Thread: 5th shave not as good

Originally Posted by Utopian

You said you stropped 50 times. I assume that was leather. Do you have a canvas/linen/cotton strop? That might help.

Also, I'd guess the stropping is the issue. I'm not a huge fan of anything made in China, but even the DA razors hold an edge longer than that. I doubt your lathering changed so much for that to be the trouble.

Assuming the stropping is the problem. You might have stropped incorrectly and rolled the edge. This might be corrected, depending on degree, with say 100 laps done correctly. On the other hand, you may be stropping so lightly that you in effect are not benefiting the edge at all. You want to strop lightly, but you do have to use some pressure.

Hopefully, you can figure it out. Obviously you still have four razors at your disposal but I'm sure you want to figure this out before risking damage to them. If you can't resolve it, you can send the DA back to me and I can look at the edge under a scope to see if I can determine what caused the problem. I'd touch it up again and then you'd be good to go for another four shaves!

(There'd be no charge other than postage.)

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

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!