Hello from Boulder, CO

Hello everyone, I'm currently attending school in Boulder, CO and got into straights from a friend here start school. Today will be my fifth day shaving, hopefully it will go well.

Welcome SRP, ask any questions you have keep us posted on on the shaves go.

Just finished the shave for today. Few nicks on the left side, my left hand isn't quite up to snuff yet. But I am getting there and I did shave my whole face for the second time today. Few nicks to be expected I suppose. Always strop before and after the shave, but I am worried I am still rounding my blade. Is there a way to make sure that I am not?

Welcome to SRP

lay your strop on the edge of a counter or table to improvise a paddle strop. A paddle strop takes getting the right tension out of the equation.

As long as the sharpness is not falling off after stopping, you are likely doing fine. If you do feel that the edge is rounded/rolled lots of good stropping may be able to bring back the edge.

Check out the Stroptober thread lots of good tips in there.

Jonathan

+1 on the stroptober thread and the tabletop training. In my first weeks w/ the strop, I pulled _way_ too hard, and since then my 2" wide leather strop is 1 5/8" wide and a couple of inches longer than it was. :(

Hi and welcome. Any questions feel free to ask and good luck with your shaves and stropping

Welcome to SRP. Stropping takes some time and you can always tape yourself. doing it and we can give you suggestions on what may help you get better. Someone told me it takes about 100 shaves to start getting good at straights. Just keep doing it. It becomes more natural as time goes by. Watch some youtube videos on different people doing it.

So this morning my lather was super thin, I couldn't figure out why. I think I'm not loading the brush enough, but the soap can is flinging soap out of the can after ten seconds or so of loading the brush. Any thoughts?

Hello, and welcome to SRP :chapeau Ask a lot of questions, there alot of people with a alot of knowledge. Check out the Library as well, a lot of information!!

You may be using too much water?
Just a thought.

V/R
Tim

That was my first thought but I've only uses the water from my brush that was soaking for three minutes or so. Would that by its self be too much water? I always shake it out then go to the soap tub.

You are on the right track. As it is a matter of building the lather. Shake it out good then start to build the lather, if needed add a little water very little and build it some more. If that makes since, hard to tell and it would be easier to show.

Tim

I've watched lynn's lather video a few times but if I remember right he didn't have a problem with soap flying out of the container before he had the lather built up. I end up with more soap on the side of my soap container then I do on my brush. Perhaps I am pushing too hard into the soap?

Don't be discouraged by a steeper learning curve than you expected. Just practice more, get some cheep but good soap and waste it by lathering multiple times. Arko and Williams are good cheap choices, under two dollars if you can find some locally. Try to stick with one soap and brush combo until you learn.

It is easier to add watter than to add soap to a brush. So I start with a rather dry brush and add watter after heavily loading with soap.

In a few hundred shaves lathering will be old hat and you will be able to make it look easy.

Jonathan

Have yet to shave today so I will give that a try. On another subject, my razor has these small pieces of leather on it after stropping. The only reason I noticed them was the small residue on one side of my razor. Would this be an issue in the razors sharpness? Or is it the blade having a problem? I will try and upload photos here shortly.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/5C8D9...t.colorado.edu


These are the pictures, they show up better on my phone.



http://straightrazorpalace.com/60961...t.colorado.edu

The photos must, I can't see them at all. ;) Hopefully you can get pictures sorted out.

Is the razors spine worked? Are you using the smooth side not the fussy side? Sadly the other option is you may have some chips in the edge.

Jonathan

Attachment 158484
hopefully this one will show up better. I am using the smooth side, what do you mean by spine worked?

yeah the little brown bits circled in the picture appear on that small section directly after stropping. I am not sure what the deal is.

Here is a thread about a Boker with worked spine. Worked spine refers to the decorative file cuts in the spine of the razor.

But from your photo you have dovo bismark. I don't think any have file work from the factory.

I think you may have some damage to the edge in the circled area. Leading to the razor scraping some of the leather up. If so it will need honed to fix the issue. Use a soft cloth to remove the debris. Try a LRT, Light Reflection Test, on the edge. With a strong light behind you rotate the blade trying to catch a reflection off of the very edge. If the edge is in good shape no light will be visible.

Jonathan

Alrighty, I am pretty sure that it does not pass the LRT, which is annoying as I've only had the razor for a week today. But any who, does it need to be done asap? I have a second razor arriving soon here hopefully, once it arrives I could send this one back to Lynn for a honing.

I would send it out to be honed. If it picks up leather on a stropping stroke it will pick up skin on a shaving stroke.