Any advice/help would be appreciated!
Hi guys,
I am new to this site. I inherited a razor from my uncle. It was his great-grandfather’s. It has a german blade and plastic yellowish celluloid handles with a nude curvy woman on one side. I purchased a leather/canvas strop, Belgian blue and yellow coticule stones and King 1000 grit stone. I had the BBW and coticule first so I honed with those stones to begin with. I have a slurry stone too. I raised slurry on the blue and did about 25 laps and then raised slurry on the yellow and did the same. I diluted the blue and did less laps and then back to the yellow and kept switching until I thought it was good. I stropped the razor and then shaved with hot water and later. As I side note my razor did not pass any of the tests, with the exception of the arm shave test. It would not pass the HHT or the TNT. I did shave with it but was unable to finish it b/c it was a very rough and uncomfortable shave. I thought the bevel was set but apparently not. So I ordered the King 1000 stone and tried to set the bevel. I noticed when the razor was passing on the stone the toe and heel seemed to have a gap between the razor and the stone. I pressed down a little with my thumb and I was able to pass the marker test on the razor. I also noticed that the bevel itself seemed to be wider and better set in the middle of the razor and much thinner and not as prominent on the toe and the heel. I did about 20 laps on the King and it still did not pass any test and barely shaved arm hair. I was frustrated so I moved to the Belgians and did the pyramid honing as Lynn recommends. After completion once again, no HHT, no TNT, no TPT...nothing. I am stubborn by nature so I tried to shave again and it was even worse than the first shave!! I am frustrated and not sure what is going on. I do find it odd that the toe and the heel are raised when I hone. And yes, I make sure the blade is flat on the hone. Is the blade completely distorted? Can I re-set a bevel like this? What am I doing wrong? Any advice you have would really help.
Thanks again