Thread: 5th shave not as good

Originally Posted by dward

I concur with Glen about the beard, etc. I also think that you are still in the learning curve for pressures and angles. Don't get frustrated over it. Patience. It will settle in time to a consistent (and better) shave. As with all new things you will have peaks and valleys for performance until it all comes together consistently. We've all been there.

I was really concerned, and concentrated on angle. Really worked at keeping the blade at 30 d. or less. The razor shaved, it just pulled and was uncomfortable. I did have stubble in the cream residue. The blade (or me) just wasn't cutting as efficiently or closely.

thanks for the encouragement

Kev

Originally Posted by Utopian

Okay, maybe it is your lather! I didn't think the difference would be that extreme. In that case, I suggest you go back to the Tabac!

I'll call it my "Simplest Correction Progression"! I'll start off with the lather along with a good stropping and see how that does.

Kevin

If you're new to stropping you can also quickly dull a very sharp razor in minutes. Are you sure you're stropping correctly with enough draw and you're not under drawing on the strop or stropping incorrectly altogether? This was my problem when I first started. I dulled a few of my razors within a week of using them.

Originally Posted by rayman

Great advice from everyone. Now from the peanut gallery! If you think you ganked up the edge by stropping, what results do you think you might get by hoaning? I would follow hi bud gl's advice and get som Chromium Oxide, read up on how to prepare a strop with it, and then give that a go to bring the edge back to life before I would move to a stone. Maybe after you are successful with the strop and past you could move to something a little more aggressive. Keep at it.

Just my two cents.

_________________
Ray

Well, I'm not, and wasn't at the time I posted, sure if I ganked up the edge by stropping or if my beard may have degraded the edge enough in a few shaves to require a touch up. I've read where some folks will touch up a razor every time they pull it out, or every few shaves. I'm sure not everyone does, and as new as I am, I'm not sure if I'm a candidate for that or not.

Thanks for the response, Ray. This is exactly what I was looking for, different ideas. As I said above, though not clearly, I have one strop set-up, and that won't get pasted. I have, however, been reading about the balsa pasting, which may be an option.

Man, I've got to get the hang of multi-quoting.

Thanks, all, for your time and advice.
Kev

Originally Posted by kevbell

Hello, Ron

The strop I'm using for now is a Miller starter latigo strop. I ordered it with my "regular" linen/latigo and horsehide set-up. So, yes, I do have linen.

I will try the linen and then the latigo. I was hoping to hold off on the linen for a bit longer to reduce the chance of making a two piece linen strop, but this may have just pushed up the learning curve. I'll also give it a bit more pressure.


Thanks, everyone for your thoughts and suggestions.

Kev

To avoid making the two piece linen strop, do about 10 laps on your starter strop. That will reinforce your "short term muscle memory" of the proper way to strop. THEN proceed to the linen and then the leather. That should help to keep your good strop intact.

Use more pressure only if you believe that you were not using enough pressure. Good luck!

Originally Posted by Disburden

If you're new to stropping you can also quickly dull a very sharp razor in minutes. Are you sure you're stropping correctly with enough draw and you're not under drawing on the strop or stropping incorrectly altogether? This was my problem when I first started. I dulled a few of my razors within a week of using them.

Hi Nick,

Thanks for joining in. No, I don't know if I'm stropping correctly. I had thought I was. I've read the wiki and watched the videos. But as I'm sure most everyone here knows, reading and watching is sometimes easier than doing.

I've understood keeping the strop taught (sp). Doorknob height seems about right for me. I know that a bit more pressure is needed than just the weight of the razor on the strop and that too much will round the edge. Somewhere between 25 and 50 complete laps are usually a good number, depending on the blade.

With that limited knowledge, I have four stropping sessions under my belt with a Miller learner's strop. No linen.

What I thought was enough pressure may in fact have not been. I don't know. What do you mean by "stropping with enough draw" and "under drawing"?

I've been concentrating on a somewhat slow, deliberate x-pattern stroke on the strop with the edge following the spine. I've also been watching to be sure the whole blade stays on the leather, not just the back or edge. I've caught myself a few times thinking/realizing that the edge was off the strop ever so little and that it needs to stay down.

Kev

Originally Posted by kevbell

I've been concentrating on a somewhat slow, deliberate x-pattern stroke on the strop with the edge following the spine. I've also been watching to be sure the whole blade stays on the leather, not just the back or edge. I've caught myself a few times thinking/realizing that the edge was off the strop ever so little and that it needs to stay down.

Kev

Hi Kev,

I've been sweating my first strop which I will be doing tomorrow. I too have been doing the slow, deliberate x-pattern, which is what the instructions that came with my strops say to do. Not super slow, but maybe 1 second up, and 1 sec. down the strop. Is that too fast? Too slow?

I'm usually a 'too much pressure' kind of guy. The saying among the men in my family (especially while fixing cars) is "Tighten until it strips, then back off 2 turns."

So, I'm planning to err on the side of very light pressure and see how that goes. Thanks for bringing this up though, every little bit helps, that's for sure.

I've been practicing a heck of a lot with a butter knife, but I don't know how close that's getting me to the real deal.

WP421

Originally Posted by hi_bud_gl

At first if blade has shave 4 times without problems then that blade was in shave ready condition."


There is no doubt the razor was shave ready. Ron (Utopian) did a great job on it. As i said in another thread, the shaves were amazing and with no pressure needed. I had a SEG on my face all day!



"Next is blades quality Sorry double A isn't such a great quality blade."

Understood. I was more willing to screw up this blade with a newb disaster than one of my better razors.


"Now it could be something wrong with your stropping. Please strop it again without any pressure to the blade and see does that changes sharpness of the blade.
Next you can buy chro2 and bring that sharpness back.
hope this helps."

Thank-you
Kevin

It's hard to say if you're even stropping incorrectly, I think I was lucky enough to see that I was doing it wrong rather quickly. If you're hearing a light swiping feedback noise when you're stropping, then you're doing it wrong. The sound should be muted and full sounding, with draw on the blade (a form of resistance on the leather if you will). Speed also makes the stropping more effective. We go slow when we learn, because we don't want to ruin our razors or our strops with nicks, but going slow really doesn't do much for the blade other than help you learn the motion better and help the blade in the long term by developing muscle memory.

Originally Posted by warpigs421

Hi Kev,

. Not super slow, but maybe 1 second up, and 1 sec. down the strop. Is that too fast? Too slow?

I'm usually a 'too much pressure' kind of guy. The saying among the men in my family (especially while fixing cars) is "Tighten until it strips, then back off 2 turns."

So, I'm planning to err on the side of very light pressure and see how that goes. Thanks for bringing this up though, every little bit helps, that's for sure.

I've been practicing a heck of a lot with a butter knife, but I don't know how close that's getting me to the real deal.

WP421

I can't tell you if that's too fast or slow. I'm sure someone will give us an idea.

And as long as you don't have to tell your wife/gf/both to tighten it until it strips and then back off a couple, everything else should be aaallright.

kev