First attempt at refreshing an edge...
Hello all!
I've got three straights, two of them were expertly honed by forum members, and one (my first) was sharpened not so expertly at a local knife shop (newbie mistake). Anyway they all shaved well. Two were excellent, and could easily "pop" arm hair above the skin.
I'd shave with one until it started to pull and when stropping could no longer stop the pulling I moved on to the next razor with the idea that I'd take them all to the CROX sprayed felt in my SRD modular paddle strop at the same time and start the cycle again. So the weekend before last having run out of razors and not in the mood for one of my DE's I decided to take them to the paddle. I did 10 passes with no/light pressure on the CROX and gave them a wipe (to clear off the green dust). What I found though was that they were not nearly as sharp as before. They shaved but not without pulling and barely cut my arm hair at the base.
What have I done to my razors and how can I fix it?
What should expectations be on a refreshed edge?
Given the fact that my razors started pulling after only 6-8 uses I suspect my stropping technique is not what it should be yet. This, of course, poses problems when trying to refresh using yet another strop. But I will say I get better stropping results using the SRD Paddle.
Any Idea what I might be able to do to bring my razors back? Here are the tools currently at my disposal.
1 - TI 5/8 C135 razor
1 - JR Torrey 4/8-ish near wedge
1 - Geneva Cutlery 5/8-ish Pyramid
SRD Modular Paddle
1 - Premium I Leather Pad
1 - Rough Leather Pad
1 - CROX Sprayed Felt Pad (.5 Micron)
1 - Diamond Sprayed Felt Pad (.5 Micron)
1 - 2 inch wide DOVO strop with leather and linen
1 - Vintage Monark 2.5-ish Strop (Leather/Very Stiff Canvas)
1 - Pike Swaty Barber Hone which I have yet to use (it was lapped prior to me getting it)
Again any and all help would be greatly appreciated!