Thread: Poppin' and Toppin' - No Shave

I just honed a Boker 6/8 and had the hairs on my arm popping and even tree topping after the 8K Norton. I stropped about 60 passes on leather and the razor just went over my beard. I used the pin test to see if I had folded the edge and there doesn't seem to be any evidence of that.

Don"t know what to do.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thank you.

Charlie

I don't know for sure, but I bet it could be a bevel not fully set. You could get a razor to tree top, but if the bevel it's not set, it could loose the cutting hair ability in one or two passes.

Double O

I would go back to the 1K and do some more circles. I use the TNT (thumb nail test) to feel the bevel set and free of imperfection. After the test I do some very light strokes on the 1k (to negate the test) then do the arm/ leg hair test. Some occasions you may need to strop at the 1k to get it to cut hair, that's when the TNT has been good and consistent thru the entire edge.

Hope it's help Double O

How new are you to this? Have you done much stropping? Is it possible the razor was shave ready after honing and before stropping but not after stropping? Try shaving straight off the 8k, it's an interesting experience even for one who is good at honing and stropping, the feeling is hard to describe, not harsh, but different...

Carl

[EDIT] Also, without wishing to be disagreeable, I wouldn't go all the way back to a 1k quite yet. Try 20 laps on the 8, see how that goes, then go to the 4, then to the 8 (pyramids) see how that goes and if that fails THEN go to the 1k, but that's just my opinion

Originally Posted by carlmaloschneider

[EDIT] Also, without wishing to be disagreeable, I wouldn't go all the way back to a 1k quite yet. Try 20 laps on the 8, see how that goes, then go to the 4, then to the 8 (pyramids) see how that goes and if that fails THEN go to the 1k, but that's just my opinion

That's good advise!

I was pretty sure the bevel was set since I had spent a lot of time with it and used the magic marker and TNT tests. So I tried going back to the 4K and 8K. It took less than 40 strokes each to get the hair popping again. I shaved WTG without stropping and the razor cut but it pulled and dragged a bit. I went to the strop for 60 laps and did an AGT shave. What a difference! The shave was much smoother and cut very well.

I have been str8 shaving about 2 years. I started honing with some success about 1 year ago but I had about a 7 month hiatus due to a health problem. It's taking me longer to get the hang of it again but I feel like I'm getting there.

Thanks for all of your responses.

Charlie

Great Charlie, seems you are getting there. You see, when I saw the original post I saw you had posted less than 20 times. It was based on this that I asked the questions about how new you were to all this. It's really important for everybody that asks advice and everyone who offers it to ascertain what is known, what has been done, and the skill level, as that allows us to get to the important points sooner rather than later