Thread: Another newbie nervious as heck!

Originally Posted by jmueller8

... I stropped the blade about 70 times back and fourth at about 10 degrees with minimal pressure....

I'm not sure if I'm reading this correctly, but are you saying that you lift the spine off the strop, to a 10 degree angle, when stropping? The blade should be flat on the strop with the spine leading, held to the strop only by its own weight. Sorry if I misunderstood.

Dave

No; you had it right! I was stropping incorrectly! I watched a few videos and worked it out. I sort of flew over that part and I felt it today! Ah; failure is so humbling!

No failure here. We're all learning. There is an awful lot to digest when starting with str8s.

My dad once told me, "No, I'm not wrong. I'm just not as right as I normally am."

Have a great shave.

Dave

Originally Posted by jmueller8

No; you had it right! I was stropping incorrectly! I watched a few videos and worked it out. I sort of flew over that part and I felt it today! Ah; failure is so humbling!

Welcome. You're in good hands here.

As punishment for stropping incorrectly I hereby require you to strop correctly for 100 passes on your unfinished leather strop. the first 50 passes with slight pressure and the last 50 with very light pressure. Maybe 150 total. I thought about this kind of thing when stropping this morning. Go ahead, you can quote me on this: "You can strop incorrectly, but you can't "overstrop" a razor."

Seriously though, if you lifted the spine 10 degrees you may have rounded the actual edge slightly which could account for the razor feeling less sharp than your previous few shaves. I do recommend the above as a corrective measure.

Keep reporting in though; we like to read the progress.

Chris L

I'll strop it another 15 minutes tonight just to get some more time in. My face was so sore this morning, I decided to skip the shave. What's the best position to mount my strop? I tried it waist high and shoulder high and it still felt funny! Even tried it with the other hand. (The down side of being an ambidextrous left hander.)

Originally Posted by jbcohen

I have never ever drawn blood with a striaght ever.

Famous last words

Originally Posted by jmueller8

I'll strop it another 15 minutes tonight just to get some more time in. My face was so sore this morning, I decided to skip the shave. What's the best position to mount my strop? I tried it waist high and shoulder high and it still felt funny! Even tried it with the other hand. (The down side of being an ambidextrous left hander.)

I bet you'll get some varied answers for this 'un.
Around waist high is good for me

Thanks for the tip onimaru55; I did try stropping waist high and it felt a bit better. I'm just not comfortable turning the blade over on the spine for some reason! The shave was more comfortable and a bit closer this morning but I'm spending too much time shaving! What is everyone's "average time" spent shaving?

Originally Posted by jmueller8

Thanks for the tip onimaru55; I did try stropping waist high and it felt a bit better. I'm just not comfortable turning the blade over on the spine for some reason! The shave was more comfortable and a bit closer this morning but I'm spending too much time shaving! What is everyone's "average time" spent shaving?

I can't remember who said it before but flipping the spine is like turning the volume knob up & down tho I use all my fingers twisting the scales over as well.
I enjoy the shave ritual too much to go fast so I do it at night but I think I did 2 passes in about 8 minutes when I was in a rush one time. Not BBS but presentable.

Originally Posted by jmueller8

I'll strop it another 15 minutes tonight just to get some more time in. My face was so sore this morning, I decided to skip the shave. What's the best position to mount my strop? I tried it waist high and shoulder high and it still felt funny! Even tried it with the other hand. (The down side of being an ambidextrous left hander.)

I fastend my strop to my doorhandle. Works for me... (fun to see there are more ambidextrous left handers here).

I have quite a bit of experience with up to thirty different brands of double edge blades and some beards can be thicker than others, mine is very very light, I am lucky. Some blades can not stand up to a tough beard others can better than others Those that have heavy beards have told me that they tend to like straights becuase it allows them to adapt the blade to their fce rather than the other way around. This is one of the curses of the modern age, one needs to adapt his face to the demands of Proctor and Gamble's technology rather than the maker adapting to your face. Straight's I am told are best for the heavy beard. I could do the job with a piece of broken glass and it wouldn't make any difference, if I could keep from cutting my face off.