Thread: Slight bluning on finger nail; any point?

Originally Posted by trondsi

Thanks for the info! The razor is actually straight from the SRD honemeisters. It shaves well, but also feels very aggressive. Maybe I am just not used to it. It could be due to using diamond paste or spray, which I have found to be a bit aggressive before.

Anyway, since I have already run it over my fingernail (a method that I know some people use simply to test for sharpness and evenness, although others warn against it because it is slightly dulling on a shave ready edge), I will go with it and see what happens.

My favorite "paste" as mentioned elsewhere is slurry from my Chinese natural stone (which I believe is about 12000 grit). Maybe I will do a few strokes on the stone, then slurry strop, then fabric, and finally leather. I have managed to get some amazing shaves like this before (but without the finger nail thing).

Considering you just got it back from being honed, and your complaint appears to be discomfort and not tugging/pulling, I'd say this is most likely the case and not that something actually 'needed' correction. I'm not sure what they use at SRD, but I tend to find a blade fresh off a synthetic stone to be a bit on the aggressive side. Paste can either soften this (CrOx/CBN/FeOx with a soft media) or double down on it.

I would've tried a lighter touch while shaving or given it a shave or 2 to 'wear in' before making any tweaks personally. But what's done is done, hopefully it works out for you.

In light of it being fresh honed I would try stropping it a lot on linen and leather. Leather can tame that synthetic edge. I have stropped 200 on leather in such instances and found the edge to be much softer. I have heard similar things from others as well. Do not under estimate the power of plain leather.

Marshal and Rez have got a good point. Could be just sharper than your used too. But now the TNT is done... good luck and i hope the best on your stroping outcome.

OK I think I can say that this experiment was successful. The razor was less hair-popping sharp after the "blunting" on my thumb nail, although it was still definitely moderately sharp (it would not easily bite into hanging hairs, but I am sure it would still shave albeit uncomfortably).

I then stropped it on fabric 10 times, then leather 100 times. Now it would pick up some hairs on my arm, but it was slightly less eager towards the tip. Then I read RezDog's idea, and continued on the fabric 20 times, and on the leather maybe 250 laps, with extra attention towards the tip of the edge. It started cutting even fine hairs on my arm, in mid air, along the whole edge. I then shaved with it, and the edge is now definitely less harsh on my skin. It grips the hairs but NOT the skin.

The only thing I am uncertain about is whether this would have worked without the fingernail. I suspect that it would still have been a bit harsher, but I have no way of knowing. The repeated stropping definitely helped a lot though. This also confirms my notion that there is no such thing as stropping too much on leather.

I've taken the harshness off of edges with a dozen light pressure laps on a slack leather strop followed by ~50 regular laps.

So, what did the edge look like?

Jumping in blind and doing something drastic, like deburring a freshly Pro-honed razor is not a strategy that would likely give you good results.

A simple, quick look would have told you all you needed to know, and what direction to go to fix the issue.

As I mentioned, the method actually worked. But I don't have a microscope or any magnifiers like that. (I do have loupe for magnifying slides, if that works)

Originally Posted by trondsi

As I mentioned, the method actually worked. But I don't have a microscope or any magnifiers like that. (I do have loupe for magnifying slides, if that works)

There was no question that it would work, it is a well proved method, the only question was whether the Pasted Strop was going to have enough "Umpf" to bring the edge back..
Using a hone there was no doubts, using a pasted strop left some doubts Glad it worked for you

Well I think you found that killing an edge on a finger nail isn't really all that aggressive and you brought it back with a thorough stropping. No doubt in my mind that a pasted strop would bring this razor back probably much faster. I used to use a range of pasted strops and found that a 6 micron or 3 micron pastes can bring back all of but the dullest of blades. Even just Crox can do a lot its a remarkable cutting media albeit quite fine. The pastes not much used by myself these days but when I first got into this hobby It was the my go to tool for keeping me in the shaving game so to speak. It has its pros and cons but certainly effective.

Originally Posted by Razorfaust

Well I think you found that killing an edge on a finger nail isn't really all that aggressive and you brought it back with a thorough stropping. No doubt in my mind that a pasted strop would bring this razor back probably much faster. I used to use a range of pasted strops and found that a 6 micron or 3 micron pastes can bring back all of but the dullest of blades. Even just Crox can do a lot its a remarkable cutting media albeit quite fine. The pastes not much used by myself these days but when I first got into this hobby It was the my go to tool for keeping me in the shaving game so to speak. It has its pros and cons but certainly effective.

I haven't used a true paste for years. I use slurry from my fine Chinese water stone, which I apply on leather. Then I go to plain fabric and then plain leather. This, to me, feels better than diamond pastes. YMMV and all that