Bought a new razor but...

First of all, I live in Holland, so if my english looks crooked I apologize, for it has been many years since I left school...

Second, I recently bought a straight razor to shave with (obviously) after I found out that the blades for my GMach3 were too expensive. I had some experience about 10 years ago with a straight. On my right cheek it shaved perfectly, but on my left cheek I dug it in and was left with a cut razorwide. After that I looked at the razor with great respect, but never trusted it to come near my face again...

So, some weeks ago I bought a new one. Just a simple one form Solingen (no DOVO or somthing like that). When I tried to shve my armhair they broke off just above stubble-level (about 0,6 mm remained). So I bought myself a strop and begain stropping. No result. Again I made myself an extra strop (as leathercrafter I now know what kind of leather to use) and rubbed it in with green paste.
Stropping on the green strop and straightening on the blank strop gave me (after some stropping) a good result on my arm.
As I have read many topics on the forum I did try the HHT, but no result on this.

OK, let's go to shaving... What a dissapoinyment. The razor slipped over the beard as skiing over snow with a lot of sand over it.
Again back to the stropping, armhair OK, HHT not, bodyhair (about the same thickness as my beard) could only be cut with a cutting movement like slicing bread. Shaving....well... just some hairs in the lather but no clean shave.

I've tried almost anything except for honing. But I wanted to postpone buying a stone for about 6 months or so and train with it on some old razors I have lying around, before putting this razor on the stone.

Please help, where is it going wrong?

(in the meanwhile I am still traing with Jaguar with changeble blades, good results and as time and practice goes by, even less cuts)

Unfortunately, new razors are usually not ready for shaving. It's unclear from your post but it sounds like you tested your blade by shaving your arm hair by running the blade along the skin? Unfortunately this only tells you that you're beginning to get pocketknife-sharp, once you can cut armhair with the blade hovering a millimeter or so above the skin, then you're getting razor-sharp.

The green paste (chromium oxide) is I think somewhere around 0.5 microns, which is too fine to sharpen a blade that dull. You need either a fine stone or a barber's hone. If you wish to stay with the pasted strop, you need 3 micron and 1 micron diamond pastes. Once the blade is popping hairs from this, then you go to the chromium oxide for extra polishing.

If I misunderstood, and your armhair test did involve hovering the blade above the skin and it still doesn't shave very well, then it may be that the chromium oxide is putting too fine of a polish on the blade. For my beard I prefer to stop at about 1 micron, if I go to the chromium oxide the blade gets sharper (cuts armhair better) but shaves my face worse; I think the finer grooves in the edge of the blade don't get as good of a bite into the lather-lubricated whiskers even though the blade is sharper.

Thanks for your reply, but the problem seems to be solved.
This afternoon I went to the store where I bought the razor and the kind lady said: "With such a price on such an knife it should shave. Bring your razor and we'll send it back to the manufacturer."

And yes, I have tried all the mentioned hairtests: HHT, armhair close to the skin, armhair hovering about 1 mm above the skin, bodyhair held between thumb and forefinger... Every time the same result: armhair close..OK, rest...failed.

I await another razor I have bought through ebay, and I will post the resultst with that one soon!

First off, let me say that your english is just fine. In fact, it's better than a lot of native speakers :)

Now, as for your razor troubles, it sounds to me as though your razor could use a honing. Stropping, even with a pasted strop, will only do so much to help the edge. It's possible that your stropping technique might not be proper, but you haven't explained preciesly how you're doing it, so, I won't pass judgement on it.

Since you're looking to defer your purchase of a hone for some time, you can always send out your razor to be honed by one of the honemeisters on our forums. I know Lynn (adjustme69) is one such person who does it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pinda

...This afternoon I went to the store where I bought the razor and the kind lady said: "With such a price on such an knife it should shave. Bring your razor and we'll send it back to the manufacturer."
...
I await another razor I have bought through ebay, and I will post the resultst with that one soon!

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Razors that are fresh from manufacturers (even reputable ones such as Dovo and TI) are quite often NOT shave ready. However, with a pasted & normal strop and proper technique, they can usually be brought to shave readiness. ebay razors on the other hand almost always require some work on a hone.

@ToxIk
Thnx for your compliment (I wil tell my old english teacher I háve learned something after all...:cool: )
It wil be a bit difficult sending my razor to the States just to be honed. See my post, problem seems to be solved.

The ebay razor is new, not used...

@mparker762
When I get my razor back I will order the pastes you mentioned. I can make m own strops, so it wouldn't hurt to try. In fact I believe in your theory, that the microteeth on the edge could grab the hairs better.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pinda

Thanks for your reply, but the problem seems to be solved.
This afternoon I went to the store where I bought the razor and the kind lady said: "With such a price on such an knife it should shave. Bring your razor and we'll send it back to the manufacturer."

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If the store person thinks they will send it back to Dovo and they will sharpen it or replace it with anything other than another not shave ready razor they obviously don't know much about them.

A new razor, right from the box, especially from Dovo is not going to be shave ready. They can only do so much and get them reasonably sharp but not sharp enough to shave. Many of the knife shops here will tell a customer much the same thing.......that they are ready to go and no honing is needed.

Get a shave ready used razor from a group member, a new razor from Classic Shaving and have Lynn hone it or from me, already honed. These will be ready to use.

Tony

Pinda

Hi from the UK

I have also had similar experiences recently. I bought a DOVO when visiting the Taylor of Old Bond Street shop in London, being assured that it was "shave ready". I discovered reality when I got home when I tried to shave with it.- blunt

I sent it back to them and they readily agreed to exchange for another one.
Result - just the same.

Pity that I didn't discover this site before buying my razor !

Last week I visited my barber for a haircut and told him of my problems. He offered to prepare my razor for me using my new strop. Unfortunately he had an accident and cut the strop, which he has now (today) kindly replaced at his expense.

I hope tomorrow to try , at last, to have a shave with my new kit.

One thing confuses me however. the guy in the Taylor' s shop stated and this is also confirmed on the "idiots guide" leaflet that I was given, is that when stropping you strop on the leather side first and finish off on the linen side ( to remove the leather dust). My barber confirms that this is also what he does.

In reading the various posts on this site concerning stropping procedures this seems to be totally at odds with the recommendations detailed here.

What do you think ?

This novice to straight edge shaving ( although 45 years wet shaving) would appreciate your views.

Cheers
John

Its slightly debatable. 99% of users would use the linen first. Perhaps the cross aligned fabric aligns the edge sideways and warms the blade a little. The leather is better for finishing. It smoothes and flattens the edge prior to shaving. Some, a long time ago, noticed equal ability the other way around. Think of it as smoothing and then aligning. They claimed that it depended on the razor steel though, not working for all blades.

I'd stick with linen then leather for now. Test it yourself and tell us what you think. I can validate that using both will help a lot. Once you use both, the order that you utilize them becomes pretty unimportant.

for me: linnen first then leather.

as for the honinh thing. I mailed him because he doens't live very far from here. And if the razor he gets back still isn't ready I'll meet up with him and we'll do some honing together. Lately my self honed razors have been turning out very good so I'd trust myself with showing it to someone else.

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Originally Posted by Rangefinder10

My barber confirms that this is also what he does.

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And you trust him after he severed your strop? Just what kind of "accident" do you think he had? I know some newbies who have had the same accident.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AFDavis11

The leather is better for finishing. It smoothes and flattens the edge prior to shaving.

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I think it depends on how you honed. If you went up to 12-15K, I doubt that you could notice the effect theat normal stropping would have. These days I strop after honing pretty much out of habit and the times I haven't, I haven't noticed a difference.

When stropping really makes a difference is on a razor that has been used for shaving. Then, it pushes together the microserrations making the edge look thinner (sharper).

For the same reason, I refresh an edge after stropping. Actually, thisis only natural because I would refresh only if stropping didn't resore the sharpness.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AFDavis11

The leather is better for finishing. It smoothes and flattens the edge prior to shaving.

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I think it depends on how you honed. If you went up to 12-15K, I doubt that you could notice the effect theat normal stropping would have. These days I strop after honing pretty much out of habit and the times I haven't, I haven't noticed a difference.

When stropping really makes a difference is on a razor that has been used for shaving. Then, it pushes together the microserrations making the edge look thinner (sharper).

For the same reason, I refresh an edge after stropping. Actually, thisis only natural because I would refresh only if stropping didn't resore the sharpness.

Got my ebay blade in the mail yesterday afternoon. It's a real el cheapo, it costed me € 8,50 (shipping from Germany included), about $ 10,-.
It looks nice, it's not as sophisticated as a DOVO, but it has a gold-etching on the blade. And, the blade is absolutely new, no second-hand.

I tried to shave my armhair with the fresh blade (it hadn't touched no leather) and surprised as I was, it popped of the hair, hovering about 2mm above the skin, as a treat!

This mornig I wil try it out on my facial hair. Before I went to sleep I stropped the knife. If it works I wil order more of these blades, if not I could always use it for honing-practice...:hmmm:

As for the other stropping-discussion started: I believe, after reading almost every site on classic shaving, that every person should strop his (her?) razor as he feels right. So, linen first, then leather, or the other way around, it's what YOU belive in and gives YOU the best result.
Also I came to believe its not the shining sharpness that does the job, but the micro-serrations you get from honing. Therefore, I believe a freshely honed blade could give you the result you want. And you should strop after the first shave, to redirect the edge in the right way. This could be my way, but others believe in other ways of stropping. I firmly believe, there is no wrong way to do it, just do it the way it fits you.

Are there more out there who believe the same? Maybe we could make it into a religion ;)

Looks like you got plenty of good advice on the thread already, but I had to say that I am impressed with your English. It always amazes me when someone can speak/understand another language dang near better than I do with just one. Welcome to the group...

Thank you very much urleebird. I consider it a great honour to get this kind of compliments from native speakers! If you wish I can teach you to speak Dutch...;)
There is an explanation on how we Dutch can speak more languages. First of all most of us are tought English, German and French in highschool. Where as English is obligatory, German and French we could choose from to take an exam in. (those were the early days, I am 41 and in the meanwhile the whole schoolsystem has changed). Second, most part of the internet is in english, so to understand and learn more in my trade (I have a small business in IT) I must speak and understand English. Third, Holland is small country and if want to compete to the rest of the world, we must make ourselves understandable. And fourth, I just like the language, especially the way you Americans use it... (Pls forgive me, all you British out there..;) )

To return to the title of this post: I just tried the el cheapo razor and by Jupiter it took the hairs of my cheek!! I was a bit nervous, so I didn't get the correct angle to shave and because I am in a bit of a hurry, I had to finish with the Gillette :eek: . Tomorrow I will strop it some on the green strop and see how it goes.

I have no cuts or nicks, so I can present myself in town this afternoon..:cool:

Congratulations Pinda. It sounds like you're climbing the straight razor learning curve quite quickly. I'm sure you'll be enjoying the shaves once you get your technique all worked out and razor at the keeness you desire.

Just finished my sundaymornig shave with the el cheapo. It came out like I have never shaved before.
Started out with giving the knife a strop on the green strop and finished stropping on the blank strop. This time no HHT or anything fancy like that, but straight to shaving.

Last night I have melted my soap (Vergulde Hand tablet, a wellknown Dutch manufacturer of shaving soaps for over 400 years ) into a bowl I bought from Xenos (cheap household accesories shop, I'm sure the dutch honemeisters know what I'm talking about). It gave me a great amount of lather.
So I lathered my face, and began to work it in with my fingers, against the grain (something I learned from my grandfather, the man who shaved himself 10 times with Gillette-like blades in the early 30's...ouch), and lathered some more.

Aaah, the shaving itself was a treat. It seamed the knive barely touched my skin, but the beard came off as never before. The rest I won't have to describe, you all know the feeling I guess. And if not, do try another razor :) .

Thanks for all you advice, it helped a lot.

Grtz,
Erik

Erik, you may want to think twice before calling a good shaver "el-cheapo". 2 of the top 3 shavers in my rotation were in the 7-10EUR range (shipped). They shave as well as or better than a DOVO that cost me a bit over 70EUR (and it was a bargain) and definitely better than some better known names from Sheffield and Solingen. In any case, I'm glad you had a blast. Now you're hooked. No other shaving method will ever feel the same.

Here is a picture of the strop in question. I'm a bit relieved that I only use the guy for a haircut and not for a shave. To his credit he did replace it with a new one for me.

I suppose that it just goes to show that even experienced folk can have a problem from time to time.

Cheers
John

I don't care how experienced he is, this is just BRUTAL :eek: I don't know how he'd do this by accident. It would take a conscious effort and I'd rather do it with a butcher knife so I don't ruin all of my honing effort on destroying a strop. I wouldn't let this guy bring any sharp object (scissors included) within 100' of my face. As for his experience.. He is probably an experienced Chilean interrogator from the Pinochet era.

I get visions of the barber digging his knife into my ear.

That's the way to get rid of irritating clients (and all of the waiting too, of course :hmmm: )....