Thread: Hello

Hello, all. I am new and I just received all my initial items for straight shaving. After leaving the electric shaving world for the DE world four months ago, I have been hunting for the best shave ever since. I never knew a person could be so consumed about getting the best shave possible. Shaving is no longer a chore but a quest for me.

Anyhow, I received my Dovo pre-honed blade from classicshaving.com and I botched the stropping right off the get-go. Heck, I even lead with the spine and watched Lyn's DVD three times, but my eagerness for that great shave got in my way; I believe I had too much pressure on the strop. Oh well, the learning curve begins.

Take care for now, and look forward to your posts.

Welcome to SRP. Sorry to hear that you miscued with the strop. Here is a really good tutorial on stopping and here is another on beginning shaving with a straight by SRP founder Lynn Abrams. You may not have damaged the edge with the strop. If you did I'm afraid you'll have to get it rehoned. Take a look at our member services in the classifieds here for a honemiester to send it to if it is necessary. If you have any questions feel free to ask and let us know how you're making out.

Welcome to straight shaving. The effort will be rewarded!

I will bet your razor is fine, but just needs to be stropped correctly. Let the weight of the razor rest on the strop while stropping. More passes and less force always seems to win out. Learning straight shaving tests your patience and determination.

My first time stropping, my blade actually nicked the strop and that was due to my inexperience of stropping and learning the light touch. The blade was fine and continues to be a performer. I just increased the passes and let the weight of the razor make contact.

A key purchase for me was my 4 sided pasted strop. A few passes on this along with the leather always smoothes out the edge to be very sharp.

Great references on Wiki!

Good Luck

Pabster

Welcome to SRP and to the path that will lead to the sought after BBS shave. Spend a lot of time asking questions and learning from the WIKI both are great sources of information here. Being zealous can be dangerous with a str8 I've learned patience is the key that has allowed me learn and helps me continue to do so. Good luck in this endevor. I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy the experience.

Thank you for the welcome, the tips and the links. The information is great.

Yes, this shaving methods takes patience, but since getting married and having two kids, I no longer fly or skydive. So, I have more time-in-the-house on my hands.

I have a bragging rights bet with my brother set for next spring, so hopefully I can catch-on by then. He shaves in the shower with a Bick disposable; he has since his rushed militar days. He does not believe in wet shaving, so the guantlet has been dropped.

Anyway, take care for now.

Welcome to the forums and your newest quest. Just be patient and you will be rewarded. When we start something new we have a tendency to dive in with both feet. This is one of those things where less is better at the start. You will be rewarded at the end. Enjoy!!

With proper attention the skills necessary for a good straight shave advance pretty quickly.

Originally Posted by sarend

I have a bragging rights bet with my brother set for next spring, so hopefully I can catch-on by then. He shaves in the shower with a Bick disposable; he has since his rushed militar days. He does believe in wet shaving, so the guantlet has been dropped.

I'd like to hear the details of that bet.

X

Originally Posted by Pabster

Welcome to straight shaving. The effort will be rewarded!

I will bet your razor is fine, but just needs to be stropped correctly. Let the weight of the razor rest on the strop while stropping. More passes and less force always seems to win out. Learning straight shaving tests your patience and determination.

+1 to Pabsters comment. The razor should be fine, just re-strop with a light touch and give it a good number of passes and you should be good to go! Just for reference, I do 40 passes on the canvas side, then 50 on leather before I shave and then 10 canvas and 15 leather after I shave, all with a light touch. When I say a light touch I mean, at most, 150% of the weight of the blade, no more. So this will feel like resting the blade on the strop under its own weight and then applying a very small amount of pressure just to keep it flat on the strop during the pass. So far, this seems to be keeping my edge very nicely and I haven't noticed a drop in sharpness so far, and I use this razor every day..!

Welcome to SRP and the world of straight shaving!

Originally Posted by Stubear

+1 to Pabsters comment. The razor should be fine, just re-strop with a light touch and give it a good number of passes and you should be good to go! Just for reference, I do 40 passes on the canvas side, then 50 on leather before I shave and then 10 canvas and 15 leather after I shave, all with a light touch. When I say a light touch I mean, at most, 150% of the weight of the blade, no more. So this will feel like resting the blade on the strop under its own weight and then applying a very small amount of pressure just to keep it flat on the strop during the pass. So far, this seems to be keeping my edge very nicely and I haven't noticed a drop in sharpness so far, and I use this razor every day..!

Welcome to SRP and the world of straight shaving!

OK, now I have some good numbers. I have been doing 15 passes on the linen side and 30 on the leather. I cannot wait to get home and try the 40/50. Thanks.

Welcome and enjoy the ride!