Thread: Straight Razors Dull Despite Little Use

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".