Thread: Need help

To Anyone that can help me. Though I am not new to shaving with a straight razor I am new to this site. I am having a few problem that I hope someone can help me with. I have three razors that I can't seem to keep a sharp edge on them. The three razors are Dovo Solingen 1561 Made in Germany, Puma 89 Special made in Germany and finally Hoffritz also made in Germany. Which razor is the best, next best and the worst. I have a two piece barber strop not sure which one to when and how often. I also have a hand held strop with two sides one is green and the other which appears to be a reddish brown leather. I am not sure which side does what and when to use them. Need help in getting them really sharp and how to keep them that way. I have a stone from Germany which does not use oil only water and is no longer even, however I do manage some how to get an edge on one razor to get a some what decent shave. One of the three razors has a broken handle which I would like to get replaced or fixed. I have given you my problems please someone help me solve and correct them. I hope I am typing this in the correct place, if not some please tell me where to type this information. Thank you for your time.

First off, Welcome to the SRD. Great group here. While I am a newbie at straight razor shaving there are some real experts here that can and will answer your questions. Be sure to take some time and look at the postings on the forum. The posts and stickys will answer most of your questions. Enjoy!

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.

Originally Posted by gssixgun

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

Glen:
Thanks for the welcome. I will be contacting you in the neat future to have all of my razors restored starting with the razor that has a broken handle. Would you please send me your mailing address with phone number. Thanks again.

Originally Posted by JimmyH-AD

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 !

Jimmy:
Your welcome to SRP really made me feel good and a part of the group. However I do have question. As you probably remember that I have three razors. I need to know which one is the best so I can it restored. First is a DOVO Soligen 1561, next is PUMA 89 Special and finally HOFFRITZ. They are all in fairly good shape however they all really need a good sharping to them shave ready. If you had to choose one of them as the best which one would you choose.

Originally Posted by Robert Duncan

Jimmy:
Your welcome to SRP really made me feel good and a part of the group. However I do have question. As you probably remember that I have three razors. I need to know which one is the best so I can it restored. First is a DOVO Soligen 1561, next is PUMA 89 Special and finally HOFFRITZ. They are all in fairly good shape however they all really need a good sharping to them shave ready. If you had to choose one of them as the best which one would you choose.

I am partial to Pumas but I would inspect the edge of each razor under magnification. The cleanest one would be my choice. I would take a magic marker and coat the edge before applying it to the hone and then do a few strokes to see if the edge is making contact for the full length of the blade. This will determine how I need to manipulate the razor on the hone. Then it is a matter of honing it to shave ready using progressive grits and finally stropping and shaving. Read the stickys in the basic honing forum and best of luck.

Hi Robert, I thought I was gonna read you are from Scotland with a name like that.

Ancestory from Scotland per chance?