Thread: Howdy from Montana.

I am new to this forum and to straight razors. Have been shaving with a DE razor for 2 years and have just recently answered the calling to a straight razor. I am a fast learner and have been enjoying the journey into this shaving tool for about a week and a half. I am experiencing a difficulty in maintaining a sharp edge (shaving sharp) via stropping. I have a premium leather strop with a felt strop attached from Straight Razor Designs, and have treated one side of the felt with CHROMIUM OXIDE .5 MICRON SPRAY. I have tried stropping on both the treated and untreated felt strop followed by 60 strokes on the smooth leather strop face. While it will shave the hair on my arm at a 30 degree angle, but is not so cooperative on my facial whiskers. I am seeking advice from those with the experience I am lacking at this time, to understand what I may be doing wrong on the strop, or not doing all together. Thank you in advance.
mtwoodwrkr

What kind of facial hair do you have, thick/ course, thin, ect.
What kind of razor, full hollow, med hollow, wedge.
What's your finishing stone, if your honing.
Skin prep.
Ect.

Tons of variables, hopefully we can get it narrowed down for you. But your still quite green in this game, and there's a long learning curve involved with straights.

Not sure where you are at in MT but we have a fairly good group of guys up here in the PNW and INW there might be some of us fairly close that we could meet over a Beer or a cup of Coffee and give some help

Hello and welcome to SRP.
As Glen says, a very wise decision on your part would be to meet with any willing and experienced members. A chance to do this will dramatically help.
Enjoy the learning experience and your time here on the forum.

Pete <:-}

Originally Posted by petercp4e

Hello and welcome to SRP.
As Glen says, a very wise decision on your part would be to meet with any willing and experienced members. A chance to do this will dramatically help.
Enjoy the learning experience and your time here on the forum.



Pete <:-}

Thanks Pete, I appreciate your wisdom and willingness to extend a hand.
Larry

Welcome to SRP-I envy you: Montana is the prettiest state in America in my book. Did you get the razor from SRD too? If so, it would have been shave ready. Maybe an experienced member who lives in your (admittedly very large!) neighborhood could assess your edge, your stropping, even your shave itself, to see if you are doing things correctly. There are many variable that can mess up a straight shave, especially until you have enough experience under your belt to know what messed it up.

If you were getting good shaves in that first week and a half but are having difficulty maintaining edges via stropping (edge declining with each shave), it is probably something you are doing wrong in the stropping: maybe too much pressure? Or have an experienced honer assess your edge and maybe re-finish it has been dulled. Let us know how it turns out. Aaron

edit: Okay, you posted while I was typing, and answered my main question. If you got a shave-ready razor honed by Lynn, then your problem is most likely your stropping, as no edge should degrade that fast if used carefully. If you've really dulled it, it may need some refinishing on an 8 or 12k stone, or as Sixxgun said, if you can find one of the many members in that region for help, he may be able to show you how to strop it back into shape if not too far gone.

gssixgun, that sounds great to me, if we are close enough. I live in the SouthWest Montana area between Deer Lodge and Butte, just off the I-90 corridor.
Larry

Originally Posted by mtwoodwrkr

gssixgun, that sounds great to me, if we are close enough. I live in the SouthWest Montana area between Deer Lodge and Butte, just off the I-90 corridor.
Larry

I will be in Butte, MT Tuesday evening for a Wednesday delivery. I'm agreeable to holding over a few hours Wednesday if you want to meet. Got my travel kit with me too. PM me if you're interested.

One thing that really can effect stropping is strop tension. It should be taught but not tight, you don't want your arm to be tired from holding your strop. Second not slack, slack can kill an edge quickly. There are guys that can strop on a slack strop but that is years of doing so. Eddy has given you some great advice, laying your strop on a flat surface will help tremendously taking almost all variable out. What really helped me was hearing the term "bury the spine". By no means dig the spine into the strop or again you will kill the edge, bury the edge thought giving a slight deflection to the strop with each stroke. I hope you enjoy your journey, there is a lot to learn but in the end it will all come together and be very rewarding

PS, I forgot to add, listen to the sound that is made when stropping. Put just the spine of your razor on the strop so the edge is straight in the air, no flipping or anything. Perform a stropping motion, notice how quiet it is? Now lay the entire blade down as you would to strop normally and make a stropping motion, notice the sound it makes? Almost like zip,zip,zip,zip. This will give you an idea when you are stropping if you are lifting the edge or doing something that is not getting the entire blade in contact. Hope this helps

Originally Posted by outback

What kind of facial hair do you have, thick/ course, thin, ect.
What kind of razor, full hollow, med hollow, wedge.
What's your finishing stone, if your honing.
Skin prep.
Ect.

Tons of variables, hopefully we can get it narrowed down for you. But your still quite green in this game, and there's a long learning curve involved with straights.

Outback, thanks for your interest in assisting me. As you say, I am indeed "quite green in this game". About as green as one can be. As far as the razor, I am using a new Ralf Aust full hollow, an IMPERIAL SHAVING 6/8" EBONY WOOD - STERLING SILVER INLAYS to be exact, with a STRAIGHT RAZOR DESIGNS 3" PREMIUM I LEATHER STROP. I have not honed the razor to date, only stropping before each shave. The razor was meticulously honed by Lynn before sending to me and I have not felt it should need honing this soon; so I have been attempting to maintain the edge by stropping. My beard is not heavy in my opinion, but has proven over time to be tough on razor blades, especially the multiple blade cartridge types as well as some of the DE blades I have used over the past couple of years. I precondition my beard with hot tap water and a pre-shave oil. I lather with a mix of Mitchell's Wool Fat soap and Dr. Harris Arlington Cream and work it into a thick lather that peaks then apply to beard in a dense concentration. I have used this method with DE wet shaving for a year and a half with great results, and have changed only the razor. My first couple of shaves with the straight blade were very good, but grew progressively worse day to day. Today I was unable to shave my chin with the straight blade and had to finish with my DE razor.
I hope I have answered your questions thoroughly enough to provide some additional insight.

Larry