Thread: Blade pulling....

hello I just completed my first straight shave and while it was better than I expected and I did not cut myself at all I definitaly felt the blade was pulling ie not cutting smootly. The razor is a dovo mop 5/8 that I just had honed by Chris Ellison. Is this just due to my new technique or do you think the blade could not be sharp enough?


Thank you

That is a good question and I'm not that familiar with Chris. I find that most blades need a few shaves to get smooth. The shaving and the compounded stroping over 3-4 shaves helps things smooth out a bit. Technique is important too ofcourse.

I'd give it another 2-3 goes. Instead of sending it back buy something for razor upkeep and hone it a little with that. See how it goes. If all that fails, ask if you can send it back.

If he won't fix it you can send it to me. I'm low on pro bono work at the moment.

Thanks for the response Alan,

I do not think there is a defect in the blade and from what I hear Chris is quite good at honing (Tony Miller recommended him). I do have a pasted strop and a traditional strop to use in the meantime, but I am going to hold off on the pasted until I use the razor more. My initial stropping today was not perfect and that could have been a problem in addition to my blade angle. I guess all I can do at this point is shave more with it and work on my stropping as I understand that helps with smoothness.

-Pete

Oh, EL. Yea, I think that is the best plan. You can probably send the blade back if you eventually feel the need. It takes practice to get things going well.

I think I my make a sticky out of this some time.

Usually when a honemeister hones up a razor and tests it, it is ready to go. New guys generally have the most problem with pulling and scraping because of technique. I understand how anxious they are and how the expectation of the perfect shave is a real driver, but we really need to stress that for the first few shaves a person should just shave from the sideburn to the jaw until they get used to the cutting angle and the feel of the razor. Then progressively move over to the cheek, the other side of the face, the neck and eventually across the grain. Yes sometimes poor stropping can be the problem and yes even sometimes a razor may need to be rehoned. I have rehoned them even when they shaved fine for me when testing and that is never a problem from any honemeister that I know of. The most important thing is to get the new person to success in shaving with a straight razor.

I have to watch myself sometimes when shaving still as I have a real tendency to flatten out the angle of the blade on the chin and jaw and even cross grain which will defintely cause a razor to pull and scratch.

It also takes the face a few days to get used to a straight razor as well. Proper preparation can't be overlooked either.

Take your time, stick with it and after a few tries at flattening out the angle a little, contact whoever honed the razor and I'm sure you won't have a problem getting it touched up if needed.

Have fun,

Lynn

Originally Posted by Lynn

I think I my make a sticky out of this some time.

Usually when a honemeister hones up a razor and tests it, it is ready to go. New guys generally have the most problem with pulling and scraping because of technique. I understand how anxious they are and how the expectation of the perfect shave is a real driver, but we really need to stress that for the first few shaves a person should just shave from the sideburn to the jaw until they get used to the cutting angle and the feel of the razor. Lynn

Yup, Lynn rehoned one of mine for the exact same reason. The first time I shaved with my brand new Lynn honed beauty, I thought, if this is what its about, I've had enough. Then I briefly thought, the old man must be crazy... But after months of trial and error I finally had a good shave and realized that my previous poor experiences were 100% MY FAULT.

Probably, nearly everybody gets Lynns video watches it a few (hundred) times and then starts stropping. They swear they are doing it EXACTLY like Lynn did on the video and its just not working, so it must be the razor, since obviously, they have eliminated ALL the other variables. The problem is, at that point, you dont even know what the variables are, let alone know how to recognize and correct them. You cant make a decent determination on how hard, or more accurately how lightly lynn is pressing that razor to his face, you cant see the true angle of the blade and you certainly cant see the fine nuances that he does to make his shaves comfortable for his face. The other thing is that Lynn did not really do a throrough prep, he did a sufficient one, but I think that a lot of guys see that and think that, thats all they need to do to get that perfect shave. Even though Lynn says he normally shaves out of the shower... There is just too many variables involved, but its just our nature to blame anything, ANYTHING but ourselves...

The same thing happend to me on my first shave but I had my third today and it was considerably better with much less pulling. Theres hope out there yet.

Originally Posted by Shaun

Yup, Lynn rehoned one of mine for the exact same reason. The first time I shaved with my brand new Lynn honed beauty, I thought, if this is what its about, I've had enough. Then I briefly thought, the old man must be crazy... But after months of trial and error I finally had a good shave and realized that my previous poor experiences were 100% MY FAULT.

Probably, nearly everybody gets Lynns video watches it a few (hundred) times and then starts stropping. They swear they are doing it EXACTLY like Lynn did on the video and its just not working, so it must be the razor, since obviously, they have eliminated ALL the other variables. The problem is, at that point, you dont even know what the variables are, let alone know how to recognize and correct them. You cant make a decent determination on how hard, or more accurately how lightly lynn is pressing that razor to his face, you cant see the true angle of the blade and you certainly cant see the fine nuances that he does to make his shaves comfortable for his face. The other thing is that Lynn did not really do a throrough prep, he did a sufficient one, but I think that a lot of guys see that and think that, thats all they need to do to get that perfect shave. Even though Lynn says he normally shaves out of the shower... There is just too many variables involved, but its just our nature to blame anything, ANYTHING but ourselves...

Lynn,
If you do make a sticky along these lines, I nominate Shaun's post to be a part of it. I think he summed it up perfectly.

Originally Posted by Utopian

Lynn,
If you do make a sticky along these lines, I nominate Shaun's post to be a part of it. I think he summed it up perfectly.

I will second that motion . All in favor .....

Thanks for the advice guys... You really prove how valuable of a resource this place is.


I hope I do not need the blade to be re-honed but I am pretty sure it is me that needs the work... Your tips make perfect sense and since I shaved, I have been thinking about all the corrections I will try out tomarrow.

Thanks again
Pete