Thread: Need help

All of the razors are potentially fine depending on condition. Go to the basic honing forum and read the stickys. Same with the stropping forum. There are videos by Lynn and Heavydutysquare that will show you the basics of honing and stropping. There is a learning curve to shaving with straights and especially ot getting them shave ready but it is well worth the time and energy. Welcome to SRP !

Welcome tor SRP, great to have you aboard the straight train.....
There are tons of threads in the Honing Forum to help you on your way, also for restoration and honing services, you should click on the Classifieds, there are several of us that keep ads going in there...
My suggestion and many others will tell ya the same, is to get at least one of your razors honed by a "Honemiester" at least to have a benchmark to strive for....
If however, you have a steady hand, and have worked with metals and polishing them into edges before, there is no reason why you can't learn to do it yerself, I will say, that honing a razor, and sharpening knives, tools, etc: are two different animals though.....
The steep learning curve is better than half the fun though IMHO

Welcome to SRP! Enjoy the site (and the resultant shaves!)

If your hanging strop has leather and fabric components, the fabric (be it linen or whatever) is rougher to more aggressively "set" the edge. The leather (smoother) side is for finishing the setting and making sure the edge is nice and smooth. You don't need as many passes on the fabric, say perhaps 20 fabric and 30 leather.

With respect to your paddle strop, the green side has probably been treated with an abrasive paste (such as chromium oxide). You can strop on this every few shaves (or whenever the quality of the shave seems to be waning) to "refresh" the sharpness of the blade and go a bit longer between honing. The red side could be a plain leather, or it could be treated with an abrasive paste as well (such as jeweler's rouge). Check to see if the red is consistent across, or if it looks like a red substance has been rubbed into it.

Other questions have already been answered to I will tackle the uneven hone. You need to lap (flatten) it. If you do a search for lapping, you will find plenty of info. You can start with this one.
Good luck getting it all figured out.

Originally Posted by Utopian

Other questions have already been answered to I will tackle the uneven hone. You need to lap (flatten) it. If you do a search for lapping, you will find plenty of info. You can start with this one.
Good luck getting it all figured out.

Utopian:

Thanks for the nice welcome and the info on flattening my hone. If time permits I will go to Home Depot to get the sandpaper and the tile. Thanks again.

Originally Posted by foundlingofdollar

If your hanging strop has leather and fabric components, the fabric (be it linen or whatever) is rougher to more aggressively "set" the edge. The leather (smoother) side is for finishing the setting and making sure the edge is nice and smooth. You don't need as many passes on the fabric, say perhaps 20 fabric and 30 leather.

With respect to your paddle strop, the green side has probably been treated with an abrasive paste (such as chromium oxide). You can strop on this every few shaves (or whenever the quality of the shave seems to be waning) to "refresh" the sharpness of the blade and go a bit longer between honing. The red side could be a plain leather, or it could be treated with an abrasive paste as well (such as jeweler's rouge). Check to see if the red is consistent across, or if it looks like a red substance has been rubbed into it.

Foundlingofdollaar:
Your welcome made me feel good, thanks. Your information on my strops was very helpful. I have already started using the info. I take it that I am to use the green side on the paddle first then the red side and the same thing on the hanging strop using the linnen side first then the leather. Is there suppose to be something on the linnen, if so I have never put anything on it nor do I have anything to put on it. Await your reply. Again thanks. P.S. I did a little running around Austin when I was stationed at Fort Hood.

If that other side of the paddle is leather without paste, or other stuff on it, you would use green side, linen side, leather. If you have any kind of edge on those razors you were talking about, I bet you could get them nice and sharp. Of course, I suppose it depends on what kind of time and interest in that sort of thing you have on your hands. Sounds like you have a pretty good set up for keeping your razors sharp going though. Maybe get one of the honemeisters to start you out right, then practice with your paddle and strop.

Originally Posted by Ditch Doc

If that other side of the paddle is leather without paste, or other stuff on it, you would use green side, linen side, leather. If you have any kind of edge on those razors you were talking about, I bet you could get them nice and sharp. Of course, I suppose it depends on what kind of time and interest in that sort of thing you have on your hands. Sounds like you have a pretty good set up for keeping your razors sharp going though. Maybe get one of the honemeisters to start you out right, then practice with your paddle and strop.

Ditch Doc;

Thanks for the help. I do use strop dressing on the leather side, or am I suppose to leave it dry?

Originally Posted by Robert Duncan

Foundlingofdollaar:
Your welcome made me feel good, thanks. Your information on my strops was very helpful. I have already started using the info. I take it that I am to use the green side on the paddle first then the red side and the same thing on the hanging strop using the linnen side first then the leather. Is there suppose to be something on the linnen, if so I have never put anything on it nor do I have anything to put on it. Await your reply. Again thanks. P.S. I did a little running around Austin when I was stationed at Fort Hood.

If the green and red sides of your paddle are indeed treated with pastes, don't use them every shave. It will help keep your edge sharper for longer and more polished, but over time it will round the bevel. Just use the pasted sides when you feel your razor is losing its peak shaving edge. When you do use a pasted side, be sure to wipe your blade clean as you don't want to contaminate your strop with an abrasive.

Before each shave, strop first on your fabric strop perhaps 20 passes (the fabric side does not need to be treated with anything), then follow with maybe 30 passes or so on the unpasted leather. The strop dressing is just a leather conditioner to keep your strop supple and prevent it from drying out. Apply occasionaly, rub in well, and allow to sit. It may help increase the strop's "draw" but is for the benefit of the leather, not the blade.

Keep asking questions and here you will keep getting answers!

P.S., I live in Austin but commute to Waco, so I "pass" Fort Hood quite a bit. Where are you at nowadays?