Thread: Please help me diagnose this honing problem.

Greetings everyone,

Let me start off by admitting that I am not very proficient at honing. I have been able to get some of my razors (all eBay specials) sharp enough for me to shave with, but it's been a hit or miss proposition.

Recently, I have run into the same problem with two different razors. I hone them and they seem sharp. After stropping, they pop hairs nicely in the HHT. When I shave with them, I find that they seem to shave well on the right side of my face (which I do first). However, when I switch to my left side, I still see stubble on my face. It doesn't look like the hairs are being cut at all.

I assume that I am over honing these razors and leaving a burr on one side. After I shave the first side of my face, that burr is either removed or bent over, leaving me with nothing to cut the hairs on the other side of my face. Does that sound about right?

I picked up one of those cheap Tandy microscopes the other day, and the edge of one of the razors in question looked pretty good (to me at least), but it still left me with one side of my face not properly shaved.

If anyone was going to ask, I do switch hands while shaving, and I try to hold the razor at about the same angle.

Thanks for any input you can offer.

I don't know if this applies but I once posted a thread asking if other members had coarser whiskers on one side of the face than the other. The answers that came back were invariably yes.

I am a dominant hand shaver and the right side of my face will have stubble after the first pass (north to south) no matter which razor I use while the left side will be close to bbs. Sort of the opposite of what is happening with you.

After I do the first pass the second is south to north and I may touch up around the windpipe. I end up bbs. This is the "gradual stubble removal technique". I don't try to get it all off on the first pass.

If I ever run into a situation where the first pass is bad enough to discourage me I rinse, re-lather and then hit the flat bed felt with chrome ox or the hanging felt with diamond spray for 20 laps.

That usually makes the second pass smooth. If that is required it is back to the hone for that razor.Lately I haven't run into that so I guess my skills are improving.

I've got one blade that does the same thing. Right side of the face is smooth, left side looks like it hasn't even seen the razor.

I haven't figured out how to fix it yet.

You are not alone.

Try switching hands and see if it makes a difference - seriously!

Sounds to me like you are employing different grip dynamics from one direction to the next.

I make sure that, no matter which direction I am honing, my thumb rests on the edge side of the shank from the top, and my forefinger contacts the spine side of the shank from underneath. It means there is a slightly different grip from one direction to the next, but it solved my issues with non-congruence and I haven't had a problem since.

X

Chris Meyer, Hello. I am not a honmeister but my first reaction or suggestion to your post would be to shave the side of your face that doesn't get a good shave 1st instead of 2nd. If your theory about the first pass affecting the edge is correct then the 2nd pass should be deficient no matter what side of the face you start with. I also would however suspect that it has to do more with the honing process and the stoke being different one side of the blade to the other. I have not had this problem so can't really speak from experience. You might try video taping your honing and see if you can detect any differences side to side.

OK my 5 cts:

1st: do you use the same angle on both sides of your face?
2nd: you may have rolled the edge inadvertently while stropping one way. It has happened to me that when stropping I tended to lift the spine going one way while moving the razor away from my body and not doing it on the way back towards me.
3rd: do you keep the strop taut all the way and both ways? You may slacken it a bit when moving the razor away from you.
4th are you sure you do not apply a lot of pressure on the blade at the end of a stroke on the leather
5th are you sure you do not slam the razor onto the leather when flipping it over?