Getting somewhere now

For the longest time I was shaving with a shavette and about a month ago I finally broke the bank and picked up a Dovo straight razor from straight-razor designs. I've been shaving with that razor for about a month now and it doesn't quite have the edge it used to have. I am still working on my stropping technique so maybe my poor technique has dulled the blade a bit. Needless to say, my shaves lately haven't been that great, especially around the neck area. It seems really early to have the razor honed since I've only had it for a month now. Any suggestions as to what I should do from here? Is my stropping causing the balde to loose its edge?

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Originally Posted by pwm5024

Any suggestions as to what I should do from here? Is my stropping causing the balde to loose its edge?

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Likely your stropping needs practice. If you have a balsa strop or cloth with some paste try 10 laps then do 60 on leather. You receive a second honing free from SRD if that doesn't bring back the edge.

If you can't bring shave ready edge back using pasted strop, likely you will need to send it for honing, don't worry everyone was there someone earlier someone later :)

Thanks for the help. Going to work on my stropping and see if I can bring the edge back, if not i'll be sending for honing.

Get some newspaper -- from the advert section -- with lots of ink on the page. Fold it over and lay it on the edge of your kitchen counter. Strop your razor about 50 laps on the newspaper and give the edge a TPT. Repeat until you're happy with the results of the TPT, replacing the newspaper as needed.

You'll likely feel satisfied by the time you hit 200 laps. Then do 90 - 100 laps on leather and shave test.

Done properly, the above WILL get your edge back for you tonight -- without added expense or waiting for a new pasted strop to arrive in the mail.
Namaste,
Morty -_-

I don't know what's causing your razor to dull, but I can tell you its quite OK to go through this. As your stropping improves, which won't take long at all, you won't need to send your razor out for honing nearly as often. Its part of the learning curve.

Now, you can always take up honing as a second facet to the shaving hobby and maintain your own razors, but I will not be held responsible for the financial consequences :)

I've managed to avoid it so far.

Yeah, I'd dive in with utter, utter abandon and buy a Shapton 16k, watch some honing videos (and I mean really watch them and concentrate) read about honing, tape the edge, and give it ten laps on the Shapton, very light and REALLY concentrating on your form. But many will disagree. It is likely that poor stropping technique stropping has led to a degraded edge. That's normal at first. I do tend to give my razors a light touch up on the hones about every four to six weeks, and I rotate 5 straights and a DE. Probably overkill.

Like has been said earlier, this was bound to happen either way eventually. For all straight shaving you need to plan ahead to make sure you have the most options, depending on how you like to operate.

Bare minimum you'll need some paste and strop to bring back the edge.
If dulled from overuse or bad stropping technique you'll likely need a stone or coarser paste to bring back the edge.
Worst case you'll need to re-sharpen the edge, and that needs someone who can hone or your own set of stones.

I'm guessing it'll be the first or maybe second option. If you're going to start sharpening yourself it's nice to have some cheap, pro sharpened razors around so you can compare as to what is really sharp. Otherwise it'll be like $10-$20 to get it pro sharpened ..