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Thread: Razor 12, me 0

  1. #1
    Senior Member spinsheet's Avatar
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    Default Razor 12, me 0

    I took my old antique store razor to my barber to have honed and stopped and he gave it back to me shave ready. I found that I can barely shave a hair on my face. I took it back to him when I got my last haircut just to make sure that it was indeed shave ready. He took me into the back room and gave me a honing and stropping lesson and again said that the razor was indeed shave ready.

    Not sure what I am doing wrong but I can do nothing more than shorten the stubble on my cheeks. Everyday I try to use the straight razor to shave my cheeks and then have to complete the shave with my DE.

    I've tried playing with razor angles (shooting for 30 degrees) to no avail. Any thoughts on what I might try or is this a normal learning curve? I've been trying this for a couple of weeks now.

    Thanks.

  2. #2
    Little Bear richmondesi's Avatar
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    Describe the sensation you are getting. Does it tug or pull (painfully)? Not all barbers know their business for when it comes to straights (sadly).

  3. #3
    Member AFDavis11's Avatar
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    You can send the razor to me if you'd like. I can check it out, hone it, and send it back.

  4. The Following 6 Users Say Thank You to AFDavis11 For This Useful Post:

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    Member MadButcher's Avatar
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    Only speaking for myself, I get the same results until I go ATG.

  6. #5
    Senior Member blabbermouth
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    spin,

    Were it I, I'd jump at AFD's offer. He's an old hand at this and if the razor shaves well for him, once honed and tested, you have just eliminated a bunch of variables.


  7. #6
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    Go back to the barber and ask him to shave himself with your razor. If he refuses, I wouldnt trust his honing, if he shaves with it, then the problem most likely lies with you and your technique. Are you stropping after he hones it and before you shave with it? You could be messing up the edge stropping.
    When I started, even with a SRD honed razor, I had tugging and pulling. Then my angles got better, my pressure got better, and I started feeling more confident and that translated to more confident strokes. Tenative strokes will cause bad shaves too.

    Good luck.

  8. #7
    Scale Maniac BKratchmer's Avatar
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    AFDavis will give you a good edge, or be able to tell you what the matter might be with the razor. One way or another you'll be able to focus on your technique rather than worrying about sharpness.

  9. #8
    Wee Whisker Whacker BingoBango's Avatar
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    If you use the width of the spine as a guide, try to keep the spine about 1.5 spine widths from your face. That's much easier than trying to eyeball 30 degrees.

    If you get a lot of tugging/pulling it's probably poorly honed. IME, a good razor shouldn't tug unless your technique is WAY off. Sure, it won't be as nice, but it'll shave. Since you're new to this it's always a good idea to check out your prep, stropping, etc., but I'm gonna stick with the others and say get that sucker honed by someone you can trust knows what they're doing. If AFDavis will do it for free, jump on it.

  10. #9
    Senior Member spinsheet's Avatar
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    @AFDavis11:
    How much do you charge for this service? It would sure be nice to rule out the razor, at least then I would know where I stand.

    I hate to think that my barber is not knowledgeable about these things though. He has been my barber for 20 years now, is about 80, and as such is certainly an old style barber. But a second opinion sure can't hurt.

    As far as what it feels like, it is just a real tugging, basically like I'm shaving with a dull disposable. When I go over it with my DE it shaves as clean as can be so I doubt that it is in prep.

    Thanks for all of the help!

  11. #10
    The original Skolor and Gentileman. gugi's Avatar
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    take alan up on his offer.

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