Thread: Can't get sharp enough

Originally Posted by Joe Chandler

Nobody's saying you shouldn't do it yourself...it's admirable you've gone this long and keep trying. The point is you need a standard against which to gauge your results. If you don't have an example, you don't know what you should be shooting for. I got a couple from Lynn, and my honing improved overnight, because I knew what a really well-honed one should feel, and most importantly, shave like.

Joe is preaching the truth...you will not know what sharp is until you get a razor honed by Lynn. As mentioned Joe also can do it and I have heard he can put a real mean edge on a razor as well...or if you want to by a new razor John Crowleys come super sharp as well.

I dont hone yet (soon honest) but all my razors have either been honed by Lynn, Bill, or John Crowley and I know what sharp is...ortherwise I would honestly be clueless.

- send out your good one to get honed. that will give your face a bit of reprieve anyways

- get on ebay and buy 1 or 2 cheap junkers THAT DON"T HAVE CHIPPED EDGES for 5$ range. practice on those and compare your work to what you get back on the good razor from whoever honed it for you.

- LESS PRESSURE while you are doing your final laps of honing and definitely while you are stropping. i mean 0 pressure. slow down, and be precise with your stropping. i personally dulled razors for the first week+ of stropping till i fgured out i was screwing it up.

Okay, I do appreciate the advice, I will send the TI out to be sharpened. I see lots of talk about having a profesionally sharpened razor as a point of reference, and I think that's sound advice.

On another note, I went today to get myself professionally shaved at The Art of Shaving, which is near my office in Manhattan. An older Russian man named Boris did the shave, and meticulously prepped me (2 hot towels, oil, lather, more lather), then proceeded to scrape away with a feather. He made 3 passes, one with, one against, and then one consisting of him hacking away at my chin in all directions (at least he confirmed my suspicion that this is a VERY difficult part of my face). He then gave me another hot towel, a masque, a cold towel, aftershave, shaved the back of my neck with the same blade, and then some sort of rosewater spray. He was applying a fair amount of pressure throughout the shave, it seemed, not at all what I expected (I thougth in a perfect shave, the razor glides over your face).

And yet, even though he shaved me somewhat more roughly than I would ever have shaved myself, my face is perfectly comfortable now. The first straight razor shave I ever had, about 8 years ago, left my face a bloody mess.

Anyway, afterwards, I asked him for some pointers, and he showed me how to shave using a feather with a red plastic blank in it. Now this was a really special shave I had received (one I'd love to duplicate for myself over and over), but some of the things he said were clearly against the grain of what is conventional wisdom here.

First off, he said to hold the razor at a 45 degree angle to my face on the cheek. I would assume that if I did that at home I'd end up with a nice red face. Is this possible just because he used disposable blades?

Second, he said not to shave with my left hand, but instead showed me a couple different grips to use with my right.

Third, he showed me how to strop a razor by saying that you had to push the spine really hard into the hanging strop. When he did this, the strop was bowed at about a 30 degree angle. Now his strop was very well broken in, so I assume he uses it. Can this be good for a razor in any universe?

Actually, I take it back. The razor I was shaved with today was a dovo R POL 201 000. Maybe I should just get one of those...

you have a fantastic razor already. send it out to get honed.

pick up some cheapies on ebay and work on honing along with stropping. learn this way. it will take some time, but you finally get to a razor that will shave your arm hairs and then strop it. see if you get it more sharp or more dull. learn by doing again.

you get your good razor back. you have learned to strop lightly and correctly. now you strop your just received honed razor and shave... repeat for a week. the entire time you are still working on honing/stropping on your cheapies. now your GOOD razor needs a touch up, you can do this now since you been practicing with the other razors. so you touch up your good razor, and wah la! you are on your way to razor acquisition disorder!

congrats!

A few things come to my mind:

A TI can take a pretty strong hand at the beginning of the Norton combination pyramid, but definitely ease off to very gentle contact at the end.

A well made bevel like you'll get from Lynn or Joe will be easier to get back to keen once it dulls.

When you are ready to hone up a razor whether it's a practice razor or your TI, work on advancing your technique. Even pressure along the blade is a mistake IMHO. There is no such thing. If you have one level of presssure at the heel it will be different in the middle or at the tip and that will be different yet again if you are using two hands on the blade. Roll the main point of contact from the heel along to the point as you progress along the honing stroke. The 'X' stroke is intended to help facilitate this necessary action. Keep your pressure even throughout this action as each part of the razors edge gets successively focussed on and you should get better results.

X

Originally Posted by russellnyc

First off, he said to hold the razor at a 45 degree angle to my face on the cheek. I would assume that if I did that at home I'd end up with a nice red face. Is this possible just because he used disposable blades?

That's not a good idea. You need to be skilled to use that steep of an angle. The standard wisdom is to use a 30 degree angle, but ti's to your advantage to use a shallower one, if you can. I would say try two spine widths off the face.

Second, he said not to shave with my left hand, but instead showed me a couple different grips to use with my right.

That's a matter of personal choice. For example some guys use both hands equally well, whil others can't use the left hand at all.

Third, he showed me how to strop a razor by saying that you had to push the spine really hard into the hanging strop. When he did this, the strop was bowed at about a 30 degree angle. Now his strop was very well broken in, so I assume he uses it. Can this be good for a razor in any universe?

The strop should not sg noticeably. If it does you will be rounding off the edge of the razor, dulling it.

I got the razor sharp enough to shave with, I think it was my stropping that was bad to begin with. Of course, the problem now is that I've over-honed it to death trying to get it sharp, and last time I shaved I gave myself a few bad nicks just from touching the razor to my face -- this sounds like a wire edge.

I already contacted Lynn (turns out he and I had already e-mailed long ago when I joined the yahoo group), and am going to send him the TI to see if he can make it right again.

In the meantime, because I have razor acquisition disorder, I couldn't bear to be without a straight razor while sending the TI out, so I bought a Dovo which does appear to have been professionally sharpened and gave me one of the best shaves of my life out of the box. I'm enjoying the experience of the differences between the two. I will say that the TI is very light and maneuverable, which in my case isn't always the best thing. I find the weight of the Dovo steadies my hand and has made me more accurate.

At any rate, I think the TI is more of an "advanced" shaver, and I anticipate that once I grow into it I'll find it to be quite good.

Which Dovo did you buy?

The Bergischer Lowe. I really love shaving with it, and I really hate shaving with the TI. I'm sending it today for honing, if I don't like it after that, it's going to ebay.