A few weeks in, am I doing all ok?

Well.. I made it a few weeks and a loving life... My moment of serenity is enjoying an evening straight shave :)
ill explain my technique and tools, then questions.

Tools: using a boker edelweiss, aos badger brush, tobs sandalwood cream, proraso preshave, clubman aftershave and nivea or aos post shave cream.

Technique: I strop before and after each shave. When I first started the blade cut me up nicely, now no cuts at all, I actually find it hard to cut myself. I use 3 passes most times since I only shave 2-3 times/ week.

I am concerned that my blade is dulled and my stopping isn't sharpening but instead dulling. Im still getting great shaves but can't imagine technique is so much better already. Is there a way to test? I'm happy with my shaves, but want to make sure stropping technique is good. Another reason I'm unsure is because my first
pass sounds terrible. Scraping galore. Assume it's due to long beard, but I didn't think there would be much sound from shaving. Is this normal?

Finally, strop care and hones. Do I need to do anything to the leather? There seems to be mixed opinion. And what about a hone? I caught the bug and bought a few razors on eBay, hehe, and wonder if I should try to sharpen them.
Thnaks, and glad to be here!

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Originally Posted by leo95se

...but I didn't think there would be much sound from shaving. Is this normal?

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If you have a stiff dense beard and use a hollow ground razor it is a symphony.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by leo95se

Finally, strop care and hones. Do I need to do anything to the leather? There seems to be mixed opinion. And what about a hone? I caught the bug and bought a few razors on eBay, hehe, and wonder if I should try to sharpen them.
Thnaks, and glad to be here!

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Rub the leather with the palm of your hand before use. Unless it is very old and dried out this should be sufficient. Stropping is all about technique and requires concentration and practice, practice, practice. As others have said "Hold tight, Strop light". If you have razors you don't mind injuring get some hones and give it go. There is a contest this month for us newbies the prize for which is a full set of razor hones. SRP is populated with some of the best talent in the razor business and they are generous with there hard learned wisdom. Read read read and watch the videos. Anything gssixgun posts is worth your time. He posts a lot though so start with his videos. It would be wise to send your razor to him or one of the others here to have it professionally sharpened and made shave ready. You will have a proper baseline to judge your own work stropping and honing......

Welcome aboard and enjoy the ride. Take your time and as Lynn signs HAVE FUN

agree with jaswarn, hand rub your strop to take oil from your skin and apply to the leather. I have a English Bridle strop that I do this to 2-3 times a day and I just love how it feels after a year of doing this.

You said you picked up a couple of EBay razors. Pick the nicest of them and send out for professional honing. This will give you another razor that you can fall back to if your primary is in question or allow you to compare how the edge is holding up. With one usable straight as the edge degrades without that fresh razor to compare to you sometimes forget what it was like when freshly sharpened. Then you will have a the other ebay razor(s) to work on and try to get it to the point that it is close to those you are using. As beginners I find it is important to have that base line to compare to often because in reality our lack of experience makes it hard for us to know good from bad and hardware failure from technique failure.

Great advice.. Thanks folks! I'll consider a honing set in the future, and keep at stropping to see if I notice change. My boker was professionally sharpened by Lynn but its my primary, so maybe I'll consider for one of the others to use as a reference.