Thread: New member, another bad start...

Originally Posted by konofan

Hello all, ....

The razor seems to shave ok when one side is against my face and hardly at all when turned around the other way. Any advice on how to correct this?
....

At it's best, when testing on leg hair, the good side causes the hairs to pretty much pop off right at the skin. Bad side doesn't cut at all, except oddly enough, at an angle greater than 30 degrees when it pretty much rips the hair out.
...
Any advice on how to proceed would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

I'm having trouble divining the good and bad side of the razor... you are using the thin sharp edge both ways right? do you have any pictures of the razor in question?

Gentlemen,
Thank you all for your input. I really appreciate it. And thank you SixGun for your generous offer.

I will need to re-read all the posts and digest things. But, for now, I better clear up a few points.

1) I do not have the 4k stone with me, only the 8k.

2) The strop I have is the paddle type, so maintaining tautness is not an issue. (I don't think.) In other words, it's mounted on a wood backing.

3) The 60 and 100 grit sandpaper was used for leveling the stone. Silicon carbide floor paper for sanding marble and granite. I figured a stone's a stone's, thought it was appropriate. I worked on it for quite some time, certainly more than couple of hundred strokes and was still unable to achieve a flat cross sectional area.

4) I'm currently in the Philippines, will be in Indonesia by the end of the week. Finding a barber who uses a straight razor is very easy. I get a great shave down the road, hot towels, full treatment, etc for about $1.50. Deeper in the provinces I can get the same thing for less than buck. No, folks, these are not typos, ha, ha, ha. Shave, haircut with straight razor touch up of the hairline and neck and shoulder massage all in air-conditioned comfort for about $3 including tip. Anyway, I digress. The thing is, most of the barbers in this part of the world use the disposable blade type of straight razor.

5) With regards to SixGun's offer, very generous and thanks again. Problem is, I do move around quite a lot. The only way to assure I'd get it back quickly and safely would be to Fedex it back and forth, the cost of which would likely be close to what I paid for the razor.

6) Ok, difficult to describe but here's the cutting situation. One side has the TI logo in the hollowed portion of the blade. When that side is against my skin, the razor cuts ok. When the other side is against my skin, it cuts hardly at all.

Thanks all for the warm welcome and advice. I'm far from being discouraged and still remain committed to mastering straight razor use and maintenance. Hopefully, the idea of using this ultra-modern medium to put heads together and solve problems associated with a centuries-old tradition will be interesting for all of us. I'm really getting a kick out of it.

Hope that clears things up a little. If any more info is needed, please let me know. I only get online once or twice a day and not for very long. It's all a lesson in patience for me. As I understand it, that's a good thing to develop.

ah, i see now so perhaps it is just the angles you are using and well as a slightly dulled razor. when you hone you very lightly stroke it with the edge leading then turn the razor over on the spine and then repeat with e the other side so that the sides and directions althernate? then you strop with the spine leading but rolling the blade on the spine at the end of each stroke... making sure to provide each side with equal passes?

Hello again.

I followed AFDavis11's instructions. Seem to be making some progress. Also, while browsing the honing forum I discovered that the other side of my yellow coticule may in fact be a blue sharpening stone. I ordered a set and got a separate blue stone too, so I had assumed that the back of my yellow was just backing. It seems to be fused though, not artificially attached.

If I do in fact have a coarser stone available on the back side, would you recommend doing anything differently?

Thanks all, for your time and advice.

Forgot to mention I've contacted the distributor to confirm what the backing of the coticule is. Hope to hear back. Really didn't get a lot of information from them. I guess most of their customers are familiar with these things already.

If it is fused, instead of glued, you have a natural combo, and the blue side would be a Belgian Blue Whetstone. It is slightly coarser than the yellow, but also A LOT slower. A yellow with slurry will still cut faster than a blue with slurry. People will disagree, but it is my strong opinion, that the blue is not much more than a cheaper alternative for those cases where buying a yellow is not all that cost-effective (like the final polish on a wood chisel). Since you already have a yellow, that blue won't do much for you. Don't make the mistake I made, when I was new to this: I saw the Blue as the 4000 side of a Norton and the Yellow as the 8000 side of a Norton. I translated everything I read about honing on a Norton to my Blue/Yellow combination stone, and was lost for a long time. A coticule is an entirely different beast than a Norton.

The fact that you can't get that stone flat, might be because it is rounded, and you might be rocking it while lapping. You could correct this with lapping the hump away on a smaller peace of sanding paper, before you move to the normal lapping routine again.

Here's my advice for your razor:
Look at the bevel. Are both sides approximately of equal width? If not, get a thick slurry on that coticule and hone, with circular motions and a bit of pressure on the side that is smaller. Check very often. A coticule cuts fast when used in this fashion.
When both bevel sides are even, start doing normal strokes. Least possible pressure, always turn the razor over the spine. Every 10 back and forth strokes, drag the razor, without pressure, in a cutting motion over your moistened thumbnail. It should sink just a bit into the nail (leaving a scratch), which causes some dragging resistance while doing this. You'll notice the difference as soon as you get there. (This is called the Thumbnail Test, abbreviated TNT)

Now, get rid of the slurry, wipe of your razor, get some clean water on that same coticule, and do 50 very light, even laps (preferably X-strokes, you might want to look that up on the forum).
Next, strop the razor about 60 laps on a leather strop. (Taut strop, just enough pressure to feel some drag from the razor on the strop)
Now it's time to shave and find out if you did well.

Kind Regards,

Bart.

Originally Posted by dave5225

Sounds like your razor has a wire edge , and the edge has been rolled . I would give it 6 passes on the coticule , strop and shave . If it still shaves the same way it was , give it 6 more . If that doesn't work , go back to the 4k .

Great Advice!