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!

Caveat: I'm just a newbie and not all that knowledgeable, but when after a month or two a couple of my razors (all honed by pros and done well) started to tug, I got a barber's hone (from one of the vendors here--already lapped) and after reading the simplest technique on using a hone in the wiki, found I was able to refresh the edge pretty good with about ten x strokes on the barber's hone. That and gradual improvements in my stropping technique have helped me refresh my edges pretty well. Eventually I'll need to send them out for re-honing but so far, so good.

I think Lynn has a video here , on how to use a barber hone . All you should need are 5-7 light "X" strokes . Then , you might want to give the razor 10 strokes on a pasted paddle strop , but it's not mandatory . Remember to keep your razor flat on the hone .

+1 On the barber's hone advice. That Pike swaty is supposed to be a real nice hone, and several of the very knowledgeable guys here have used barber hones to maintain their razors indefinitely. The whole premise for a barber's hone is that it would quickly refresh a just sub-par edge so that the barber could quickly get back to work.

I have yet to need to use my barber's hone for that purpose, but have full faith that a good honing technique and a good stropping technique can keep your blades going for a very long time. The question then becomes...do I have said technique? Time will tell.

Peace,

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Originally Posted by dave5225

I think Lynn has a video here , on how to use a barber hone . All you should need are 5-7 light "X" strokes . Then , you might want to give the razor 10 strokes on a pasted paddle strop , but it's not mandatory . Remember to keep your razor flat on the hone .

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I'll watch the barber hone section of the world of straight razor dvd and give the pike swaty a shot....I just wish I knew what I'm doing wrong with the crox. Also I just noticed that the swaty I have, while smooth and flat fo the most part, has a couple of chips along the edges....that might be a problem

If all you needed was a refresh the CrO should have done the trick. So, there are two possibilities, 1-It was beyond CrO and needed some work on a hone or 2-Your strop technique may have dulled the edge evnn more than you started out with.

1+ to the big spender!

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Originally Posted by thebigspendur

If all you needed was a refresh the CrO should have done the trick. So, there are two possibilities, 1-It was beyond CrO and needed some work on a hone or 2-Your strop technique may have dulled the edge evnn more than you started out with.

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This is what I thought and feared. Is there any recourse (barber hone for example) or will I have to send these out for a proper rehone?

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Originally Posted by porridgeorange

I'll watch the barber hone section of the world of straight razor dvd and give the pike swaty a shot....I just wish I knew what I'm doing wrong with the crox. Also I just noticed that the swaty I have, while smooth and flat fo the most part, has a couple of chips along the edges....that might be a problem

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If you bevel or round the edges of the hone , the chips if they are small shouldn't be a problem . Is the back side of the hone chipped , too ? I think the barber hone can fix any damage caused by bad stropping . I think you should see what you can do with the barber hone , before you send it out to be honed .

I would start with the Cro. Beginners tend to ruin their near shave ready edges with their first try to touch up the razor on a hone. If the cro is not enough, than try the hone, very, very careful and slow.

+1 to all the advice above. I'm new and also dulled my edge with what I suspect was poor stropping technique. I purchased a barber hone but was not sure how to use it and did so without watching Lynn's video. I think I used too much pressure or something and ruined the edge further. Luckily for me, a local experienced member was able to hone my edge back to shave ready. I've been careful with the stropping since and the edge is still wicked sharp. Good luck!

Chrome ox should be more than sufficient for a touch up. I used it exclusively in the beginning, before I got a finishing stone to do hone touch ups, and still do. It should feel like sharpness has been restored to the edge, not dull by any means. Like some of the others, I suspect that the edge was either too far gone for chrome to be effective or you somehow duffed it with your technique, perhaps both. Out of curiosity, in which direction did you move the razor when using the paddle? Was is spine forward (like in stropping) or edge forward (like in honing)? I really don't mean to be condescending, but this has been an issue with newbs in the past.

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Originally Posted by Ryan82

Chrome ox should be more than sufficient for a touch up. I used it exclusively in the beginning, before I got a finishing stone to do hone touch ups, and still do. It should feel like sharpness has been restored to the edge, not dull by any means. Like some of the others, I suspect that the edge was either too far gone for chrome to be effective or you somehow duffed it with your technique, perhaps both. Out of curiosity, in which direction did you move the razor when using the paddle? Was is spine forward (like in stropping) or edge forward (like in honing)? I really don't mean to be condescending, but this has been an issue with newbs in the past.

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I used the stropping stroke. Spine forward, heel slightly leading, 5 x strokes, 5 straight strokes with little to no pressure. I also kept the paddle on a table and tried to focus on keeping the blasde flat and in contact at all times. I could try the swaty but a new stroke is a new variable and a whole new set of potential problems....maybe I'll try the cro again and see how that goes first.
Thanks!

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Originally Posted by oldsCool

Caveat: I'm just a newbie and not all that knowledgeable, but when after a month or two a couple of my razors (all honed by pros and done well) started to tug, I got a barber's hone (from one of the vendors here--already lapped) and after reading the simplest technique on using a hone in the wiki, found I was able to refresh the edge pretty good with about ten x strokes on the barber's hone. That and gradual improvements in my stropping technique have helped me refresh my edges pretty well. Eventually I'll need to send them out for re-honing but so far, so good.

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After reading the comments and looking again at Lynn's video--about 5 x strokes should be enough if you ever decide to go that route. I probably used a few more, but the video is pretty clear as are the other comments by more experienced members here. Thanks to all for the better advice.

I went the barber hone route. I did have one issue, when I did my first stroke I noticed that hard as I triedthe edge was not flat across the hone for the entire stroke. Turns out that what I thought was a flat hone was not. So I got to spend about 2 hours flattening it with sand paper. But when i got it done it was all worth it. I gave each of my razors 5-6 strokes on the Pike Swaty then finished with 5 strokes on crox and a good stropping on rough leather and SRD Premium I. The results were fantastic! Thanks to all those that provided me with so much excellent advice. My face thanks you gentlemen!

Hooray! Ain't life grand? (just refreshed an edge on a Spyderco Ultra-Fine and had a close irritation free shave last night).

Time to cue that song with the recurring lyric "I got the power!"

grand indeed!

Awesome! Glad you got it sorted out.