Thread: Hello and thanks, very helpful site Jeff McCoy Middletown, OH

Lots of questions, found answers here.
Bought first razor last week, need to have sharpened. Not happy with dragging and leaving lots of stubble. My face is not very sensitive, but ended up with red face and razor burn.
How smooth should the razor move across your face, easy as a DE?

G'day Jeff, there's a good chance that though your razor is sharper than anything else you own, it still isn't what we here would term as "Shave Ready". Razor sharp might not quite cut it (pun intended). Where did you acquire your razor from for a start?
There is also a learning curve involved in using a cut-throat razor properly, getting the right angles, lathering and stropping amongst other things all play a part in getting a good shave. We're all happy to help you, but we will need more information or questions from you first.


Mick

Bought at Art of Shaving store 140.00 Thiers-Issard
Shaved with it straight out of the box.
Used pre shave oil and lathered with brush and shave cream bought at same store, hot shower first.
I can take a single edge razor, the kind used in a box cutter and shave same areas with smooth results and no drag.
I know I need time shaving with straight razor to get use to my face and develope my skill, but razor drags and stops on all areas of my face. I tried laying razor flat then progressively increased angle, still drags and leaves stubble.
Would a new razor be that bad or do you think I'm just that bad at trying to shave.
Can shave hair on my arm very smooth.
Thanks

Sound like it needs to be honed up. Check in our Classifieds under Member Services for someone thats in your area.

Colin

Jeff, I'm not sure whether or not Art of Shaving has the razors they sell honed prior to shipping them to customers or not. A member from the US might know more, we don't have those stores in Australia. If they don't Pro hone their razors prior to shipping then that is the first thing I'm going to suggest you have done. A member in your area may be able to help you with this, and hopefully someone will come along soon that is able to make the offer, otherwise there are honing services offered in the classifieds on this site.
Once your edge is established, then you will know if it was the razor or your technique. I had similar issues when I first started. Razor not honed and bad technique. Once I had the razor honed up (I ended up learning to do that for myself, but had my technique checked by a local member just to be sure I was doing it right) I was able to start getting acceptable shaves with only the odd mishap on my part.
The rule of thumb for figuring out the correct angle is to use the thickness of the spine as your guide and gauge about 1.5 to 2 spine thickness' from your face. From there you just need to make small adjustments to find what is right for you.
Have you got a strop? You hopefully have, because you should be stropping before every shave, and preferably doing a few laps after the shave once you have dried the razor, so as to completely dry the edge.


Mick

Welcome to SRP!
Mickr is corect aos sells factory honed edges and while they are very sharp rarely are they shave ready. TI seems to do a better job getting them almost there than the other current makers, boker and dovo.
many of our vendors who have honing services also can set you upwit ha strop if you do not have one.
since you are in ohio, you might want to look at straight razor designs as a source (Lynn there is the founder of SRP)

enjoy,
jim

Thanks for the welcome, I don't have a strop. Suggestions on one would be great. I would like one that works great, don't care right now how it looks. Didn't realize stroping was that necessary. How long before it really needs honed again, medium beard coarseness. Will try to be very careful and keep blade flat when stroping.

If you get your razor pro honed and get a strop you should be good for a fair while providing you don't roll the edge while stropping, but I would also suggest getting a barber hone or something of that high grit (10k or higher) nature for refreshing the edge every few months. I would imagine you would be good for a long time with that. You would also do well to get a 4/8k Norton down the track for when the finishing hone isn't able to cope with getting your edge back up to par.
You should be stropping before every shave, I usually do my stropping at the end of a shave as this fulfills two jobs at the same time. One is to prepare my razor for the (next) shave, and the other is that it helps to remove any traces of moisture from the edge of the razor, after cleaning up.


Mick

Ok, I was very careful and stroped my razor following methods found here. You could hear the razor a little at first then seemed to get quiet. Shave improved but still bad.
Looked at razor under 100X magnification. Edge looks very straight, and light reflection is thin, continuous, no dark spots that I can see. One side is like a mirror with five or six hone marks showing. The other side is not as good, polished but lots of hone markes. Hone marks on edge look a lot like marks left where razor is hollow ground.
Going to order Norton 4/8k stone and finish stone tonight. I know honing will tell, new razor, would you think finish hone would be all I need before strop or will hone marks need to be remove with 4 or 8k first. I really want to try and hone myself, ego I guess. Just curious of your thoughts what I may run into with a new razors edge or bevel.

If you try to hone yourself please accept the potential for failure without getting frustrated by it. You'll need 4k and 8k for the average "factory-shave ready" blade.

Unless you purchase a blade from a company with a Master honemeister such as SRD, then even an edge sharpened will often need further honing. Honing a straight is a big challenge.

But read up on the forum and give it a shot. I suggest using tape on the spine. Lots of guys have success.