Thread: Help! Confused.

Originally Posted by Jetmech

...Carl, I have been looking at the Proraso sensitive skin pre-shave and the creme as well. And, I've been thinking about buying a second blade for this very reason. And the fact that if I decide to send it out to get honed I will have one to use. I'm still debating this. You said a month to six weeks before first honing. I was thinking times between honing would be longer and that you could just refresh a little using CrOx. I wouldn't be using it on a strop. Probably some Poplar that I have laying around.

When I say 'honing' I'm literally talking 10 laps on the Shapton 16k (20 for my Swedish razors with the harder steel). I keep a honing journal and in reality i refresh the edges quite a bit less than that. Initially your stropping may not be 100%, so the first time you need to refresh the edge may come around quicker than in the future. It would also depend a lot on your hair (i.e. heavy growth and actual thickness of the actual hair strand).

I guess you're going to make sure the Poplar is really flat? Why not buy some leather and glue it to the Poplar? One day I'll need to try CrOx, but I've never really felt the need, then again, maybe I don't know what I'm missing!

Originally Posted by carlmaloschneider

When I say 'honing' I'm literally talking 10 laps on the Shapton 16k (20 for my Swedish razors with the harder steel). I keep a honing journal and in reality i refresh the edges quite a bit less than that. Initially your stropping may not be 100%, so the first time you need to refresh the edge may come around quicker than in the future. It would also depend a lot on your hair (i.e. heavy growth and actual thickness of the actual hair strand).

I guess you're going to make sure the Poplar is really flat? Why not buy some leather and glue it to the Poplar? One day I'll need to try CrOx, but I've never really felt the need, then again, maybe I don't know what I'm missing!

Yeah, I drew some zigzag pencil marks all across the face and put a piece of sandpaper on a flat surface and sanded until all the pencil marks were removed. I then applied the CrOx and wiped off the excess with a paper towel. There was hardly any CrOx left. I may get a piece of leather and try gluing it on.

I also do woodworking and have Japanese water stones and a Chinese 12K natural stone that I maintain wood planes and chisels with. I also have a DMT stone I use to lap the stones. I get a mirror finish on my chisels and plane blades and you can shave hairs with them. I guess I could use the 12K. I just figured you only used the hones only twice a year and the CrOx for touchups in between.

OK, so the cold water helped the irritation a little but it seems my shaves have been getting progressively worse. I was beginning to think it might even be the Col Conk soap. Last shave it seemed the blade just wasn't cutting and I think the reason the irritation is so bad is because I would have to go over one spot several times to get it cleaned up. I had tried the CrOx on the poplar but I don't think that did anything. The wood was just too smooth. So I put the CrOx on the inside part of the linen and tried 5 passes on that, then stropped normally on clean linen and leather, shaved and it was still a terrible shave. After two passes I noticed under my chin hardly looked like I had shaved it. So I decided what the heck, I'm going to put it the the 12K natural stone. Wow, not quite as easy as it seemed. I couldn't do it with one hand, had to use two. At one point while trying one handed I must have tilted the blade a little on the edge of the stone because I noticed I messed up the bevel on one spot. So I took several more passes using two hands making sure I was pushing the water on the stone evenly. Then I tried to shave some hairs on my arm midway up the hairs if that makes sense. Uh oh, nothing, no hair popping. Well I might as well try and strop it. So I took about 20 passes on the linen with CrOx, 30 passes on clean linen, and 60 strokes on clean leather. Now it pops the hairs a lot more than it was before! Whew! I then went back and cleaned up my under my chin. It seemed to work fine. I'm going to let my face rest a day and then try it again.

Is it possible that I could have dulled my razor that much in just 3 weeks? Am I the worst stropper and shaver ever? I will still probably get another shave ready razor to keep just for comparison and then use it when the other one needs honing. I will probably use this first razor to learn to hone on and then compare my results to the 2nd shave ready razor. Just not in the budget yet.

Yea, honing ain't rocket science but it is not all that easy either to do it right. It takes time and practice to get decent at honing and stropping both of which look deceptively simple and easy. Yea, you could have dulled your razor that much in just 3 weeks. No you are not the worst stropper and shaver ever. Most people, me included, dulled razors much faster when starting out than later on. Poor shaving and stropping technique will do that as hard to believe as that is. It all takes time and patience.

Bob

Originally Posted by Jetmech

...I couldn't do it with one hand, had to use two. At one point while trying one handed I must have tilted the blade a little on the edge of the stone because I noticed I messed up the bevel on one spot. So I took several more passes using two hands making sure I was pushing the water on the stone evenly. Then I tried to shave some hairs on my arm midway up the hairs if that makes sense. Uh oh, nothing, no hair popping. Well I might as well try and strop it. So I took about 20 passes on the linen with CrOx, 30 passes on clean linen, and 60 strokes on clean leather. Now it pops the hairs a lot more than it was before! Whew! I then went back and cleaned up my under my chin. It seemed to work fine. I'm going to let my face rest a day and then try it again.

Is it possible that I could have dulled my razor that much in just 3 weeks? Am I the worst stropper and shaver ever? I will still probably get another shave ready razor to keep just for comparison and then use it when the other one needs honing. I will probably use this first razor to learn to hone on and then compare my results to the 2nd shave ready razor. Just not in the budget yet.

I myself always use two hands honing, I find I tilt the blade like you did with one hand. I DO make sure I don't push down, though (unless I'm setting a bevel). I'm a beginner at honing, having honed only maybe eight razors, but have kept them shave ready for two years, so maybe that counts for something.

It's great your razor was improved; well done! From here, I would recommend sets of maybe 10 on the 12k, judging the edge after each 10 laps. I'd not use CrOx again until you are happy with the edge off the 12k and stropping.

It IS possible you've dulled the edge, but I think it's quite able to be repaired easily.