Thread: Help upgrading

So, I've upgraded myself from a shvette to straight razor, but I had some problems stropping and I think I may have dulled my knife slightly, but I'm unsure. Had a bit of trouble with my technique at first and when I got down to the shaving part the blade wasn't as sharp as I had expected.

Whilst not dull, it was certainly not as sharp as a razorblade (not even the least sharp ones I have and definately nowhere near as sharp as the feather blades). Hence my question is, how big a difference should there be (if any) and should I have my knife sharpened (or is there perhaps an alternative solution)?

Which razor, and did it come shave-ready?

There can be quite a difference in sharpness. I recently did a comparison between my razors and a Shavette with a feather. The blades needed a little tweaking but can be made as sharp or sharper than a shavette. I started with a shave ready razor from the classifieds here and had one sent out for a fresh hone. I touched them up with 0.5 micron CrOX on balsa. Stropping helped the edge. The half DE blades did not have enough heft to mow down thicker forests of whiskers for parts of my face, but having them gives one a good impression of what sharp should be. Touch up of the edge may be needed (using pastes), hopefully you won't need to re-hone. Use the locator function to find an experienced member near you for some "hands on" learning. Keep it up and smooth shaving

First don't say upgrade. It's just another method.

You can't compare a straight with a feather type because they are so different and made to be that way. Just worry about if it will shave proper forget about the comparisons.

You have the same issues as most rookies starting out so first you need to determine if the blade is shave ready and then you can worry about the stropping issue. If it won't shave and your technique is sound then you may have to do some honing on it.