A new experience

**steve** · 01-24-2007, 01:01 PM

I find this quite interesting.

I honed my razor 4 shaves ago. The first shave was fantastic, the second not so great but still good, the third was absolutely miserable and I was convinced I needed to hone the blade again.

I then started looking through some old postings and discovered a procedure posted by Joe Lerch that describes how he tests an edge and his process for sharpening that edge.

I followed this and determined that my razor really needed some extra stropping. I had made great stropping improvements thanks to some excellent advice I received on another thread but for some reason I was still dulling my edge. So I went back and found a video by Scott (honedright) and tried to mimick his hand positioning along with reading the description on Classicshaving.com's "How to and why".

So I went and followed Joe's guide using a better stropping procedure and going really slow to make sure everything was OK. The result was a much better edge, so much so that I passed the test Joe described. The ultimate test was next, I shaved this morning.

It was just like the first shave after honing. I got BBS in all areas except 2 that I just plain missed and my skin looks and feels great.

The moral of the story: Learn to strop well. It's the backbone of razor edge maintenance. Learn the "feel" of your blade's edge so you get a more accurate understanding of what you need to do to sharpen it. Take it slowly.

I was absolutely convinced I had to rehone this razor when all it really needed was a few extra properly executed strokes on the leather strop.

**rum** · 01-24-2007, 01:30 PM

Thanks for your post, Steve. I think I'm at the same stage as you. See my earlier post: http://straightrazorpalace.com/showthread.php?t=9813

Could you perhaps provide a link (full URL) to the ClassicShaving.com article and also Scott's video? Would appreciate that. Thanks again!

**steve** · 01-24-2007, 01:34 PM

Originally Posted by rum

Thanks for your post, Steve. I think I'm at the same stage as you. See my earlier post: http://straightrazorpalace.com/showthread.php?t=9813

Could you perhaps provide a link (full URL) to the ClassicShaving.com article and also Scott's video? Would appreciate that. Thanks again!

Sure Rum, I guess I should have done this originally. Thanks for thinking of it for me.

ClassicShaving: http://www.classicshaving.com/articl...90351/4057.htm

Scott's video: http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...82399317580351

**AntC** · 01-24-2007, 01:47 PM

I've traced most of my problems back to stropping too. After watching Lynn's video and reading the instructions Tony Miller includes with his strops again, I've been experimenting with my stropping technique.

So far what's helped me is actually going a little faster. Not fast by any means, but I've found when I go too slow the stroke isn't as smooth and I'm more prone to lift the blade or stop the stroke before lifting the razor's edge off of the strop as I rotate it to do the next pass. Also angling the blade a little bit has helped since it puts a little more of it in contact with the paddle strop I'm using which gives me a little better feel for when I'm screwing something up (the change in the feeling of the draw is a little more pronounced if I've lifted part of the edge off the strop).

Ant

**rum** · 01-24-2007, 01:51 PM

Thanks, Steve. Great help - not seen the stropping video before (Google). Interesting. I'm going to give it a go like this when I get home. Also, I'm not sure how taught I'm holding my strop, so I suppose time will tell.

Originally Posted by steve

Sure Rum, I guess I should have done this originally. Thanks for thinking of it for me.

ClassicShaving: http://www.classicshaving.com/articl...90351/4057.htm

Scott's video: http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...82399317580351

Joe's article: http://straightrazorpalace.com/attac...1&d=1169564318

**steve** · 01-24-2007, 01:57 PM

Rum,

Do you have Lynn's DVD? It's the gold standard and he covers everything you wanted to know about straight razor shaving but were afraid to ask

I used Scott's video because I didn't have access to my DVD but Lynn does a super job covering stropping and copying his technique will be just as good.

Hold the strop taught enough that it doesn't sag but don't try and pull it out of the wall either.

**xman** · 01-24-2007, 04:52 PM

Originally Posted by steve

The moral of the story: Learn to strop well. It's the backbone of razor edge maintenance. Learn the "feel" of your blade's edge so you get a more accurate understanding of what you need to do to sharpen it. Take it slowly.

These are words to live by. Next to actually shaving, stropping is the most important skill to work on, and it's a real close second.

X

**steve** · 01-25-2007, 04:47 AM

I've been feeling my face all day and simply am amazed at how smooth it is. I generally need to shave every day but I'm sitting here at 12:30am EST and can only begin to feel the smallest amount of stubble. There is just no way I could shave tomorrow as I don't believe there would be enough to make it worth it.

This is about as close as I've gotten with my straight yet. I thought I had gotten close shaves with my straight razor but those pale in comparison to today's results.

Now if I can only replicate this success for another 40 years or so

Let me add a word of encouragement to other newbies like myself: with enough time, patience and practice, it does get better and more enjoyable. Also, use the search feature on the forum if you have a question. The answer just might be there already, waiting to be rediscovered. Keep asking questions and tyring different things. The people here are fantastic and have all sorts of excellent advice that they are all to happy to share.

**rum** · 01-25-2007, 08:30 AM

Originally Posted by xman

These are words to live by. Next to actually shaving, stropping is the most important skill to work on, and it's a real close second.

X

Hi, yes I can now appreciate that - although I found out the hard way

.

I tried to strop again and despite doing quite a few laps, either I haven't got it right yet or I need to do it a bit more on the stone before I can use it.

After stropping it all those times, I was able to touch it with my (dry) thumb and run it all the way up my arm without a single hair coming off - I didn't feel any 'sharpness' either in doing so. Something is still not right.

**steve** · 01-25-2007, 12:55 PM

Originally Posted by rum

Hi, yes I can now appreciate that - although I found out the hard way

.

I tried to strop again and despite doing quite a few laps, either I haven't got it right yet or I need to do it a bit more on the stone before I can use it.

After stropping it all those times, I was able to touch it with my (dry) thumb and run it all the way up my arm without a single hair coming off - I didn't feel any 'sharpness' either in doing so. Something is still not right.

What equipment do you have for sharpening? It sounds like it needs to be rehoned a bit.

If you have a Norton 4/8k, I might suggest starting with 10-20 strokes on the 4k side, and test it by running the blade LIGHTLY across your thumbnail. Go back to the 3rd link in my earlier post and read the "Thumbnail test" section. I use this regularly and it's a good indication of when I'm starting to make improvement and when to stop honing and start stropping.

In your other thread, LX Emergency offered to take it back and rehone it. That's a good solution as well.

Stropping is still my biggest challenge because of the need to keep a light touch but still keep the razor flat. Keep at it slowly and only do a few strokes at a time then test the edge again.

Keep me posted.

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