Thread: Problems with pasted paddles

So my report is due this morning, and here it is:

Wow. What a difference. The suspect razor that I mentioned, a Geneva 6/8 that I got from eBay on Saturday, gave me a fantastic shave. It's my best shave yet by far. Makes me very, very sorry that I'm selling this razor to a newbie. I think he'll like it, though.

I just did about 20 laps on my 0.5 pasted paddle, using it more like a bench hone than a paddle strop. That seemed to make a big difference.

Since the finest stone I have is the Norton 8K, I think I'm going to experiment with doing a few, maybe five or so, laps on the 1 micron, followed by 10 to 20 laps on the pasted paddle.

Once I get a better feel for the strop, I also think I'll try using it like a paddle again. If it's still giving me problems, maybe I'll just take the handle off. (The handle makes it a little hard to lay the strop flat.) For now I'm happy in my bench-hone world.

Thanks a million for the tips.

Josh

Originally Posted by joshearl

Wow. What a difference. The suspect razor that I mentioned, a Geneva 6/8 that I got from eBay on Saturday, gave me a fantastic shave. It's my best shave yet by far.

Genevas (actually any american-made razor) will do that for ya :-)

You never mentioned if you were actually shave-testing your razors or just going by the hair test. Paddled blades seem to react differently on the hair test than honed blades, I don't know why. So it's possible the blades were just fine after paddling but you were confused by your test.

I'm glad it's working out for ya Josh. That should increase our newb retention rate

MParker,

I have been shaving testing as I've experimented with the pasted paddles. They've always passed the HHT really well off the paddles, so I don't take that to mean anything.

Basically it seems that the HHT is a good indicator for me of shave-readiness coming off the 8K. Barring a wire edge, which I can usually see with my microscope, if the razor cuts my hair without tugging or pinging, it will shave well. My hair is pretty thick, so it must be just right.

But off the paddles I've just been shave testing. I still do the HHT, just to see what's happening to the edge. The shaves were awful--I'd usually put the razor down right after the first few strokes, or definitely by the time I got to the first pass on my chin.

All seems to be well now.

I hope Kevall will be happy with his new Geneva. I'm a little envious now.

Josh