Quote Originally Posted by Westminster View Post
Hi sorry lost the thread....................I still have an old mild steel razor and had it professionally prepared...........................perhaps it's a technique issue.
Hello Ian,
Well, if it’s any consolation I am finding getting the hang of the straight razor experience a much slower process than I have with learning anything else.
It has surprised me.
I started with two Sheffield razors. A 5/8” Wostenholm and a 6/8” Bengall.
I let my barber send them off to the people who sharpen his scissors, because he said they could do a good job with straights.
Nope.
Then I sent them off to someone who is considered one of the best in the UK and they all came back, yet still shaved as though I was pulling my bristles out with pliers.
Sent them back again and finally they came back shave ready.
I spoke to the guy when he got the razors for the second time and he said:
“What have you been doing with them? They are all dull!”
I hadn’t done anything other than 60 light passes on a hide strop and an attempt at a WTG.
Ouch!
All the HHTs had just bent the hair, so I thought I must have just been doing it wrong. Besides, everyone was saying that HHTs were not the right way to assess a blades ability.
After the re-honing; then 60 passes on the same strop, in the same way & they stuck to my calloused thumbs, popped HHTs and melted their way through my bristles.
I reckon anyone can have an off-day.
The trouble is, as a novice I was all the while giving myself a hard time and assuming that ‘those-in-the-know’ were infallible.
I’m now glad I stuck to my guns and finally got sharp blades, without having to bark at anyone.
Even though I’d worry that first lot like a rabid dog now, I don’t believe they are able to sharpen a straight properly anyhow.
‘twas my barber who should have known better. He was trained with straight razors too, back in the early 60s.
You never stop learning, ay.
Technique is bound to be a factor, until the apprenticeship is done.
At least I have the tools to complete mine with now.
Good luck; but stay clear of mild steel blades…..!!
Sorry this comment is so long!