Beginner needs a ton of help :(

Hello all, I am new to this site ad need a ton of help.

A while ago I purchased a dovo "natural" a "streich-riemen" paddle strop ad some green paste of some sort....

The place where i purchased it showed me how to apply paste to strop ad how to strop....

so I applied the paste to one side of the strop and tried to sharpen the razor ( I believe i know how to sharpen one)
then, when done with the pasted side a moved to the naked side.....the thing is, it will not shave no matter what i do, I live in france and have no idea where to get it professionally done.

Also,the blade is starting to get some black spots on it? is this normal? i know on carbon knives we usually allow the blade to turn black do we do the same with razors?

.....can anyone help me to try and figure out how to get my razor to be able to shave...all i want is to be able to get it sharp and shave with it every other day or so : ( but i cant get that to happen,
thanks in advance and sorry for english.

Your English is just fine. I don't know where to get a razor sharpened in France but if you pose the question here someone may well do. The black spots will polish out normally or even get removed with a pencil eraser. Bonne chance.

Well im not seeing anyone offering honing services in france. There is a member in Norway.

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Originally Posted by GTib

Hello all, I am new to this site ad need a ton of help.

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welcome to SRP

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A while ago I purchased a dovo "natural" a "streich-riemen" paddle strop ad some green paste of some sort....

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My guess CrO based paste, it is used for touch up and /or after the last stone in the honing progression to add more smoothness to the edge.

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so I applied the paste to one side of the strop and tried to sharpen the razor ( I believe i know how to sharpen one)

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CrO can't be used to sharpen it is not meant for that as it is way too fine and non aggressive

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then, when done with the pasted side a moved to the naked side.....the thing is, it will not shave no matter what i do, I live in france and have no idea where to get it professionally done.

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It is very possible you need to hone the blade from bevel set, was it sold to you as shave ready?

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Also,the blade is starting to get some black spots on it? is this normal? i know on carbon knives we usually allow the blade to turn black do we do the same with razors?

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sounds like corrosion is starting to form. Razors are mainly made from carbon steel, that steel can rust if not cared for properly. You need to make sure after use the blade is well dried, and oiled jus tin case. You can use baby oil, tuf glide, balistol, but I'd avoid machine oils.

If the black spots are small, it could be just the cromium oxide building up on the blade. Should come off with a thumb nail scrape. If that's what it is for sure.

Thank you for your answer!

Would you be able to share with me what I need to get my razor sharp? It was supposed to be shave ready, but it doesn't shave at all.....

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Originally Posted by GTib

Thank you for your answer!

Would you be able to share with me what I need to get my razor sharp? It was supposed to be shave ready, but it doesn't shave at all.....

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you need a set of stones but I would not advise you to get into honing just yet.
I'd send it out for honing and learn how to use the razor correctly before any honing attempts.

I would go to the classifieds, under member services you can find some one to hone up the razor. There are 3 different members to choose that are in the same part of the world.
Or you could spend some money on some stones and learn to hone yourself.

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Originally Posted by mainaman

you need a set of stones but I would not advise you to get into honing just yet.
I'd send it out for honing and learn how to use the razor correctly before any honing attempts.

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+1 to what mainaman said. I just tried honing myself recently and I had someone else to teach me as well, I was able to shave with the razor but I tried one that was shave-ready from one of the recommended vendors here and there was a big difference in the quality of the shave. I've also been watching every honing video on youtube and reading books about knife sharpening etc, and I'd say it'd be quite hard to learn how to hone on your own without anyone else to teach you in person (you will learn eventually but you'll probably dull your edge in the process) so whether you want to learn how to hone or not it's probably a good idea to get one razor honed by a pro so you know what "Shave Ready" actually means and then you can try to duplicate it on another razor when you try to learn honing.

That's my opinion based on what I've learned here in the last couple of weeks, my knowledge is very limited though.

Just a thought but there has to be someone in France that can help you. I would try and find out from a local manufacture if they have any cutlery shops near by that have honing service. Thiers- Issard maybe ? Cutlery shops that KNOW razors that is.

he is New on this, maby its not the razor but lack of technique.

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Originally Posted by 10Pups

Just a thought but there has to be someone in France that can help you. I would try and find out from a local manufacture if they have any cutlery shops near by that have honing service. Thiers- Issard maybe ? Cutlery shops that KNOW razors that is.

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+1. And make sure you don't take it to someone who just hones knives. Some of them will try to hone your razor the same way not knowing any better and will really screw your blade. This happened to me.

As I always say - NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER let anyone touch your razor who doesn't shave with one themselves.

G'Day and welcome to the fold, too - we all wish you the best