Thread: Questions....!

Let me fill you in on my progress in regard to learning to become good at str8 razor shaving and maintenance before I ask a few questions:

I've been str8 razor shaving for a couple of months now, and doing pretty well so far. I started with a Feather system. - a good way to break in to shaving with a str8, I think. I do not have a stone for honing, yet. I did buy some strops on Ebay, nothing great, but acceptable until I get a good one from Tony. I did buy a paddle strop from him with .5 chromium oxide on one side. I found stroping on the paddle difficult to keep the blade flat. I tried different angles and positions, i.e., sitting, standing, North to South, West to East, SW to NE, on my theigh, knee, leaning on the coffee table, etc., etc. I am still not confident I am keeping the blade flat with little pressure. I will say that struggling with the paddle has really improved my stropping on the hanging strop for some reason. Maybe standing was the answer. Thoughts? I know I must learn the hanging strop efficiently. I have about six razors that are not, yet, shave ready. - perhaps 90% ready, but not there, yet. Every evening I sit in front of the TV and work them on the pasted paddle - a few stokes, feel the edge, not there, a few more.... Just trying to get a feel for how to build an edge. Thoughts? I will be getting a Norton soon and I look forward to this experience. I then bought some shave ready razors on Ebay. One is working beautifully, a Beau Brummel. A great razor, evidently made by the Pearlduck people. I have been able to maintain this razor to produce super shaves. This is where I am at: My shaving skills and prep are excellent, not a nick for a couple of weeks, and I am getting great shaves. Stroping has been getting much better, and I now have confidence using the hanging strop. Finially a few questions: Can I over strop on a pasted paddle? If so, how do you correct this? You certainly can't back hone on a strop.

Should I leave the pasted paddle alone for now and wait for the Norton? I don't seem to be making any progress with the pasted paddle and I feel my not so ready razors need to be touched up with a stone. Any thoughts?

Clean up on the razor after a shave: I rinse the razor well in hot water and wipe it dry with a tissue, avoiding touching the edge(is this important?) I then wipe with an alcohol cotton ball and set it to dry while I clean the sink. I then put a drop of Tuf-Glide on the pivot pin and the blade(spread with my finger) and put it away. What do you think of Kano Kroil Oil?- and can it be use in this manner, also?

I have two usable hanging strops, one is 24" x 2-1/2", a "Jumbo Hide" by Sharpleigh, #DE40. It has a large scar in to stroping area. Can I use a pumace stone on it? - the one I use for the toilets? or do I need to buy one from a vendor that supplies shaving accessories? Is ther a difference? I am using a very cheap Zeepk strop that's 1-7/8 x 8"(stroping area), and the damn thing is working okay for now.

I guess that's it for now 'till I get my Norton. Sorry for being so lengthy. Thanks...

Originally Posted by zepplin

Let me fill you in on my progress in regard to learning to become good at str8 razor shaving and maintenance before I ask a few questions:

I've been str8 razor shaving for a couple of months now, and doing pretty well so far. I started with a Feather system. - a good way to break in to shaving with a str8, I think. I do not have a stone for honing, yet. I did buy some strops on Ebay, nothing great, but acceptable until I get a good one from Tony. I did buy a paddle strop from him with .5 chromium oxide on one side. I found stroping on the paddle difficult to keep the blade flat. I tried different angles and positions, i.e., sitting, standing, North to South, West to East, SW to NE, on my theigh, knee, leaning on the coffee table, etc., etc. I am still not confident I am keeping the blade flat with little pressure. I will say that struggling with the paddle has really improved my stropping on the hanging strop for some reason. Maybe standing was the answer. Thoughts? I know I must learn the hanging strop efficiently. I have about six razors that are not, yet, shave ready. - perhaps 90% ready, but not there, yet. Every evening I sit in front of the TV and work them on the pasted paddle - a few stokes, feel the edge, not there, a few more.... Just trying to get a feel for how to build an edge. Thoughts? I will be getting a Norton soon and I look forward to this experience. I then bought some shave ready razors on Ebay. One is working beautifully, a Beau Brummel. A great razor, evidently made by the Pearlduck people. I have been able to maintain this razor to produce super shaves. This is where I am at: My shaving skills and prep are excellent, not a nick for a couple of weeks, and I am getting great shaves. Stroping has been getting much better, and I now have confidence using the hanging strop. Finially a few questions: Can I over strop on a pasted paddle? If so, how do you correct this? You certainly can't back hone on a strop.

Should I leave the pasted paddle alone for now and wait for the Norton? I don't seem to be making any progress with the pasted paddle and I feel my not so ready razors need to be touched up with a stone. Any thoughts?

Clean up on the razor after a shave: I rinse the razor well in hot water and wipe it dry with a tissue, avoiding touching the edge(is this important?) I then wipe with an alcohol cotton ball and set it to dry while I clean the sink. I then put a drop of Tuf-Glide on the pivot pin and the blade(spread with my finger) and put it away. What do you think of Kano Kroil Oil?- and can it be use in this manner, also?

I have two usable hanging strops, one is 24" x 2-1/2", a "Jumbo Hide" by Sharpleigh, #DE40. It has a large scar in to stroping area. Can I use a pumace stone on it? - the one I use for the toilets? or do I need to buy one from a vendor that supplies shaving accessories? Is ther a difference? I am using a very cheap Zeepk strop that's 1-7/8 x 8"(stroping area), and the damn thing is working okay for now.

I guess that's it for now 'till I get my Norton. Sorry for being so lengthy. Thanks...

I think that you will find that you will get many more responses if you make your post more to the point, and list your questions together at the end. I'll try to make it through and answer some of your questions though. The .5 chromium oxide that you have is a great finishing paste that will work well for refreshing a razor that was shave ready and is starting to pull, or for putting a final polish on a razor after it has been honed on the Norton. You will not be able to take a razor from dull to shave ready with just pastes (especially if you only have the .5 micron) and I think that you would be well advised to wait until you get the Norton to work on the razors any further because you will not make any more progress. Your razors need the stone to establish and polish the edge.

Yes it is true that you can overhone an edge on pastes just like you can on a stone (some say it is easier to overhone on pastes especially diamond). The way that you avoid overhoning on pastes is the same way that you avoid overhoning on a stone. Always take the "less is more approach" and creep up to sharpness as opposed to overshooting it. Just do the minimum amount that you think might be necessary then perform sharpness tests and/or test shave. If the razor needs more work then do more incrementally, but don't just do a ton in the beginning and hope that the razor will shave well because it probably will be overhoned. If you do overhone the razor you will need to go back to the Norton for a few passes on the 4K side of the Norton to remove the bad edge.

To clean my razors after a shave I just rinse them, dry them with a towel, let them air dry for a few minutes, then strop the edge a few times to clean it. My razors are not corroding and I do not use oil unless I am storing them for a long period of time. I do not know about the Kano Kroil oil that you are asking about. I also do not know the answer to your question about repairing your strop as I don't have experience using pumice stones. I can tell you that I had a few small nicks in the side of one of my strops and 1000 grit wet dry sandpaper worked great at taking them out.

Originally Posted by zepplin

Can I over strop on a pasted paddle? If so, how do you correct this?

Yes you can and if you're spending time evrey evening in front of the TV paying attention to something else rather than your razor then I'm fairly certain you already have and that that's the reason you're not getting the edge you deserve. The only way to correct it is to go to a coarser hone and reestablish the edge. Good thing you're getting that Norton.

[QUOTE=zepplin;113697][FONT=Comic Sans MS]avoiding touching the edge(is this important?) I then wipe with an alcohol cotton ball and set it to dry while I clean the sink. I then put a drop of Tuf-Glide on the pivot pin and the blade(spread with my finger) and put it away.
Make sure the blade is completely and utterly dry before you put the mineral oil on it or you're just trapping moisture against the metal and insisting on rust. Mineral oils are more for long term storage of blades. I keep my rotation blades in a moisture absorbing cardboard and/or cedar box.

Originally Posted by zepplin

It has a large scar in to stroping area. Can I use a pumace stone on it? - the one I use for the toilets? or do I need to buy one from a vendor that supplies shaving accessories? Is ther a difference?

TOILET! Good gods please tell me you're not actually considering that. I hope you mean like for scrubbing calluses. I'd still recommend the one from classicshaving.com. That's what I've usesd to smooth down my little stropping accidents and it works great.

Originally Posted by zepplin

I am using a very cheap Zeepk strop that's 1-7/8 x 8"(stroping area), and the damn thing is working okay for now.

Just wait till you get a good one. You'll wonder how you suffered with that one.

X

Great answers but I just had to stick my 2 cents in. The beau brummel Razor was made by beau brummel Werk of Solingen. It was never made by the Pearlduck people. The Bresduck people sold the Beau Brummel as a premium razor.

And yes when you hone or strop at least until you have quite a bit of experience under your belt don't distract yourself from the task at hand. You need all your attention focused on the razor. Some of the more experienced guys will hone and watch T.V at the same time but they can get away with it, you can't yet.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Great answers but I just had to stick my 2 cents in. The beau brummel Razor was made by beau brummel Werk of Solingen. It was never made by the Pearlduck people. The Bresduck people sold the Beau Brummel as a premium razor.

And yes when you hone or strop at least until you have quite a bit of experience under your belt don't distract yourself from the task at hand. You need all your attention focused on the razor. Some of the more experienced guys will hone and watch T.V at the same time but they can get away with it, you can't yet.

I'll have you know, I am a professional TV watcher. I can even do it blindfolded!

One recommendation is to use a smaller font and to skip on the bold lettering. Very distracting. In any case welcome aboard, you got some great advice here.

Originally Posted by FiReSTaRT

One recommendation is to use a smaller font and to skip on the bold lettering. Very distracting. In any case welcome aboard, you got some great advice here.

I second that motion. Comic Sans=evil. The default forum font is much more legible and generally easier on the eyes.