Thread: Blade Dulls Quickly

My straight razor is stamped "Union Cutlery", and "C.S.P.K Trademark." The blade is 2-1/2 inches long. I cannot find any information on this straight razor, or any Union Cutlery razor similar to it. Does anyone know anything about this razor, or about the quality of Union Cutlery razors in general?

It could be that you are stropping too aggressively. Another possibility is your post shave treatment of the blade. Can you elaborate on that?

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I entered the "Blade Dulls Quickly" as the heading, and meant to change it to something like "Union Cutlery Inquiry." It is true that my blade dulls quickly, and I do question why. But, I decided to tackle one question at a time.

My main question is whether Union Cutlery generally makes good razors?

As far as the blade dulling quickly, yes that's true. I start a shave with a sharp razor, passing the hanging hair test, thumb tests, etc. By the end of the shave, it is noticeably duller in cutting ability. This is true even when I don't strop at any time during the shave... just shave.

From posts I get the idea that I should expect multiple shaves before having to do much beyond a conservative (20 passes, maybe) strop treatment before every shave. Possibly, my razor is operating properly, and I have a wrong conception of how much sharpening is going on during these strops between shaves.

As far as post-shave treatment of the blade, I wipe the blade with kleenex to dry it and coat it lightly with vaseline. The storage location is not humid.

But, the blade is duller at the end of the shave even before storage.

I do not have the answer for you but I have a theroy. Do you have a real heavy beard? I think its due to the heavyness of your beard. Sorry I know nothing about Union Cuttery.

You might be over honing the blade and developing a 'wire edge'. If you do a bunch of circles or back honing (spine leading) it will break the wire edge. Look for find hair like slivers of metal on the hone while doing this and remove them from the hone before continuing. Then just do 5 or 10 normal strokes with the edge leading.

More questions:

How are you removing the lather from your blade?

What hones are you using and what is your honing process?

Answer: I remove the lather from my beard by gentle rinsing in hot water.

Answer: I don't yet have a full suite of hones, and am still waiting for my strop paste to arrive. Nonetheless, I am achieving a sharp cutting edge using a few gentle X passes on a Franz Swaty barbers hone, and about 20 gentle passes on the linen side of a strop.

Originally Posted by LarryAndro

Answer: I remove the lather from my beard by gentle rinsing in hot water.

Answer: I don't yet have a full suite of hones, and am still waiting for my strop paste to arrive. Nonetheless, I am achieving a sharp cutting edge using a few gentle X passes on a Franz Swaty barbers hone, and about 20 gentle passes on the linen side of a strop.

OK. Some people had been wiping the lather off their blades on the edge of the sink or the like which damaged the edge. You're not doing that. A few passes on the Swaty probably is not over honing the edge but you may want to try the back honing and see if that resolves your issue.

I have seen a bunch on Union Cutlery blades around but I don't have one and haven't used anyone else's so I can't offer any feedback on that. In general vintage US steel straight razors are very good.

I found that when I first started I was using too steep of an angle of the blade to my face, and that my edge deteriorated rather quickly. I changed that to havingthe balde close to being flat against my face, perhaps only the width of the spine off of my face, and the edge retention was increased dramatically.

Give it a shot. A low blade angle also helps reduce the chances of nicks and cuts.

Answer to an earlier question: my beard is average in thickness.

Seraphim, thanks for the angle tip. I will try that out.

I have been examining my blade edge using a Radio Shack 100x microscope, and can't detect a wire edge. At that magnification, (if anyone else has examined blades that way), would I see a wire edge?

Possibly, I have a wire edge on my blade that I am not aware of, that is bending over quickly after beginning the shave?