Hi, I'm a new straight razor user.

I've started in July trying to learn how to use straight razors.

I've bought a few razors, one or two new and a couple old.

I found right away that a straight razor is not too useful unless it's very sharp. Most of the last month has been spent learning how to hone and how to strop. I can now make my razors sharp enough to pass the hanging hair test on a few tries. I still think they are not as sharp as they could be.

When I use the sharpest razor I have, shaving is much easier and cuts are rare. I still have great difficulty shaving under the nose, on the chin and against the grain.

One problem I still have is how to hold the razor when shaving upwards instead of downwards.

One thing i have found so far is that the hanging hair test doesn't necessarily mean its shave ready. Some of the mentors and senior members will probably help you out there.

I hold the razor on the shank near the stabilizer when i am shaving upwards. The scales continue in the same direction as the spine and shank. Any fingers gripping the scales at this point is to keep them out of the way. Hope that helps

Hi there, welcome to SRP.

At the end of the day, you have to find a comfortable and safe way to hold your razor... and that may mean that you hold your razor in a different way than I do. That said, here are some example grips that you may want to try out.

Different ways to hold a straight razor - Straight Razor Place Wiki

Also, if you check the shaving videos you'll see how others are holding their blades.

All the best,

Dave

Thanks, guys. It took me a while to find this thread again, I was looking in the wrong place.

I had a terrible shave yesterday with a Torrey razor from ebay. I looked at the edge under a 20x microscope and saw there was a notch on the edge near the toe. (My eyes aren't that good anymore.) I think that was what gave me the slice when I shaved XTG.

I then proceeded to grind off the notch using a 45 degree angle on a coarse diamond stone. But the toe end of the edge was curved away from the long portion, so it took a long while to get down to the notch. I had to remove about 1 mm. I can see this would have been a lot easier using grinding wheels or a belt sander. It then took forever using fine and extra-extra fine diamond stones to get an edge back. After mucho honing, I can finally cut a hair again with my diminished blade.

I learned four things from this: 1) If a blade tugs and cuts, it's very dull or notched; 2) If it has a visible notch, don't buy it; 3) If it has a notch, let an expert deal with it; and 4) Getting a blade shave-ready from scratch is a daunting task without motorized equipment.

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Originally Posted by Alethephant

I can see this would have been a lot easier using grinding wheels or a belt sander. It then took forever using fine and extra-extra fine diamond stones to get an edge back. After mucho honing, I can finally cut a hair again with my diminished blade.

I learned four things from this: 1) If a blade tugs and cuts, it's very dull or notched; 2) If it has a visible notch, don't buy it; 3) If it has a notch, let an expert deal with it; and 4) Getting a blade shave-ready from scratch is a daunting task without motorized equipment.

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Anything motorized would ruin the temper of your edge me thinks....:beer2:

The Koch sharpening machine with two pairs of wheels uses proprietary pastes to control temperature during grinding. There is a video on youtube showing a demonstration on chisels. The edge on a chisel is very similar to a straight razor, and sharpening has many points of similarity. The biggest difference is the double-sided hollow grind.

I've done a lot of work in the meat industry, and no sharpening is done on stones. Mostly water-cooled, I think.

Honing straight razors and shaving with them is a learning process and IME the more we do both of them the better we get. The old focus on the journey not the destination really does apply to keep it fun. Buy vintage blades in as good a condition as you can find them and pass on the blades that have obvious problems is my policy. :)