Thread: Ruined my blade?

After shaving with my new blade for 3 times I descided to strop it slightly.

But now it seems like it's gotten extremely dull.
I followed all instructions from the site, Didn't aply pressure, ket the strop tight, took 15 passes and tried shaving my arm.

Nothing came off!

WHat did I do wrong and how can I fix this?

Hard to say what might have happened. If you did somehow roll the edge, it wouldn't hurt to try so more stropping. I would do 20 passes on the linen and 50 on the leather and really concentrate on good technique (rather than speed for instance). Keep the strop taught again and make sure that the spine of your razor is in contact at all times. Good Luck!

-rob

I have no linnen side on the strop, it's just a simple leather strop. Or is the backside the linnen then?

HMMM. You might just try the 50 leather passes. Again, I think it will be hard to dull an already dull blade if that is the case. Just take it slow and watch your technique closely. Listen for a consistent sound. You can sometimes judge if you are changing your stroke on accident if the sound changes. This isn't true all the time so as always YMMV.

Keep us posted.

-Rob

Originally Posted by Basch

I have no linnen side on the strop, it's just a simple leather strop. Or is the backside the linnen then?

No, the backside is not the linen, the linen is a separated part from the leather. Some strops have both assembled together and others don't.

Maybe you rolled the edge of the razor by lifting the spine while stropping.
Strop slowly and be consistent.

If your blade still remains dull, then perhaps it needs a touch up in a hone, send it to one of the many honemeisters here to bring it back to life.

I'll go and spend my evening stropping then

If it doesn't work I might also look into a different strop.
I have an ubercheap Monarch strop that's actually a but to short and narrow :S

Also, if you strop, at the end of a lap you have to make sure that the spine stays in contact with the leather, and then flip the blade when you go the other way.
You don't want to strop like in the movies, because then you will drap the edge across the leather. This is the surest way to make a sharp blade very dull.

The spine stays against the leather at all times.
And when you are done stropping, you lift the edge from the leather before lifting the spine, so that you don't roll th edge.

You shaved with it 3 times before you stropped it?

if I don't strap my razor before each shave, it begins to tug at my hair before I finish my first pass
I would try Rob's suggestion and strap it at least 50 times. And I'd just keep strapping until my razor was sharp enough to shave with. You might check the edge too and make sure it's clean without rust, keep that razor dry!

Hehe! When I read your first post, for some reason I read "After three shaves I decided to drop it slightly." Must be way too early in the morning....

I think everyone's given you excellent advice already. I'd only add that it may be beneficial for you to track down HonedRight's (Scott's) stropping video and watch it a couple of times, just to get a clear picture of what it's about.

Good luck!

James.