Hey, all. I have about 14 straight shaves under my belt at this point and I am not making any progress on the comfort of the shave. From the beginning, I have been able to get very close shaves with no nicks or cuts...as I detailed in an earlier thread, I attribute that to my experience with a DE razor. But shaving with a straight still feels like I am s-c-r-a-p-i-n-g the hair off of my face instead of slicing cleanly. The shave is close, even BBS for the most part, but the blade feels very grabby.

I am using a Kropp blade (one made and ground in Sheffield), and I have had it honed by a honemeister about 12 shaves ago. I have read and reread FAQs, how-tos, and threads, and I think my issue may be one of three things:


  1. Stropping technique. I am using a TM apprentice strop and I have been working very hard to develop a good technique, but as my shaves don't seem to improve it's hard to know if I am getting better at stropping or not. I use very light pressure, I keep my hand still, I turn the blade on the spine...I have tried 30 laps, 50 laps, even 100 laps, nothing seems to make the shave more comfortable.
  2. Blade needs a touch-up on a hone. As I said, I just had the blade honed by a pro, but it is certainly possible that I screwed up the edge with bad stropping between then and now. I don't own a hone yet, but I was thinking about picking up a chinese waterstone and trying to touch up the blade a bit, since stropping alone doesn't seem to be doing the trick.
  3. Bad blade. Kropp blades are generally well regarded here, but I suppose it's possible that I just got a blade that won't hold an edge very well. I don't consider this very likely, but it's a possibility.

So, to sum up...I've got a grabby blade that I can't seem to get super-sharp, despite recently having it professionally honed. I still get very close shaves from the blade, but I feel a lot of tugging and pulling and I end up with razor burn in spots, which I never got from a DE. Any thoughts as to what I could have done to the edge to dull it, and more importantly, how to get it back? Can a blade be stropped to sharpness with enough laps?