Will it ever sharpen?

So I picked up a new stainless Boker from SRD and am anticipating my first shave. I grew two days worth of stubble, but I can't seem to get the blade sharp enough to cut a hanging hair or my arm hairs. I've done no less than 250 laps on the strop. I thought that a new professional honed razor from SRD would only require some stropping to get going.

Was stainless wrong to pick? Do I need to get a pasted strop to get it closer? I'm planning on putting a little strop dressing down on my new SRD premium II strop to help soften it.

Any thoughts? Without a hanging hair able to be cut nor my arm hairs I am hesitant to start a first shave.

- Vicenzo

Most of my razors won't pass the hht but they shave just fine, give it a shave test and see how it goes. In my opinion 250 seems like a lot of stropping. I normally do about 35 on linen and 40-50 on leather, I have also never used and strop dressing on my strops but have also never had the srd premium II, but I don't imagine it should need it

there is also a chance of improper stropping going on and he has rolled the edge.....

see if there is a honemeister on here close to you or ups it to them.... you may have to wait a few more days for your first straight shave but at least you know you will have perfection in your hand when you do it........

Thanks for the quick reply. I'm moments away from that first test on the face.

It seems sharp enough to catch me face hair in a simple dry test. Once I soften the hairs up a bit with a shower and soap lather then it might just work. As for the strop, the leather seems moderately supple, but the drag seems very light. Almost a glossy kind of new finish. I was hoping a little bit of conditioner would increase the drag slightly and help with the stropping. I know I don't want to overdo it but the blade is slipping a bit and I've already gotten some small nicks in the surface from when I ever so slightly return the blade back onto the strop before I lifted the edge. Lessons learned I suppose.

I will give the blade a try shortly and post details.

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Originally Posted by paco664

there is also a chance of improper stropping going on and he has rolled the edge.....

see if there is a honemeister on here close to you or ups it to them.... you may have to wait a few more days for your first straight shave but at least you know you will have perfection in your hand when you do it........

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This was the problem I had with my first razor, I rolled the edge and tore the crap out of my face not knowing I had messed up the edge (my lather wasn't the best either, but the rolled edge was the #1 culpret).
Be careful not to use too much pressure when stropping, I learned the hard way.

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Originally Posted by Vicenzo

So I picked up a new stainless Boker from SRD (which was shave ready when it came to you) and am anticipating my first shave. I grew two days worth of stubble, (Doing fine so far) but I can't seem to get the blade sharp enough to cut a hanging hair (major screw up) or my arm hairs.(small screw up) I've done no less than 250 laps on the strop.(second major screw up) I thought that a new professional honed razor from SRD would only require some stropping to get going. (probably not any stropping)

Was stainless wrong to pick? (nope) Do I need to get a pasted strop to get it closer? (nope) I'm planning on putting a little strop dressing down on my new SRD premium II strop to help soften it. (doesn't need it)

Any thoughts? Without a hanging hair able to be cut nor my arm hairs I am hesitant to start a first shave. (yes I do have a few thoughts)


- Vicenzo

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First welcome to SRP, you are the person this website is for, we are designed to help people get started in this hobby many of us love so much...
For you and any other beginners reading this here are some mistakes made that I pointed out above...
You started out right by getting a Shave Ready Razor from a very reputable source, then decided that you knew better than a person that has sharpened more razors then all of us on here combined...
I only wish that we could somehow erase every reference about the HHT from the Internet, or at least make it so that not one beginner could ever read it..
You might be able to shave that razor only a shave will tell, please read carefully about shaving for the first time and only shaving the easiest part of your face (sideburn to jaw line)
Give it a shot and see what happens...

GL

ps: This thread might help http://straightrazorpalace.com/begin...ay-2011-a.html

The only real test is the shave test. Thats the only way to tell if the blade is a good shaver.

I have a Boker I got from SRD and all I had to do was strop and shave. That razor passed the HHT for me about 60% of the time, for my dad all the time and a friend of mine couldnt get it to work at all. One razor, three different test results but the shave was great! :)

Make sure you really focus on the pre shave prep. The way I like to do things is lather up, strop the razor with the lather sitting, then whap a hot towel over the top for a minute or two, then relather and only then start the shave.

Keep the angle to two spines widths or under and keep the pressure as light as possible. The edge should literally only just kiss your face. Its better to make three passes like that than try to take everything off with one pass and irritate your face.

After the shave rinse your face with hot water and then with cold, then apply some sort of non alcohol based ASB. Cologne should only go on the sides of the neck so you dont dry out your face with the alcohol. Some folks can apply alcohol to an area they shaved but I reckon its better to err on the side of caution and not do it when you first start. Play it safe at the beginning! :)

Good luck and keep us posted! :)

Thanks for all of the helpful info, I do have Lynn's DVD and have gone through it about three times.

Ok, here's the latest on the razor and shave. Remember that I'm pretty comfortable with the wets shave scene having done it for two years with a safety razor. I lathered up my favorite and most familiar combination....shower, proraso pre, cella soap with silver tip. I started my first pass down the cheek and jawbone on my dominant right side. The blade edge engaged lightly against the skin and at the stubble. I slid the edge down and I got tugging at the hairs instead of cutting. The edge is obviously to me not sharp enough. I picked up my reeked HD and Feather and whammy...lawn mowing perfectly through the hairs. Obviously I am going to have to work the edge thing better.

Perhaps my stropping either affected the edge poorly or it just wasn't there to begin with. When I opened the razor it had some oil on the blade, I presumed from some hone prep from Lynn. There does seem to be a nice bevel based upon light reflections. It just is not sharp enough to get through the hair without perhaps a lot of pressure.

Now what? Get a pasting strop and try some .5 micron croc or diamond to help?

- Vince

Its possible that as someone new to stropping you miscued and dulled the edge slightly. To be honest I'd recommend sending it back to SRD and using the free honing they give you rather than trying to touch it up yourself.

I know you said you are an experienced DE user but straights are a different ball game and learning to hone and use a straight at the same time is potentially a recipe for frustration!

When you get the razor back from SRD just wipe the oil off and shave right away. Hopefully that'll improve things!

The oil was just to protect the blade from rust. I think you should have it honed. The honer will probably also strop it before they pack it up and ship it back to you, and they'll probably coat the blade with oil too. Just wipe off the oil and shave.

Thanks guys for all of the input. I am going to reach out to Lynn as well and probably send it back for a rehone. I am concerned early though. I was very careful in most of my stropping technique - or at least it seemed I was. If I did something to dull it enough to require a rehone so soon then I will probably need some hands on guidance. It would seem that it is a very fine difference in stropping technique. I am ok to not get out honing stones and instead send the razor back to Lynn. If the problem can be solved with the strop I would like to work that first simply for the learning opportunity.

Just got off the phone with Lynn at SRD...what fantastic customer service and a great guy to get info from. We decided that I am going to take another try at the shave to make certain that my angle of cut is in check. If its a no-go still he is going to assis me with the recommended rehone. Part of the experince here is I need to establish more of a personal feel in the edge to make a sharpness determination. I love the new shaving challenge and am looking forward to the months ahead. Thanks to all who have helped.

Send it back to SRD with the free honing certificate, next time don't worry about tests or even stropping. While there is nothing wrong with doing 250 laps when stropping correctly if your doing it wrong your just damaging a very find blade. You will never get a straight to feel as sharp as your feather blades, they have platinum or Teflon coatings that make them slicker than a ducks backside. Don't worry about getting it sharp it will be from SRD just wipe off oil, prep for shave and shave. You already have all your experience from wet shaving so you only have one major hurdle to clear and if you keep at it you will. Don't worry 80% of first timers (myself included) get their first razor from Lynn and say "there's no way this is sharp enough" the first lesson is that it is and you are wrong, then it's just a matter of watching videos until you get it.

Edit: looks like I'm a bit late

Yep...this might just be getting used to the feel of a straight against the skin. I will recheck the angle and see if the pulling becomes a cut.

- Vicenzo


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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=29.773870,-95.560864

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Originally Posted by Mastershake

This was the problem I had with my first razor, I rolled the edge and tore the crap out of my face not knowing I had messed up the edge (my lather wasn't the best either, but the rolled edge was the #1 culpret).
Be careful not to use too much pressure when stropping, I learned the hard way.

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On rolling the edge, just how unforgiving is this? If one was to roll the edge just once and relatively lightly is that enough to dull the blade and therefore no amount of stropping will correct this?

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Originally Posted by planetocean

On rolling the edge, just how unforgiving is this? If one was to roll the edge just once and relatively lightly is that enough to dull the blade and therefore no amount of stropping will correct this?

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Stropping wouldn't fix it in my case, I had to take her back to the stones.
I used a couple reverse strokes (just like stropping) on my 800 stone to remove the roll and then honed her up as usual. I finish with a 4000 water stone and then a strop with polishing compound.
She turned out fine in the end!