was really curious how smooth this edge was, so I decided to try to clean up the stubble dry going against the grain. I've done this before the rehone and it really burned like hell. It usually felt like my skin was on fire. With the rehoned blade, I just felt a slight itch after. The irritation was so little, I didn't even bother to put any moisturizer on it.

It sucks that I chipped my blade only 3 weeks after buying it, but it was kind of a blessing in disguise. If not I would have never found out that this same blade could preform this way. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I really have to thank Euclid440 again for the help. He spent about 3 hours of his time rehoning my blade and talking about all things straight razor related. Different blade types, shaving products, stropping techniques, broke down his honing method and techniques. Hopefully in time I could attain half his experience and somehow contribute to the community.

Here is a picture of the shave. I think this is pretty much as close as I can get.

Glad to hear it!

Once you truly experience a, "shave ready" razor, that's been honed exceptionally well, a lot of things click and connect with this hobby, enjoy!

Marty is a great guy. If you work on your technique I suspect all your irritation will go away. Angle and pressure are usually the culprits. We always say it will get better as you learn. You have found that out. May the rest of your learning curve be short :<0)

Yup he sure is a stand up guy. Glad your razor is in tip top shape now.
Enjoy, and welcome from another SoCal member.

Shane

That's awesome and a great story. Good info as well!