Thread: Do some razors not like linen?

I have a little hypothesis - if there is something wrong with an edge that is not instantly obvious after honing (i.e. microscopic cracks, hidden rust etc), good stropping on linen quickly reveals such issues and the problematic material gets removed, chipped away etc.

On the other hand, are you sure that your stropping technique is okay?

Whatever your problem is it ain't the linen per se. Maybe the CrO the way you are stropping. I paste my leather not my fabric strops.

I'll check the blade but I have a feeling that it is technique and the lack of an 8k.

Still working out the kinks. It just struck me as funny that a HHT blade went south so quick after the linen.

Originally Posted by singlewedge

Still working out the kinks. It just struck me as funny that a HHT blade went south so quick after the linen.

The basic problem is the HHT doesn't tell you that the razor is shaving sharp - it just says that there is something about the edge that allows it to pop hairs. That "something" may be jagged teeth, it may be a wire edge, it may be actual sharpness, or some combination of all three. Performing the HHT is easy (hence its popularity) but interpreting the HHT correctly takes a fair amount of experience.

My guess is the edge wasn't actually sharp, and the pasted linen cleaned off whatever features on the edge that allowed it to pop hairs, revealing the fundamentally dull edge underneath.

Originally Posted by sparq

I have a little hypothesis - if there is something wrong with an edge that is not instantly obvious after honing (i.e. microscopic cracks, hidden rust etc), good stropping on linen quickly reveals such issues and the problematic material gets removed, chipped away etc.

On the other hand, are you sure that your stropping technique is okay?

Hypothesis??? Heck I use that on every razor, 50 laps on linen will find a weakness if there is one... I do my final 40x check right after the linen everytime....
Although I have never pasted a linen strop

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Hypothesis??? Heck I use that on every razor, 50 laps on linen will find a weakness if there is one... I do my final 40x check right after the linen everytime....
Although I have never pasted a linen strop

Forgive me! I started in December and have not managed to share/validate all my naive observations with the gurus, yet!

Originally Posted by sparq

I have a little hypothesis - if there is something wrong with an edge that is not instantly obvious after honing (i.e. microscopic cracks, hidden rust etc), good stropping on linen quickly reveals such issues and the problematic material gets removed, chipped away etc.

On the other hand, are you sure that your stropping technique is okay?

I have seen similar things going to higher grit polishing stones. Polishing on the edge (stone, strop, whatever) does reveal issues that are hidden at lower grits, to be sure.