Thread: Edge gone by second shave

I'm having difficulty straying to find out what I'm doing wrong. I honed up my razor. 1k bevel set, 4k, 8k, 16k, crox then latigo. I was very carful watching the previous stria disappear before moving up. I even made sure that I was getting a smooth test shave off the 8k before moving on. And by the time I was done there was no chipping. Had a great shave after honing.

Two days later, was one of the most miserable experiences I have had yet. Before the shave I done 50 on linen and 100 latigo and it started out smooth but degraded very quickly. I should have noticed something was wrong when I started my second pass (ATG) on the neck and I had 3 nicks within a dime from each other. It was very painful by the end and could not get anywhere close to BBS or in my opinion DFS. Especially on my head. It was like it quit cutting even after going again on the strop.

When end I called it quits. I cleaned up the razor and looked at the edge. There was no chipping that I could see (I was using a 45x loupe). But it barely would cut arm hair on the toe and heel but hardly at the belly. It's like the edge just disappeared.

What did I do wrong?

Before I forget, prep for shave 2 was hot shower, pre-shave oil and face lather. The only difference in prep between shave 1 and 2 was: 1. Hot towel rather than shower and no oil. Both had same soap.

Might have"oversharpened" it..

Just a guess here, but maybe rolled the edge during stropping? Very hard to say with out seeing it

Originally Posted by rodb

Just a guess here, but maybe rolled the edge during stropping? Very hard to say with out seeing it

What do you look for when you suspect a rolled edge.

I would guess the bevel wouldn't come to a perfect V and it would be bent one way or the other, you could probably see it if you look at the edge (edge on) under a bright light. You won't see any reflection on a perfect or near perfect edge

Originally Posted by rlmnshvstr8

What do you look for when you suspect a rolled edge.

I have not "rolled" an edge but read that you can hear it catch on a pin head if you gently let the pin slide down the blade towards the edge. I suppose the theory is that the pin will catch on the upturned metal.

As mentioned above, you can check for certain maladies with a bright light and also with a pin. Below is a video that will help with both of those.

I'm assuming you're using Shaptons since you went to 16k. I only do 7 to 10 light laps on the 16k and then strop. Usually you won't need the paste after the 16k.

Glen, gssixgun used to quote someone and I can't remember it exactly, but something to the effect .....I don't have a problem honing, it's knowing when to quit. Keeping that in mind helped me a lot with my honing.

Experiment with a little less and see what you get.



Howard


http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XZYFsOP...%3DXZYFsOP7rBc