Thread: Straight Razors Dull Despite Little Use

Originally Posted by Tathra11

In relation to honing practice, in my humble opinion put aside the Renren. The steel quality might be questionable and it looks like someone tried to 'freehand' a bevel at some point. Razor three has been honed to death. The heel is encroaching on thick steel at the shoulder. However, the first razor looks to be one that might take a nice shaving edge and well worth your time on the hones.

Yeah, agreed on all points. Shame about that last one as those scales look like they're ivory.

I've got a 60x microscope, and two 40x25 lighted loupes. Gave my 20x away to a member, was gifted the other 40x



I really like the 40x much better, with the 25 mm, glass lens. As said, makes scanning much easier. All I need is ambient light, so I don't bother with it.

Don't know what brand they are, and don't care. They do the intended job, should I need it. Always take one with me when I go razor hunting, so I can check for cracks, and how bad the pitting might be, before purchase.

Originally Posted by PaulFLUS

Yeah, agreed on all points. Shame about that last one as those scales look like they're ivory.

If I took them off could they be reusable?

The short answer is yes. I would however advise you to place that car somewhere near the caboose at this juncture. You have plenty of other balls in the air at present.

I had a visit with my knife guy. Turns out he's not just a knife guy, he is trying to make straight razors too. We ran out of time to do much because hardness tests take a long time to do, so we'll reconvene latter. He did however point out that my stropping technique was not forceful enough. I was worried about rolling the edge, so I would put almost zero pressure on the edge of the blade as I stropped, just having all the force on the spine while there is nothing but gravity bringing the edge down on the leather. He showed me how he does it with much more force than that, since trying this new technique the shaving edge feels much sharper, the shave was a bit rough at times but I did manage to shave my whole face with no cuts or ripped hairs, so that's a big plus.



I'll have you know I splashed my face with alcohol aftershave after using my straight razor and only cried for 20 minutes.

I've always advocated to using a little pressure when stropping.
I had the Barber who gave me my first straight (20 years ago come the new year), one of his he used to use and his strop to go with it (Red Imp)
He was kind enough to critique me once and said immediately after watching "no, use more pressure. Not too much but you need some.
He was right and shaves just got better and better.
All I ever read is no pressure, just the weight of blade etc.... Not true. You need some pressure.

“I'll have you know I splashed my face with alcohol aftershave after using my straight razor and only cried for 20 minutes.”

I got away from using aftershaves as a result of working in scent-free environments. I now prefer to use witch hazel after shaving. Thaters offers several versions - I like the facial toner with aloe and the astringent with lemon - no tears just smiles.

Sometimes, if it’s particularly dry out (like a cold winter day), I’ll finish with some shea butter or jojoba oil. Don’t miss the aftershave sting or the aroma.

Originally Posted by DZEC

“I'll have you know I splashed my face with alcohol aftershave after using my straight razor and only cried for 20 minutes.”

I got away from using aftershaves as a result of working in scent-free environments. I now prefer to use witch hazel after shaving. Thaters offers several versions - I like the facial toner with aloe and the astringent with lemon - no tears just smiles.

Sometimes, if it’s particularly dry out (like a cold winter day), I’ll finish with some shea butter or jojoba oil. Don’t miss the aftershave sting or the aroma.

Normally I don't use alcohol anymore, I deliberately induce the sting when using a straight razor so I can figure out where my technique is not working. It works better than eyeballs for detecting bad technique.

Any step forward is a good step, even little ones. There isore to it than you would think. That's really the appeal of this. It's an art form. In the old days when a young man started.getting hair on his face his father or grandfather would teach him how to shave. That and watching them strop and lather and everything else associated with it while still a lad. Now, most of our fathers and grandfathers didn't use a straight so we have to rely on each other to learn it. Some things you just can't easily learn from a book.

Glad you're making progress!

Yea, it's resolution over magnification. 10X is enough with a quality hand lens. 20x is more than enough. I have a stereo microscope too I bought ages ago for mineralogical work and it goes to 80x but with that as a guide you can see the slightest imperfection in the edge most of which have nothing to do with shave quality so I never use it for honing.