Thread: Razor 12, me 0

Yes, I would very much like to take him up on his kind offer. I requested details from him and will go from there.

Thanks again for everything.

If you have been using a DE razor, then you also need to adjust your expectations. What I mean is that a straight razor has a different feel on your face from a DE razor. Start a pass with the spine of the razor virtually flat on your face and make a pass. This probably won't cut many whisker but you will be able to tell what the shallow angle feels like. Next pass move over slightly on your check and elevate the spine more, make another pass. Using this gradual increase in angle there should come a point where the razor cuts the whiskers. If the razor is cutting the whisker but you have a strong pulling sensation as the razor goes, then lower the angle just a bit. If that slightly lower angle equals no tugging and no cutting then the razor is not honed right.

Also you might make a second XTG pass and see how the stubble reduction goes. You should certainly notice a significant reduction between the two passes combined.

Just a thought... Have you tried the thumbpad test on the edge???... it could be useful along with several other tests that can be found on the wiki. Of course with the addition of the other valuable info everybody gave you already.

Good luck!!!

I am going to take AFD up on his gracious offer and send the razor to him to inspect and hone if necessary. I did discover something though. I have another razor that I've been playing with, honing and stropping, but not expecting much of it. I went to shave with it this evening and it actually did a not half bad job, not as good as the DE, but I can certainly chalk that up to my lack of experience. Overall, that razor did pretty good compared to the one that my barber honed for me. This leads me to believe that he did not do such a great job. To bad, he's been my barber for 20 years now, oh well.

Before I jump to conclusions though, I'll let AFD take a look at them and tell me what's up.

The razor has been mailed to Alan. Looking forward to his opinion. Thanks Alan!

Your welcome. The razor is back in your direction. Looking forward to your thoughts.

Just because he's been a barber for 20 years, unfortunately doesn't make him a good honer

Glad someone made the offer, or I would have offered (just saw this thread.)

I'm in Barber school right now, and while they DO teach honing as well as stropping, they probably wouldn't know a set bevel if they saw one. I haven't had the honing part of the class yet, but once I do, I'll be able to comment better on what they're teaching and how good it may or may not be.

First off, I want to thank Alan for honing the razor for me. I have not yet received it so I cannot, at this point, comment on it.

I do have a few questions though. First, you mentioned that there was spine damage to the razor. What is that and what would have caused it?

What is it about the razor that you were not able to fix that makes it only a satisfactory shaver?

I am pretty sure that I will be looking at the classifieds here and purchasing a shave ready razor for $50 or so. I'm going to wait for my razor to come back before I make that purchase though. I would prefer to put that off till I know more of what I'm looking for, such as width, spike point or rounded, etc.

Thanks guys for all of the advice!

Todd,

It was spine wear from aggressive honing for the most part. Once the spine gets torn off there are big problems to deal with.

A re-grinding will probably fix the problem or four or so more hours of honing. But it is a very challenging problem to deal with.

That being said, the razor is now quite a bit sharper, so use a little caution when shaving.

I actually purchased my first store ought razor from SRD, mostly, (at the time), so I could have a bench-mark for what a properly honed razor was like. With the credentials stated and vertified by other members, I would send the razor to the gentleman who offered...then there will be no question. From there, you will have a source for re-hones, or, if you decide to embark on honing your own razors, you'll know what to shoot for!