Thread: Skipping blade?

Hey everyone,

I recently got a 6/8" Dovo Special and have been trying diligently to use it. I have been trying to go WTG in order to get used to using the blade but I find that it isn't really cutting my hair. I try to hold the blade at a 30 degree angle but I have not been finding much success with this as the blade keeps seeming to get caught on my skin and/or hair. This leads to the blade "skipping" across my face as I try to cut. By skipping I mean that the blade catches and I either lift it off my face entirely and try again or I (gently) try to move the blade down to cut my hair and the blade ends up doing a catch/release pattern down my cheek so I end up with a pattern of lines in the lather on my cheek, rather than having all the lather removed.

I haven't cut myself at all as I keep minimal pressure on the blade but I find this quite disconcerting and usually end up having to put the blade away and go back to my cartridge razor because it is playing havoc with my nerves.

I have tried making the angle narrower and the blade goes over my face fine but then it doesn't cut anything. Making the angle wider doesn't seem to help much either. I thought it might be my beard prep as I have fairly tough hair (which dries out amazingly fast) so today I tried taking a hot shower first (lots of steam; 30+ minutes), made some lather to apply to my face, stropped my blade, rinsed the lather off and re-lathered. Even with all that I was still encountering the skipping that I had experienced earlier. Does anyone here have any suggestions?

There are several possibilities but I would guess the razor isn't shave ready. Skipping is usually a blade problem. Maybe a wire edge?

Did you have it honed for you after you bought it? I am assuming you bought it new, and although they state it to be shave ready from the factory, that, reportedly, is rarely the case. It might be a good idea to have it shipped to one of the honers on this forum.

Hi,

I'd also look at getting it professionally honed. I noticed a similar issue with my razors when they are not sharp enough.

- Mike

There are a few causes I can think of that lead to blade skippage: improper technique (ie - less than confident stroke), a dulling blade and long whiskers. You could possibly try some more skin stretching on 1 or 2 days growth and see what happens.

I just had my first shave with a dovo invisible edge and I also had a similar problem. There is probably a pretty good chance that it was user error, but I'm going to try another razor I purchased as well to see if it makes a difference.

Was it made shave ready by a Reputable Honemiester????

Other than SRD which hones every blade, and some of us restorers here...
Most everywhere else either tells you it is sharpened at the factory or that it costs $15-$20 extra to have it Professionally Sharpened....

If the razor was not made "Shave Ready" by somebody that knows what they are doing, your wasting your time, and risking your skin...

If the blade is shave ready then it is most often user error

I bought the blade from Straight Razor Designs so I trust that it was shave ready when shipped. Of course by now I could have possibly dulled it via stropping.

I suspect it is user error, any suggestions on some things I can try (I saw the skin stretching suggestion and will try that, I was just seeing if there was anything else I could do).

Blade angle, Skin stretching, Prep/Lather about in that order are the most common problems...

Try the shave test..

The shave test...
You hear this a lot on the forums but what is it????

Prep your beard really well then make the best lather you can manage, wet your face and lather up... Wait ,,, wait,,,wait about 2 minutes.. Now during that waiting you could be stropping the razor but most Honemeisters ask that you DO NOT strop before the first shave...

Now wet the razor.

And on your strong side using your strong hand stretching the skin by pulling up with the weak hand over the top of your head...Start at the Sideburn using a 20-30 degree angle (about 2 spine widths from the face) shave to the jaw line,,, No pressure toward the skin just a nice smooth stroke WTG...

The razor should not pull, tug, or skip, in fact you should be rather surprised with how easy it was... That is it, now do the other side and stop...

If it didn't work, then it might actually be the edge... and I still say might, because there are still things in there a Newb can mess up, but we eliminated a ton of them...

Really until this works well, there is no sense in trying the rest of your face, it will just hurt...


Also read this thread it is enlightenting for a Newb

http://straightrazorpalace.com/shavi...n-apology.html


Hope that all helps a bit anyway....

Knowing it was honed by Lynn, I'm going to offer what was my initial thought. Poor lather. That's the only thing that I have ever had cause skipping like you referenced.