Thread: Straight Razors Dull Despite Little Use

Gee. It's nice to help others, but 5 pages of this has yielded nada, IMO.
Some don't listen to advise given. It's a pursuit for some to ask and then argue......... Silly.
Seems time to move on?

Originally Posted by STF

Job15, is a member here has a fantastic series on honing and setting a bevel on YouTube.

Yeah, I mentioned him earlier in this thread I think... maybe it was another but he has some very good videos. Heck of a nice guy too.

Originally Posted by sharptonn

Gee. It's nice to help others, but 5 pages of this has yielded nada, IMO.
Some don't listen to advise given. It's a pursuit for some to ask and then argue......... Silly.
Seems time to move on?

Here's an itemized list of the adjustments I've made within the last 2 months:

• In person lessons from the most skilled honer I could find in my city.
• Multiple attempts on my own to hone my razor using his exact technique to the best of my ability.
• Chamfered the stones when I learned that they aren't supposed to be perfect rectangles.
• Found new techniques to flatten stones upon discovery that my previous method is very flawed.
• Ordered a group of cheap razors to practice on to avoid unnecessary wear on my nicer Dovo.
• Spent 3-4 hours on the hone practicing.
• Read through the entire ScienceofSharp website, as well as a bunch of other literature.
• Attempted to follow his instructions step for step.
• Purchased a new Loupe so that I can get a closer and clearer look at the edge of my razor.
• Refined my stropping technique with in-person help from my local honer, as well as watching videos and practicing.
• Added the pasted strop to my honing progression.
• Significantly more practice using a straight razor to shave.
• A bunch of time and effort trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong by talking to people here and listening.
• Asked for specific recommendations for guides that skilled honers think I *should* follow, after explaining that I have no ability to parse them for quality myself.
• Learned how to feel for a burr as small as would be present on a straight razor.
• Learned how to shine light on the edge of the razor to try to identify areas where the edge doesn't meet.

And then tomorrow I plan on:

• Taking high quality photographs at different angles of the razor.
• Measuring the spine with calipers at various points.
• Calculating the angles of the razor.
• Learning a new technique from Edge Dynamics videos.

That's just the last two months or so. I'm mad at the razor, not the instructions I've been given. I haven't blamed anyone's instructions for my failure to get an edge on this razor. I have every right to be frustrated with this thing too considering how much I spent on it, how much effort I've put into it, and how little I've gotten out of it. This razor cost me over $200 Canadian, and I also spent $40 getting it professionally honed by two different people, and another $250 on stones, and so far over the 4 years I've owned it, I've gotten 2 decent shaves out of it.

I'm going to have a stroke if one more person suggests I "don't listen to advice given".

Originally Posted by PaulFLUS

Yeah, I mentioned him earlier in this thread I think... maybe it was another but he has some very good videos. Heck of a nice guy too.

Yes Paul you did mention Joseph, but that good advice, along with post upon post upon post of other sound advice was either ignored or simply dismissed by @rickytimothy. We are now on page 19 in this thread, and are going round and round in circles here and zero progress has been made by this bloke. Reckon I'm close to done.

Originally Posted by rickytimothy

Here's an itemized list of the adjustments I've made within the last 2 months:

• In person lessons from the most skilled honer I could find in my city.
• Multiple attempts on my own to hone my razor using his exact technique to the best of my ability.
• Chamfered the stones when I learned that they aren't supposed to be perfect rectangles.
• Found new techniques to flatten stones upon discovery that my previous method is very flawed.
• Ordered a group of cheap razors to practice on to avoid unnecessary wear on my nicer Dovo.
• Spent 3-4 hours on the hone practicing.
• Read through the entire ScienceofSharp website, as well as a bunch of other literature.
• Attempted to follow his instructions step for step.
• Purchased a new Loupe so that I can get a closer and clearer look at the edge of my razor.
• Refined my stropping technique with in-person help from my local honer, as well as watching videos and practicing.
• Added the pasted strop to my honing progression.
• Significantly more practice using a straight razor to shave.
• A bunch of time and effort trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong by talking to people here and listening.
• Asked for specific recommendations for guides that skilled honers think I *should* follow, after explaining that I have no ability to parse them for quality myself.
• Learned how to feel for a burr as small as would be present on a straight razor.
• Learned how to shine light on the edge of the razor to try to identify areas where the edge doesn't meet.

And then tomorrow I plan on:

• Taking high quality photographs at different angles of the razor.
• Measuring the spine with calipers at various points.
• Calculating the angles of the razor.
• Learning a new technique from Edge Dynamics videos.

That's just the last two months or so. I'm mad at the razor, not the instructions I've been given. I haven't blamed anyone's instructions for my failure to get an edge on this razor. I have every right to be frustrated with this thing too considering how much I spent on it, how much effort I've put into it, and how little I've gotten out of it. This razor cost me over $200 Canadian, and I also spent $40 getting it professionally honed by two different people, and another $250 on stones, and so far over the 4 years I've owned it, I've gotten 2 decent shaves out of it.

I'm going to have a stroke if one more person suggests I "don't listen to advice given".

All this and still your razor won't even cut arm hair. Seriously mate.......

Originally Posted by Tathra11

All this and still your razor won't even cut arm hair. Seriously mate.......

Yes, that's exactly right. It's extremely frustrating.

Put that bad boy aside and come back to it after you have more experience under your belt. That's the nice thing about having a gaggle of them.

Originally Posted by rickytimothy

In any case, I tried five variations of stroke on the 1k.

1. Basically no pressure, just enough to keep the blade on the hone, conventional x-strokes, blade leading, switching sides to complete full back and forth strokes, both sides blade leading. This had absolutely no results, the blade could not cut any hair anywhere but the heel.

2. Keeping the blade close to fully on the stone at all times, varying very light pressure slightly from heel to toe as I move down the stone in a close to straight stroke, only moving to the side enough to get the whole blade as the blade is wider than the stone. No results on this either.

3. Stronger pressure, still light, full x-strokes. Would not cut at all after.

4. Back and forth strokes, one side at a time, alternating blade leading / blade trailing, just basically scrubbing it lightly, then switching side after about 20 of these. The blade will no longer cut hair on any part, not even the heel.

5. Same as above but with slightly stronger pressure. Will not cut at all.

The only stroke that will hone this razor is not in your list of variations. The rolling X- stoke. It was suggested to you in your thread back in 2021.
https://sharprazorpalace.com/honing/...en-spines.html

I'm more than happy to do that , I'm quite sure that the differing expectations of the Gold Dollars will make the frustration sting less. It hits differently when you know how much the Dovo cost + the fact that I should never have had to sharpen it this much in the first place.

By the way I am a gambling man, and if someone sends me an intentionally dull razor but that has good geometry, I would be happy to bet you the cost of the razor and shipping that I can get a good edge on something with normal geometry. I'll throw in $10 on top of razor and shipping if I can't.

Originally Posted by onimaru55

The only stroke that will hone this razor is not in your list of variations. The rolling X- stoke. It was suggested to you in your thread back in 2021.
https://sharprazorpalace.com/honing/...en-spines.html

I was unclear, all of my attempts were rolling X-stroke, the only real variation was whether I alternated direction every stroke, how much pressure I put on it, and whether I slid the razor laterally across the hone or tried to keep a straight path with simply adjusted region of pressure from my hands.

It should go without saying that I understand this is a tricky technique, and whatever my version of the "rolling x-stroke" was is probably incorrect. GSSixgun did give me zoom lessons on that specific technique though so I do get the idea if not the execution.

I'm buying a tripod one of these days so I can actually demonstrate what I'm trying to do.