razor sharpness. . .?

I'm wondering if my razor isn't sharp enough. I'm definitely taking off some beard, but in three passes with my straight I take off as much as about one pass with my DE shaves. It was slightly frustrating this morning, and I found myself going over some spots numerous times and then wound up with razor burn :td BOOOOO!!!!

I'm very new to straight razor shaving so I don't expect the shaves to be on par with my DE shaves, which I've been at for about a year, BUT. . . how do I know if my issue is an improperly honed razor (by Lynn Abrams - so not likely, but. . . ), my poor stropping skills, or bad technique. :thinking:

How would you compare your DE shaves with your straight shaves? Can you get the closeness with a straight that you do with a DE?

Thanks guys. . .

Was your razor honed by Thiers-Issard? Or did you send it to a honemeister?

In fact, I'll only be on my fifth shave this evening. But I'd be willing to bet it's one or both of those latter two options (bad stropping, and/or poor shaving technique). I know I was overzealous with stropping before my first shave and really dulled the edge. But I took it back to the hone for a few laps then went back to the strop very slowly and using almost no pressure. If you have a pasted strop, you probably won't need the hone to bring back the dulled edge. If you don't have that, then you might be able to bring it back with a bunch of perfect passes on the linen or canvas and a bunch on the leather.

As for shaving, remember to go slowly and if you're still learning, don't even try for those perfect shaves. Concentrate on the angle of your blade and using very little pressure. If your angle's wrong or you're using too much pressure, you'll end up going over the same spot too many times, and as I've found, that can really cause some irritation. I try to not go over the same spot more than twice with ATG or XTG, and if I leave some sandpaper, that's better than weeping blood, and there's aways tomorrow. So go slow and don't force it. That sticky-smooth all over shave will come in time. I take it since you're used to DE that your prep is good, but I've found it's even more important here. If you don't have a pre-shave oil, olive oil or really any vegetable oil will work. It does leave a slight greasy feeling, but I noticed a difference in the smoothness of my ATG pass, and it really helped knock down the irritation factor.

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Originally Posted by drumana

I'm wondering if my razor isn't sharp enough. I'm definitely taking off some beard, but in three passes with my straight I take off as much as about one pass with my DE shaves. It was slightly frustrating this morning, and I found myself going over some spots numerous times and then wound up with razor burn :td BOOOOO!!!!

I'm very new to straight razor shaving so I don't expect the shaves to be on par with my DE shaves, which I've been at for about a year, BUT. . . how do I know if my issue is an improperly honed razor (by Lynn Abrams - so not likely, but. . . ), my poor stropping skills, or bad technique. :thinking:

Experience and experimentation...It can take a while, but its fun:D Is it "pulling"?

How would you compare your DE shaves with your straight shaves? Can you get the closeness with a straight that you do with a DE?

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Absolutely!

Jordan

The razor was honed by Lynn Abrams, I think, since it was purchased and had the razor sharpening service from classicshaving.com. . .

FWIW, my first shave straight out of the box I didn't strop the razor at all (I didn't have the strop yet) and got similar results. But, I do think that my stropping skills are pretty poor. I have the Tony Miller 'starter/travel' strop and will be purchasing a 4 sided paddle strop when he gets some more in week or so. . .

I was using some pressure today, experimenting a bit, because it didn't seem like the razor wanted to cut my whiskers, but I think I've learned my lesson there. That doesn't work.:nono:

OK then, I'll concentrate more on stropping for a while. . . thanks for the feedback, gents!

One thing I've read, and tried myself with some success, is that when you feel it pulling, lower the angle and use less pressure. I'm wondering when you're feeling the pulling, is it just with certain passes or does it pull when you go WTG too? If it's always pulling, then either your angle is way too steep, or that razor's dull. The proper angle will almost always be less than 30 degrees. I lay the razor flat on my face, then lift the spine 1.5 to 2 times its own thickness off my face, so it's a really rather shallow angle. I only get any pulling on ATG passes. Remember to keep that strop as taut as possible, keep the razor flat, rotate on the spine, and use very little pressure. Slow and right is better than fast and dull.

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Originally Posted by drumana

I'm very new to straight razor shaving so I don't expect the shaves to be on par with my DE shaves, which I've been at for about a year, BUT. . . how do I know if my issue is an improperly honed razor (by Lynn Abrams - so not likely, but. . . ), my poor stropping skills, or bad technique. :thinking:

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Sorry...I misunderstood. Don't think honing is the problem ;)

+1 to what the other guys said.

It's normal to take a few passes to get where you want to be. This might be a helpful reference point.

X

The face always takes a couple days to adjust when first starting out. I always tell folks to start with just the sideburn to jaw downward pass for a few days to get used to the razor and shaving angle. The shaving angle normally is around 30 degrees or less. Then you build to the other areas of your face as you acquire more skill. Stropping should be slow and keep the razor flat on the strop with little to no additional pressure. Most folks have trouble when starting out and trying to shave the whole face at one time without much practice and then when stopping like they do in the movies.

Not to worry though as you can always send it back to me for a touch up on me, even if you mess it up.

Have fun,

Lynn

Thanks guys for all the input. . . and thank you Lynn for the kind offer! Let me adjust my stropping and shaving technique accordingly and see how that goes. Also, I'm going to get a 4 sided paddle strop from Tony Miller and see if that helps out my situation. . .

Today I laid my strop flat on my kitchen counter so I know there was no bend or twist in it and proceeded to strop my razor painfully slow. . . probably around 60 or 70 passes. I noticed that 'suction' effect that I've heard about.

I did one pass with the grain, sans the lower neck, and noticed a difference in the sharpness of the edge. I also lessened my razor angle and I think that helped too. Cleaned up the shave with my Slant/Feather. . .

Stropping is definately the key (EDIT: Or is it Keeeing...oops, bad pun... :) ). Even if a razor has been honed by an expert, if the subsequent stropping is not up to par, there is a good chance the shave will suffer.

Honing is something that is usually done on an infrequent basis, maybe once every 2 - 6 months or longer. You can easily get by without knowing how to hone. Just send your razor off to someone when needed. Stropping, on the other hand, is something that is generally performed before each shave and it's totally impractical to have someone else do that for you.

Stropping is by itself a fine art. Take your time to learn it well (practice...) and your straight razor will come to life.


Scott