Thread: rolled? razor

Hey guys, I've had three shaves so far and today was the worst. It wasn't close even after two WTG passes (what I've been doing). And it felt like more of a pulling action like I hear others talk about. The culprit I believe is my stroping technique. I'm hard headed so instead of stroping with the spine leading and then rolling over one the spine to start going the other direction, I lift the razor and turn it around and go the other direction. Also I think I've been using too much force. So I have to work on it, but my problem now is its my third shave in and I don't know if I should send out the razor to get honed, buy another one, or just by a hone and start learning that side of this hobby of mine. How hard is it to sell a used hone, I really want to just get a hone 4/8, and just bring my razor back to shave ready with the 8K.

Also I've put a long handle brush and a 4/8 hone in my cart at KnifeCenter and the shipping is 9.99 which I can wipe out if I just spend $26.10 more. Should I get something else. So far I own:

Whipped dog razor/strop/pasted strop
synthetic brush
the art of shaving starter cream kit
Cella Cream De Barba soap
Glycerin
and I'm about to pull the trigger on a Schwarzweisskeramik

Also my whipped dog set came with the pasted strop, will that be enough to bring back my razor to shave ready. I have a 30X microscope similar to this

30X HAND HELD MICROSCOPE w/ CASE,ILLUMINATED FREE SHIP! | eBay

can I use that to tell if I need a rehoning, or..........

I doubt your razor is dulled too much to be resurrected.

Try stropping 30 passes on the green (chromium oxide) side of the balsa strop. Clean blade and strop 30 times on the red (iron oxide) side of the balsa strop. Clean blade and strop 40 times on the leather strop. You should be good to go!

Remember, especially with the leather strop... "Hold tight. Strop light!"

Another possibility to consider is that your razor might be nicely sharp even now. Probably not, since you seem to indicate a degradation in sharpness. But, keep in mind the possibility that newbies often conclude their shave ready razors are dull because they have wrong expectations about the razor performance. There are tons of threads about "dull" blades that aren't dull. Search the forums.

Let us know what happens, and maybe we can help further.

As an aside, give it your best shot with the balsa and leather strops. If you can't get it back to shave readiness in your opinion, feel free to send to me for a free honing. PM me or email me at [email protected].

Hi Knife,

If you're still shopping, I'd suggest a DMT 325 plate for lapping your Norton. Like the Norton, it's a standard piece of gear and you should be able to resell it easily if you change your mind. Another important hone is a 1k, for setting bevels. Check out honing in the Wiki.

I use a 10x magnifier to monitor my edges. That's enough to tell what's going on, if you know what you're looking for and looking at. 30x will work too. Just be careful about not actually touching the edge as you focus in on it. It's microscopically thin and easy to damage.

Thanks Larry thats very kind. I'll try the pasted strop idea, that should do it. It has to be a little dull because my first shave was very nice, and my second was great too. Today was when it was just a little rough, it may also be my lathering. I'll you guys know.

Thanks

Post a picture of what your lather looks like. In bowl and on the face (close up). I'd be willing to bet it ain't right....

I'd go for a better brush and that scuttle you're looking at.

I'll look up how to post pictures and I will. My lather even with supposedly shaving soap from the grocery store and spending like a minute straight swirling and mixing the lather, adding soap and glycerin (today first time) it ended up like a little more than the suds in a bubble bath. I'm going to look at some videos on lathering and work harder at it. I'll do some practice sessions tonight. The problem with the morning is, while I take my time shaving I am on limited time and lathering is a one shot deal. I can see myself really spending more time on it as I see it being more and more important. But I'll check my edge with the 10X, I thing I have brushed my edge on the 30X like roughkype suspected. My problems might be multifaceted.

Thanks