Thread: cant get my razor-razor sharp!

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...