Thread: Re-stropping mid-shave

It happens that I strop mid shave, if I just honed and stropped a razor, the only way to tell if it's really ready is to shave with it and sometimes it will need a little more time on the strop.
Especially the super hard old Swedish framebacks, in the days people must have called them one or two bad names.

Originally Posted by RobertScott

Glen,

The box was not sealed. It was purchased as a "complete kit/ shave ready" from straight razor designs. I think it was professionally sharpened.

I wasn't aware that SRD was selling TI razors, but if Lynn honed it then it is shave ready, the ball then moves to your court..

Stropping, Prep, and Technique come into play now, I would suggest following the advice in the Beginner Forum and start only with the easy parts of the face and slowly work your way through each part of the face as you become proficient at using the razor.. Use your old system of shaving to finish the hard parts, until you ween yourself away from it...

Originally Posted by RobertScott

So I'm new to straight razor shaving and have a question if anyone can help. Question: I feel like I need to re-strop my razor ( Thiers Issard Special Coiffeur 5/8) after only shaving half my face. Is this a normal situation or do I not have a suitable sharpness in my razor? This was purchase as part of a set that was "shave ready"

I sometimes also happen to think, "should I re-strop". This normally happens when I come to the critical parts (jaws ATG / neck under chin ATG). I usually do these later to allow more time for softening.
So, in my case, two things come together: 1. half the shave is done 2. I do need a super sharp razor especially for these parts.

Originally Posted by RobertScott

Onimaru55,

Honestly, I just don't have the technique or frame of reference to know better. I will definitely try that on my next shave (spine angle). I did see a video featuring a sharpness test whereas a single hair was held to a razor edge and split without any pressure. My razor decidedly does not do that. Is that common for a properly sharpened razor ? If it is, then I have much work to do to get my razor that sharp. Perhaps even out of my league.

Will be interested in your report back. I recently made that suggestion to 2 shavette users that converted to straights that were disappointed in their first shaves.
Solved their problems.
As a user the hanging hair test will tell you very little. There are a number of factors at play there. Try shaving a single arm hair ATG . It is quite possible that it will completely bend over & lay flat on the skin before it is cut with even a perfect edge. Like I said a lot of factors at play including the hair itself.

I have had this problem. Mine was twofold. I had a razor that really was not its sharpest that it could be. This was when I just started out, so I thought that I just had to push a little harder. Wrong, it just made me feel like the blade was dulling in mid-shave. So I would stop it and finish my shave. The problem was that the blade was never sharp enough tot put the correct, very light pressure on the blade. This literarily dulled my blade as I shaved even worse. Get the blade professional sharpened, or find someone close who can help you with the honing and technique. Resolving this issue for me was a great relief as I wanted to never use a Mach 3 again and was worried I would have to go back. There really are so many variables, that I am still learning in order to master this skill set. Keep on trying and learning.