Thread: Looking for a little advice

Ok...first off I have a full hollow 5/8" DOVO I got from SRD late last December and have been shaving roughly every other day since. My guess is I've used it for around 25 shaves. Now I have a pretty thick beard, particularly around the lip and chin areas but also around the neck area below the chin.

Now I've noticed that when shaving said thicker areas the blade pulls or jumps. I have to go over the area a couple of times to make sure I don't miss any spots. This never used to happen. The other areas though are fine and the shave seems to go well.

I've generally been careful and haven't nicked the strop, faucet or anything. I wish I could post a video of me stropping the razor to get comments on my technique but I have no way to record one. Also, it's my only shave ready razor so I have nothing to compare it to.

I guess my questions are these: Might my razor need a honing? I hear that generally you should only need to send the razor out for that a few (say 3?) times a year? It's only been two months for me...might I be doing something wrong? Or am I just imagining things?

Any help/input/suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks!

-Jonathan


EDIT: FYI every shave I strop 30x webbed fabric 50x leather with my SRD 3in Latigo before the shave and 30x leather after. Is that enough/not enough?

I would say that it really depends on your beard type, technique and stropping. If used daily on a normal beard, a razor should not really need a re-honing but every 2-3 months. That said and considering the variables, your razor might just need a touch up on some chromium oxide or diamond paste or may need a little return to the stone.

Have fun,

Lynn

It sounds like your razor may just need to be freshened up. This is not really a full re-honing and it is something that you should be able to do yourself very easily. Traditionally this would be done with a few passes on a Barber Hone and that will still work just fine as would most high grit finishing hones. Another alternative is a strop (either hanging or a paddle/flat bed) treated with paste or diamond spray.

My personal recommendation would be to use a treated strop. If you don't have one contact Don or Lynn at SRD. They have a full array of finishing hone and strops and can point you towards a solution you will be comfortable with.

With a minimal outlay of money and effort you can keep your razor in good shave ready condition for a long time before it actually needs to be re-honed.

Edit: Just follow Lynn's advice ;-)

I know the only barber here in town and I'm sure he'd be willing to touch it up for me with his barber hone. I'm thinking I'll get a Filly from Ken as its got Crox on the back and I could also use it as a travel strop. As always, great advice guys! I appreciate it.

Great advise already given here. When the straight feels like its loosing that fine edge, I give the straight razor some passes on my trusty 4 sided pasted paddle strop; perhaps 10 on the 1.0 and 10 on the .50 Chrom Ox and then 50 on the leather strop. This should refresh the edge back to a fine edge again.

Good Luck,

Pabster