Thread: beginner (and therefore questionable stropping technique at first): diamond spray?

Hi all,
My subject barely fit :-)

So I started shaving with a SR only recently - it's been about 3 weeks now, maybe. I'm worried that the edge might not be great anymore since I still learning proper stropping for a while. There are more nicks in the strop than I like - very visible reminder of my mistakes.

I know that one does not do sharpening on a shave-ready razor for a while. But I'm wondering if, since I had some stropping issues at the outset, if I should consider using the diamond spray that came with my modular strop paddle sooner (maybe in a week? 1 month in?) rather than later.

thoughts? For the most part it's still pretty smooth, only catching on the chin, etc, which is always tough due to angles. But I get paranoid looking at those nicks on the strop.

Hard to say without feeling the edge but if your shaves are good for the most part and the chin seems to be the only trouble spot I would suggest leaving well enough alone until you've gotten some more shaves under your belt. If the razor is tugging in other areas then some laps on the diamond spray might be in order. From your description it sounds like shaving technique. The chin is a tough spot and takes time to get the hang of shaving it smoothly IME.

kaiyen,

I agree with Jimmy. I don't think you need to be thinking about using diamond spray this early into your foray into straight razor shaving. I'd wait about 6 months before using diamond spray on another strop--not your everyday strop--to refresh the edge of your honed razor.

From your post, you're already getting pretty close shaves. For now, focus on your stropping and shaving technique, especially around your chin. That's a difficult area for most shavers anyway.

Just my 2 cents.

thanks to both. just checking :-). I know the chin is tougher than most areas to shave, but thought maybe beginner mistakes might also make for alternative approaches, at least for the first few months.

Stropping is still tough...and I will use one of the two canvas pads for the modular strop as my dedicated diamond spray one. I won't mix them up, hopefully.

I agree..there are times in my 1 month str8 shavings that I get some blade "tug" then ease up on the blade angle..then realize what I did too much of (angle)

pcdad

Yeah, it's kind of touchy with a newbie. I will say that having used my first blade, after refreshing on a finishing hone, after having honed other blades to shaving sharpness, that when I dedicated myself to using just that one blade I had a hard time telling whether it was the edge (blade edge degradation) or my technique that resulted in a less than satisfactory shave.

Then I used a professionally honed blade that hadn't been shaved with enough to require refreshing, and casually cut through the most difficult parts of my beard with an obvious ease and grace beyond the one blade I'd dedicated myself to. Also, when I felt the most difficult part of my face after the post-shave regimen was completed I was surprised how close it was on the more aggressive direction finger swipes (used to test closeness).

Then I went back to the blade I had been using to gauge the edge degradation, with plenty of good stropping, mind you. I refreshed it thoroughly on the finishing hone and then took it one step further and finished on 0.5 micron chromium oxide pasted paddle strop. To this day I can't distinguish a difference between my finest hone and the chromium paste with certainty, but I do know that my next shave with that same razor (the next day) was noticeably easier, smoother, safer, faster, and cut much much closer on the most difficult part of my beard. It was both easier and closer.

So even if you're shaves aren't tugging, skipping or pulling, but are not as close as you remember previous shaves and you can't account for the difference with technique (and newbies should be consistently improving, if not by the day than surely by the week) then most likely you have subtle edge degradation. My first shave-ready blade, initially honed by someone else but from this experiment refreshed on my finishing hone, lasted about three solid weeks with just stropping. The degradation was subtle but there. I use only paddle strops. My face chews up one side of a double-edge blade in about 3-4 uses, I can stretch it to twice that but the shaves are slower, more problematic and definitely not as smooth or close, to give you a benchmark for comparison.

Some people refresh their blades every 4-5 shaves with a conservative 10-15 laps on their finest abrasive pasted strop. Others let it go longer. It depends on the razor's hardness, the shaver's facial hairs, pre-shave hair softening and stropping technique. I'm still learning this, and have had to stay loyal to just one blade to figure it out in as scientific a manner as possible.

Anyone remember that one Seinfeld episode where the reason for breaking up was: "It's not you, it's me."? The opposite turned out to be the case for my edge degradation experiment. Newbies problems are usually questionable, but after a few weeks or a month or so, if the region has been handled better and they're not getting satisfactory results compared to past successes, then I think it could be time to refresh the edge on an abrasive.

I literally let my blade get to the point where it tugged on my moustache region, at that point I was like: that's it, I have definitely got to stop this experiment. If your angles and pressure are okay, which may be difficult to determine early in the game, but if you already know how to finish a problem area relatively well and it begins to tug... that's when you've got to put the razor down and pick up the pasted strop, so to speak. With experience comes wisdom. There are many variables. You'll figure it out.

Originally Posted by kaiyen

Hi all,
My subject barely fit :-)

So I started shaving with a SR only recently - it's been about 3 weeks now, maybe. I'm worried that the edge might not be great anymore since I still learning proper stropping for a while. There are more nicks in the strop than I like - very visible reminder of my mistakes.

I know that one does not do sharpening on a shave-ready razor for a while. But I'm wondering if, since I had some stropping issues at the outset, if I should consider using the diamond spray that came with my modular strop paddle sooner (maybe in a week? 1 month in?) rather than later.

thoughts? For the most part it's still pretty smooth, only catching on the chin, etc, which is always tough due to angles. But I get paranoid looking at those nicks on the strop.

Welcome!

I am a bit late to this discussion. I see lots of good advice already.

Learning when a blade is dull is just as difficult as any other
part of the game.

For maintaining a razor's edge slow and steady wins.

Since you have a modular strop it may be close to
the right time to make a visit to the 0.5 or 0.25 micron
diamond or CrOx 'modules'. By visit I am not saying
hone the blade but just refresh it with a five or ten
lap visit. Abrasive strops with diamond or CrOx do not
need many laps, especially so with diamond.

Maintaining an edge is easier if the blade is not dull.

When using a pasted strop remember that slow, smooth and
steady win the race. Lay the blade down on the spine
then lay the edge down and stroke. Keep the spine
on the strop rotate the blade make the reverse stroke.
Little or no pressure.... nice and smooth.

After the pasted strop wipe the blade clean and strop in
the normal way.

If you do it right the sharpness of the blade will not change a massive
amount. It should "just shave whiskers" again.

If you wait for the blade to get DULL a pasted strop will
have a hard time refreshing the edge.

Originally Posted by niftyshaving

If you wait for the blade to get DULL a pasted strop will
have a hard time refreshing the edge.

And that is why I ask the question. My sideburns are the area that I have done the best, and can get a very smooth result with 2 passes (WTG, XTG). Other areas I'm still working on. But I look at the nicks that I put into my strop when I first got started (and I put one in today, too...just a tiny one), and wonder if I already have blade inconsistencies that are affecting the edge.

I will wait another week then just go a few passes on a pasted strop. Just enough to maybe put on the sharpness I took off just in the nicks, etc. Not a full refresh kind of thing, just a touch-up due to beginner mistakes. I will surely switch to a longer interval eventually.

thanks to all.