Thread: Any Advice will be gratefully received

Originally Posted by BobH

Draw on a strop refers to the resistance you feel while stropping. Some strops have virtually no draw while other do. The amount of draw is a personal preference and does not effect how well the strop does it's job.

Bob

Thanks, Bob. What he said, Steve.

I personally like a heavy draw with a wedge type razor, and a lighter draw on full and extra full, ground razors.

Its just a preference, that I like. YMMV.

Hi guys,

A while ago, I was advised to gently run a cotton swab along my blade to feel for, well I am not sure - anything I suppose.

I just did it before my shave and it catches. It didn't do it the last time I checked.

I can't see any problems by looking at the blade and it shaves fine.

Should be bothered?

What can I do to fix it, I have loads of shaving tools, I'll list them below:

1) stropping board.
2) shaving brush.
3)Two different shaving soaps.
4)Scuttle.

Do I even need to fix it if it shaves ok?

Steve

Originally Posted by STF

Hi guys,

A while ago, I was advised to gently run a cotton swab along my blade to feel for, well I am not sure - anything I suppose.

I just did it before my shave and it catches. It didn't do it the last time I checked.

I can't see any problems by looking at the blade and it shaves fine.

Should be bothered?

What can I do to fix it, I have loads of shaving tools, I'll list them below:

1) stropping board.
2) shaving brush.
3)Two different shaving soaps.
4)Scuttle.

Do I even need to fix it if it shaves ok?

Steve

If it shaves 'OK' don't do anything. Just keep stropping well before you shave.

If I'm not mistaken you have some razors coming from Outback. Once the land and you try them you might consider asking the sender to allow you to send the yours back for him to evaluate and if needed rehone yours.

Just a thought--

NOTE: I was helping a member and I'd honed his razor and sent it back N/C he said it shaved great but then started to pull. So I had him mail it back and the edge looked great. So I stropped the hell out of it just like I'd just honed it (50 to 60 on cloth followed by 100-200 on leather) and it shaved great.

Once he got the razor back and found out what I'd done he figured out that he was so concerned about turning the edge with too much pressure that the only the spine was making contact with the strop--thus the edge never got touched up.

Hi Cudarunner,

You’re right, Outback has been amazingly generous and has 3 razors in the mail to me.

I can send my razor back to Phil at Classic Edge for a re-honing. My razor came with a ticket for a free re-honing but if I don’t need to worry too much yet I might save it for when it really needs it.

I ‘be only used it 14 times so I doubt I could have messed it up already, I hope.

I have a new hanging strop on order so I am thinking of using my stropping board with paste to freshen my razor up occasionally.

Sounds good in theory anyway.

Steve

Originally Posted by STF

Hi Cudarunner,

You’re right, Outback has been amazingly generous and has 3 razors in the mail to me.

I can send my razor back to Phil at Classic Edge for a re-honing. My razor came with a ticket for a free re-honing but if I don’t need to worry too much yet I might save it for when it really needs it.

I ‘be only used it 14 times so I doubt I could have messed it up already, I hope.

I have a new hanging strop on order so I am thinking of using my stropping board with paste to freshen my razor up occasionally.

Sounds good in theory anyway.

Steve

UNTIL YOU SEMI MASTER SHAVING I'd forget about any pasted strop. Damage to an edge can happen on just cloth and or leather. Pastes can multiply the damage many times over.

Again my counsel is to SLOW DOWN:

This age old art takes time and most importantly 'Patience' to learn and without patience you will fail and I for one don't want to see that happen!

I agree with Roy. Get,100 or more shaves under your belt before getting fancy

Point well made guys.

I was just hoping to be able to refresh my blades but I will wait until I get more experience.

Thank you for your advice.

Steve