Thread: cant get my razor-razor sharp!

I will try and get my son when he gets home later this week to take some photos
regards clock.

It's probably a bevel problem, caused by the "professional honing". Make sure you take good pictures in bright light of the bevel and spine.

By the way, for all beginners, when we say "professional honing" what we mean is that the razor has been honed by a straight razor honing professional.

Originally Posted by AFDavis11

It's probably a bevel problem, caused by the "professional honing". Make sure you take good pictures in bright light of the bevel and spine.

By the way, for all beginners, when we say "professional honing" what we mean is that the razor has been honed by a straight razor honing professional.

+1. Look forward to the pics.

just to say,tried your suggestion of 10 strokes green dovo paste,followed by 5o strokes on leather strop-tested the blade edge with a hair from my wifes brush,and although it wouldnt cut it clean by gently touching the edge,it did cut through by slowly moving it along the edge.
So i will shave with it tommorrow and see how it goes.
again many thanks for your practical advice
clock.

Please keep in mind that getting a good shave out of straight takes much more than a sharp razor, but good technique as well. No beginner will have good technique, it simply takes practice to develop. During that time, even with a perfectly sharpened razor, one should expect less than perfect shaves.

So my question is, who sharpened it? If it is a reputable sharpener, then it is your tehnique that is causing the problems. If it is someone who doesn't really know how to sharpen straights, then you have the problem of bad technique AND a razor that isn't shave ready.

The good news is that it shaved well after being honed...

That tells me that the strop and other day in day out
maintenance is where you first need to pay attention.

Barber hones work. Find Lynn's video on the use of
a barber hone. But the general rule with barber hones
is to set the back of the razor on the hone. Gently let the
sharp edge down on the hone then give the razor a smooth
hone stroke. Barber hones are short and narrow so an X stroke
is needed to cover the entire edge. Then reverse the process ... a total of four
to six hone strokes is all that is needed.

Then strop... Again set the back (spine) of the razor on the
strop gently set the blade to the canvas or leather and give
it a smooth a strop stroke. About 40 trips up and down the
strop.

Canvas after a barber hone is a good thing. Follow canvas
by leather. Then shave test...

Another barber hone trick is to use a touch of lather instead of clear
water to lubricate the hone. A touch of lather can make make a
barber hone act finer than it is.

thanks for the advice.
my routine is 50 laps on home made leather strop,shave then 25laps afterwards(was told this will dry the razor and the natural oils in the leather will help to protect the razors edge from rust developing.
my leather strop is a piece of 4"x2" wood,the 4" covered in leather and then tacked to the edge to make a perfect flat edge 30" long.My idea being that there would be no flexiing in the leather to cause any rounding off of the edge,and also the full width of the blade is then stropped without doing the x pattern. same for my pasted strop-just smaller.
I presumed that by doing this this would help eliminate as much as i could my lack of experience without effecting the overall outcome of my efforts.
I use as much care as possiblein all i do to try to get the desired result.
I had my razor sent away to a reputable razor restorer/sharpning service so
it must be my technique-just cant see that what i am doing is so wrong that
the blade will not give me a clean shave !

regards clock.

sent photos hope they are ok.
regards clock

Originally Posted by clock

hi everyone,
Just joined because i cant seem to get my razor to a sharpness that will do the hanging hair test or cut the stubble off my chin.
let me explain,i am well into middle age and have been given a razor by a relative(a colombi number30 ),the razor was sharp,but after shaving it wasnt sharp enough to give me a close shave,so i used a multi blade to finish my shave.
Decided to get it professional sharpned-whichi did,but after a couple of shaves it was back to its former self.
I made a paddle strop,and a leather strop,used dovo green paste on one side of the paddle strop and a white pastewitha10,000grit rating to use as a touchup.Also purchased a aloxite number 200 razor hone.
using lather and water on the hone must have done 300 passes-didnt inprove the edge at all,dontno what i am doing wrong ?
Have not used the green dovo paste as i believe it is to aggressive.
So 10/12 passes on the 10,000 grit pasted strop,followed by at least 300 on the aloxite still hasnt given me a true razor sharp edge ,
My thoughts were that the aloxite razor hone and the pasted strop would have been a good enought combination to keep my razor keen.
I would be gratful for any thoughts or advice that could inprove my chances of getting that shave,without having to outlay a fortune.
regards clock.

Originally Posted by clock

thanks for the advice.
my routine is 50 laps on home made leather strop,shave then 25laps afterwards(was told this will dry the razor and the natural oils in the leather will help to protect the razors edge from rust developing.
my leather strop is a piece of 4"x2" wood,the 4" covered in leather and then tacked to the edge to make a perfect flat edge 30" long.My idea being that there would be no flexiing in the leather to cause any rounding off of the edge,and also the full width of the blade is then stropped without doing the x pattern. same for my pasted strop-just smaller.
I presumed that by doing this this would help eliminate as much as i could my lack of experience without effecting the overall outcome of my efforts.
I use as much care as possiblein all i do to try to get the desired result.
I had my razor sent away to a reputable razor restorer/sharpning service so
it must be my technique-just cant see that what i am doing is so wrong that
the blade will not give me a clean shave !

regards clock.

OK everyone else is being very nice here, so I am going to give it to you straight (pun intended)

You have basically destroyed the edge that the razor had, everything I marked in red is wrong, you took an edge that was shaving and ripped it's guts out..
It now needs a full bevel reset and a full honing to shave ready,,

While it is away being fixed you should read every Beginners tip you can find,, Then start from square one all over again, right at the cheeks from Sideburns to jawline and put the pasted strop and the barbers hone away for at least 1 month if not 2

Sorry to be so harsh but you need to hear the truth now...

Originally Posted by clock

sent photos hope they are ok.
regards clock

Can you post a link to the photo?

If you don't know how, here is a quick guide:

1) Have the photos saved on your computer, AND know where they are. (Desktop, photo album, some other folder).

2) Load the photo on a photo-hosting website like imgur: the simple image sharer
(Click the "upload images," then go to the folder where the picture is at, press "OPEN")

3) When the photo is loaded, click on it so that the photo is the only thing on your screen.

4) Go to the address bar, select everything, hold "CTRL" and hit the "C" key. (This will copy the selected text)

5) See this button here:


You want to click that a dialogue box will pop up. Hold CTRL and push the "V" key. This will paste the address of the image into the dialogue box. Press ok.

At this point the image should load into your reply, just as you see above.