Thread: I have a problem...

So, this is my first post on SRP- I've been a member for about a week and a half now.

A couple/few weeks ago, I picked up a set of Chosera stones and started sharpening my knives. When that was done, I moved onto my friends' knives. The pleasure of being able to FINALLY create a magnificent edge naturally led to shaving. It starts with your butcher knife on your arm and it doesn't take long to progress to your butcher knife on your face- which is just a bad idea.

I decided I needed to get a straight razor and try it for real.

It's been a week. I've received four straight razors in the mail and there are many more on their way. I'm not rich- only one of the blades I've purchased was new(er). A Dovo Pearlex 6/8 (haven't received it yet). The rest have been a little of this and a little of that; but all old and in need of some amount of repair.

And this leads me to the problem. I don't have all of the equipment that I need. My first shave took place yesterday with an old Geneva that had a rusty and pitted blade that I sanded, polished and honed with a 1k3k5k Chosera and stropped on the back of a crappy leather belt. I was bleeding from like 20 places (see picture) by the time that shave was complete- and it wasn't a great shave the blade was just not sharp enough. I did another minor restore to a Wade and Butcher last night (from about 8:00pm to 3:00am this morning)- I honed the crap out of the blade and stropped on the back of the belt a few hundred times to polish it. It didn't pass the hanging hair test, but it was close. So, I attacked my scalp. I've shaved my head for many years but this is the first time I've dragged a straight razor across my head, pulled the razor down to see hair tightly stacked together like you're looking at the ends of black toothbrush bristles. Very cool.

So, thanks to the list of "what's a good razor" here on SRP, I've found myself spending countless hours searching for pretty much every brand and type of razor I can find. Dubl Duck- don't have one! Gotta find one. Henckels? Nope. THERE'S ONE! Wedge? Need one of those too! I have literally gone from zero to ten blades over the course of five days. Every day there is another blade or two in my mailbox and I don't even have a strop, shaving cream, brush, etc. yet!

I ask you, am I unique in this irrational obsession? I mean, I know there are probably lots of you out there who have many, many blades; but do you purchase with reckless abandon? And quite honestly, I don't even know if I like straight razor shaving yet. I've only done it to my face once and I cut the shit out of myself and when I shaved my head, the blade was so dull after about 3/4 complete that I had to finish with a mach 3 because it just pulled so bad I couldn't tell if I was cutting my hair or my scalp.

I don't know. I'm about to drop another $265 on a Chosera 10k and another $100 on a fine strop which puts me at about $700 into a hobby that I thought I could get nicely into for $200- and I don't really have the extra scratch to be dumping on this. I'm really quite frugal most of the time but this, I just don't seem to have any self control. I guess, maybe, I'm looking for all of you other straight razor freaks to tell me that this is completely normal behavior and maybe, hopefully, I'll have my fill (soon) and be able to be a little more reasonable about what I decide to purchase, keep or sell. Then again, I've seen a few pictures on here of guys with 300 silver-tip brushes.

I think I'm screwed. But I won't be stubbly! Gotta go. (sigh) I have an auction ending soon.

What would "normal" be? lol

One advantage to jumping into the pool at the deep end is that you will have many different styles of razor to play with. This helps when you find your own honing style and grind prefference.

I got addicted to buying up huge razor lot auctions and was burried in various styles. For years I would play with them trying to duplicat honing styles to see how the previous owner honed their razor, lots of fun

YEP!
Yer screwed
Specially if you need addiction advice from a bunch of addicts !!!

Mike

Your bevel is not set my friend.... go back to the 1k until you can shave from it. More stones will just cause more problems.

Welcome to the forum and good luck!
Oh ya....send one of your razors out for professional honing so you know what you are shooting for, find them in our classifieds..

Eric.

Thanks for the tip. I'm big on doing things myself so, I'm currently waiting on a stone flattener so I can, well, flatten my chosera's. Once that's done, I'll go back and hit the razors again. In the meantime, I'll do a bit more research on setting the bevel. I can see that the bevels I have aren't perfectly even, but they are pretty close- at least, to my naked and very untrained eye. Also, I ordered a Walkin' Horse bridal strop today so hopefully it will be here soon. I'm getting closer to having all of the tools I need to do this properly which should help tremendously. It takes a lot of time to learn a new skill when you have to rely on youtube and forums as teachers.

Your line, "more stones will just cause more problems"- I've worked my blades like I would a knife. Start with the 1k then progress through the 5k doing diminishing strokes on each side to keep the edge centered. I think it's worked ok- obviously not great- but I attributed that to not having a high enough grit stone and an improper strop. What's your take?

Finally, I purchased a Dovo that's supposedly shave ready (used), so, I was planning to have that be my control razor. Also, I found a site today that offers one free razor sharpening when you become a free member. It was the coticule.be site. They're offering to sharpen your blade to entice you to purchase their stones.

Honestly, its likely a combination of stone, strop and technique.
I was refering to the edge of the razor not being 100 percent sharp and free of microchipping, as opposed to it looking even.
Belgium may or may not be too far to ship for a free hoining, too far for me anyways lol.

Once I looked like that after a shave, took it to the loupe and found major microchipping, a loupe is a lot of help!

Hope this helps!

Eric.

Two comments, FWIW:

1. You're making a classic, often-repeated mistake:

. . . You're learning to shave, and learning to hone, at the same time.

Get a blade that's truly shave-ready, and learn to shave with it. Resist the temptation to use your stones -- just strop it between shaves. And _don't_ strop it before your first shave.

2. I don't think most people can get a shave-ready edge out of a 5K stone. 8K seems to be more common. And some of us (me, for example) will follow an 8K stone with CrOxide or a fine barber hone, before actually putting the blade to our faces.

You've got too many variables. Find _one_ razor that's really sharp, learn to shave with it, and let it be a guide to your success with honing other blades.

Charles

That's my plan. I've purchased a Dovo that's shave ready- I'm just waiting for it to arrive. Also, I'm going to buy a Chosera 10k next week. I'm just the impatient type and I'll do the best with what I have until I can get the right tools- which are on their way. And, knowing that a 5k isn't quite enough, believe it or not, I'm quite happy with how "well" my first shave went, considering. This should all be a distant memory in a couple of weeks. For now, my scabs are (almost) gone, I have a nice stubble coming in and I'm looking forward to brushing on my shave cream, sliding the dovo across my face and splashing the aftershave onto my reddened and exfoliated face. Hopefully soon, I'll see what all the fuss is about!

For me, too many variables a challenge, not a reason for failure.

And Charles, you're only about 6 hours from me. Maybe I should cruise on up so you can give me a lesson. It is a long weekend, after-all!

Originally Posted by mustangman6799

. I'm just the impatient type and I'll do the best with what I have until I can get the right tools- !

Patience is actually the trick to getting to what all the fuss is about, Honest

Also there are a few of the guys that offer one on one honing help, if you put your location into the profile it will help a ton...


http://straightrazorpalace.com/srpwi...php/Local_Help

"I've worked my blades like I would a knife. Start with the 1k then progress through the 5k doing diminishing strokes on each side to keep the edge centered. I think it's worked ok- obviously not great- but I attributed that to not having a high enough grit stone and an improper strop. What's your take? "

Razors don't hone up anything like knives. I started with knives got good with them and then discovered I needed to learn a bit more for success with razors. I was getting quite good shave at 6K but now I wouldn't consider it more than self flagellation.

Simple answer that no one wants to hear. One thing at a time. As your skill with the razor develops your idea of what sharp is will change DRAMATICALLY! As your skill with the hones change your edges will change DRAMATICALLY!

While you are learning, which consists of fixing mistakes, it helps to know what is causing the mistakes. TOO many variables creates confusion, frustration, and often times failure. We want you to succeed.

If you like learning to swim while cliff diving jump in. Don't expect anyone else to sort through all the possible reasons your are experiencing problems as it usually can't be done.

Having said all that I have a few lumps from hitting the bottom of the bay while working on my breast stroke. They mostly heal fade with time. YMMV

It just keeps getting better