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 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

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

Sounds like something may have happened during stropping...maybe.
How many shaves have you done with this blade.?
Are you using Cr/ox every time you strop, or just once it started pulling on your beard.

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

Originally Posted by outback

Sounds like something may have happened during stropping...maybe.
How many shaves have you done with this blade.?
Are you using Cr/ox every time you strop, or just once it started pulling on your beard.

Mike,
I have shaved about 7 times with the razor. The first day just the cheeks as Lynn advises, was going to repeat the second day but got greedy. Completed three passes just for the practice, yah I left a "few" marks as a result. Two or three of the 7 shaves were two pass shaves, so maybe a total of 12 passes or so. I only use the Cr/ox when I feel I am not getting the edge back to shave ready as Lynn had done before shipping it to me. Yes ScoutHikerDad, I purchased the razor, strop and Cr/ox from SRD, and it was indeed "shave ready" as it would slice a hanging hair with hardly moving it in the process. I believe the problem is ME, and my use of the strop. I am thinking maybe I should lay the strop on a flat surface and use it that way until I get the hang of it, then return to using it as it hangs from the wall. I do try to pull the strop straight and somewhat taught, but am limited to how taught I pull so as not to pull the hook off the wall like I did the first attempt at the strop. I will say though, the strop stays quite flat during my stropping, as I am not trying to apply much pressure with the blade. Just enough so that I am confident the cutting edge remains on the strop through the stroke. I know I am doing something wrong, I just haven't been able to identify it yet.
Larry