Weird Results

Ok, so as I remarked in a mcu earlier thread, I have had some problems with the stubble around my mouth--the moustache and "soul patch" areas specifically. When It ried to shave with a vintage Kropp razor, the blade would sometimes stop dead and had tons of trouble cutting. Since then, I had the blade rehoned by an experienced honer, and while the situation improved it was still giving me tons of trouble. Then, recently, I got a Wapi from Hoglahoo and have tried it out a couple of times--without those problems at all. Sliiced through like butter. My prepr and lather have been the same, as far as I can tell, so can someone tell me why this might be?

Is it, as I suspect from reading other threads, that the Wapi is a much "wedgier" ground, while my Kroppis a full hollow? Both of these razors have seen the hones of pros, and both have been stropped by me, so I can't imagine what else it might be...

Full hollows require a more "spot on" technique, while wedges and stiff hollows are more forgiving of "sloppy" technique.
I had been using the larger stiffer grinds in my collection as of late, but was quickly reminded of this fact when I was testing a - 5/8's double hollow I was honing for a newbie. I thought the razor needed a little more time on thew hones as I was having a little trouble getting a clean and comfortable shave. I hit the hones and found the shave was only slightly better, but about half way through the test shave I saw that my technique was a tad sloppy. Well, lo and behold, that razor was suddenly giving me a very clean and comfy shave!

Thats not to say that your kropp doesn't need a touch up or your stropping is perfect, its just one possibility.

So Jim, did you get it figured out?

Ah, sorry Mark, I missed your responses.

Nope, I'm still in the same boat. I can't figure it out, the Wapi gives me easy smooth shaves, and they're getting better every day, but the Kropp is dead in the water. I checked the edge under a microscope and it looks even and smooth, nothing that looks any different from the Wapi, like a rolled edge or anything. I'm tempted to give it a few laps on a barber's hone and see if that helps, but I don't want to screw it up if it's just a big difference in the technique.

Honestly, I might just stick with the Wapi for now. I've even gotten to where I like the unbalanced scales.