Thread: I nicked my razor

If the razor is expensive DON'T do it yourself. My advice is to get a new hone, flat it, buy an inexpensive razor and learn how to hone. No offense but why shave with a straight razor if you don't know how to hone it yourself? It's really not rocket science =) Practise a bit with the cheap razor...The only way to repair a nicked blade is to expose new flat metal or flatten it out. Send it out by all means to an experienced person but once you learn how to hone it'll save you lots of $. Insured shipping, taxes, honing fee...

If there is a nick or chip on your blade, the ONLY thing that will take care of it is for it to be re-honed. No chemical will take care of any nick or chip on carbon steel & retain the edge. I'm not sure where you got that, but get rid of that thought.

I agree with Connor on this one, what's the point if I can't take care of it myself. Actually, I've run the blade on the cloth strop and now it doesn't damage my leather strop anymore. Just shaved with it for the second time since the chip and so long as I avoid using the very tip (which I do anyways because that's a sure way to cut yourself) it's fine. I think I'll wait to send it in until the blade's dull or it has a more dangerous chip.

Originally Posted by GaiusValeriusPulcher

I agree with Connor on this one, what's the point if I can't take care of it myself. Actually, I've run the blade on the cloth strop and now it doesn't damage my leather strop anymore. Just shaved with it for the second time since the chip and so long as I avoid using the very tip (which I do anyways because that's a sure way to cut yourself) it's fine. I think I'll wait to send it in until the blade's dull or it has a more dangerous chip.

The entire length of a straight razor's edge is meant to be used, but i'm not going to debate with you. After viewing your pictures, only the bevel appears to be damaged at the tip. If you have Lynn's video, you have a good baseline to work off of & then there's the wiki...educate yourself. Pick up a 4k/8k Norton stone and by all means go for it & learn to hone...just educate yourself BEFORE you put that good blade to anything other than your face or a strop. I'm a do it yourselfer as well, so I understand your wanting to learn it all...but you should listen to folks who have the experience. When we recommend a less expensive blade to practice on, we have a reason why...there's a honing learning curve & the blade suffers. We aren't going to lead you astray, we try to treat you newer guys like lil' brothers & want you to enjoy the experience, but most of all learn it properly. So when I say you must not be shaving properly...you probably aren't. The heal & toe of a straight is meant to be used...beginning to use a straight razor is a sure way to cut yourself if you try to wing it versus educating yourself first on how to use it.

Where are you from anyway? There could be someone close to you who could help you out...

Scott

Originally Posted by GaiusValeriusPulcher

What about one of those strop chemicals? Since it's such a small nick I feel like one of those could work. I actually tried it out on the cloth strop and that actually did help quite a bit. What exactly do each of the chemicals do and do you guys think that might work? If it did it would be a pretty cheap, easy solution.

My guess is that you are talking about pastes. Cromium Oxide (paste) is for smoothing out an already sharp but aggressive edge. Diamond pastes sharpen a little more, but leave an aggressive (grabby) edge unless used with a felt strop. Dovo makes a red and black paste with are reputedly "coarse" and "medium". (Cromium oxide would be "fine").

The wiki has a lot of info on honing and using pasted strops.

Originally Posted by shooter74743

The entire length of a straight razor's edge is meant to be used, but i'm not going to debate with you. After viewing your pictures, only the bevel appears to be damaged at the tip. If you have Lynn's video, you have a good baseline to work off of & then there's the wiki...educate yourself. Pick up a 4k/8k Norton stone and by all means go for it & learn to hone...just educate yourself BEFORE you put that good blade to anything other than your face or a strop. I'm a do it yourselfer as well, so I understand your wanting to learn it all...but you should listen to folks who have the experience. When we recommend a less expensive blade to practice on, we have a reason why...there's a honing learning curve & the blade suffers. We aren't going to lead you astray, we try to treat you newer guys like lil' brothers & want you to enjoy the experience, but most of all learn it properly. So when I say you must not be shaving properly...you probably aren't. The heal & toe of a straight is meant to be used...beginning to use a straight razor is a sure way to cut yourself if you try to wing it versus educating yourself first on how to use it.

Where are you from anyway? There could be someone close to you who could help you out...

Scott

Well, I'm getting all the hairs and not cutting myself (except where I have zits and it's unavoidable), so I can't be too far off. What kind of razor would you reccommend for training for honing? A cheap e-bay one? I know you guys hate those, but my current razor is the cheapest one any of the websites you guys suggest have. Also, I spend most of my year in Williamsburg but occasionally get stuck in Purcellville/Leesburg, Virginia.

check your pm's..

Classic faucet ding, you folded the fine edge over, (I can tell from the shine) by using your Linen you broke off the fold which is why it is not scratching the strop any more...

No big deal.... Depending on how you use your razor it may or may not effect your shaving... Myself I could not use it, I rely on my toe and heel quite a bit when I shave, others use mainly the center...
Put it back on the linen and strop with a little more attention to that area to smooth it out some and you should be fine until you send it for honing...Assuming you don't use the toe much while you shave..

Now if by chance that PM from Shooter is an offer of help, I would suggest you take him up on it

You've gotten a lot of good advice here, most of it saying not to use the razor. I'm throwing my hat into that pot, but I can offer some DIY advice: Hone it yourself. Whatever happens, to be repaired it will need to be honed. Period.

How much work that edge will need is a little tough to estimate from the photos, but leaving a nick on the edge is a sure way to cut yourself eventually. GSSixgun's advice on stropping 'til it's flat might work, but it won't repair the edge - only reduce the danger of the nick - and you won't be able to use the toe until it's honed.

As for learning to hone, I say stay away from ebay razors or junkers in the beginning. A new razor (like yours) will be easier to hone because you know it doesn't have the problems that force you to do some tricky honing maneuvers. X-strokes with really light pressure will be all it takes. Granted, you want to use a less expensive razor just in case, but if you read the wiki on honing and go really easy, you should be fine. If not, at least the razor wasn't really expensive.

And to speak to your comment about "using the tip is a surefire way to get nicked," in a few words, you're wrong. With a little more experience you'll be able to use the tip without nicking yourself, it just takes time to learn how to shave properly and become comfortable with it. That's another reason for repairing the razor: You can learn how to use the toe better, which is great for the small areas like under your nose and your sideburns.

At this early stage in the game, you really want to eliminate the variable of a subpar razor so you can focus on technique and improving the shave itself. Sending it out might be annoying and cost a few bucks, but I'm sure you'll be glad you did.

HTH

Just trying to "pay it forward" to a noob...it was done for me. Maybe he will do the same once he's got some experience under his belt.