Greetings Brothers in face scraping!

Hey Guys!

I am David Work, Mid Hudson Valley, New York

Around 25 years ago, I bought an old straight razor, a Handmade German King Cutter by John Prince, at a second hand store. With my meager 22 year old knowledge of sharpening, I honed it up to probably 400 grit, and stropped the crap out of it on a vintage strop I bought at the same store. Unbelievably, I shaved with that thing for several years without cutting my face off (Always a bit rough) and eventually put it away in a box and forgot about it....

Around a month ago, pissed off about the absurd cost of Gillette Fusion cartridges, I pulled it out again. It was a little rusty, and looking at it under the 10x loupe, the edge was a mess, showing the horrid edge I had been working with in years past.

When I start a new project, I can get a little bit obsessive compulsive about it. I decided to acquire several (4-5) vintage blades to work with, a decent beginner strop, and although as an edge-fetished chef I have a Norton oil tri-stone and Norton 1000/4000 combi waterstone, I decided to get some finer stones to work with: a King Ice Bear 6000, an 8000 grit Japanese nagura slurry stone, and a 12000 grit Guangxi Chinese natural river stone. I also found a dremel setup at a yard sale for 5$ to help recover non-edge surfaces.

Without going into every detail, reviewing some of the honing and stropping advice on this website, I totally rebuilt the edge on the john Prince, and I made minor superficial surface repairs and full re-honing to the remaining razors: a nice wedge - Celebrated by Frederick's, Sheffield, a 3-quarters wedge Henckels 435, and a Henckels Emperor 81 full hollow.

Okay, so my assumption was that since I had a better edge, as well as many many years working with razor sharp knives in the kitchen (I test them by shaving hair from my arm), my re-learning curve should be pretty easy....Wrong!

My first shave a few days ago was less than stellar, with the Frederick's wedge, and there were good reasons for that. My face prep was minimal, I was in a hurry and I had had several glasses of wine beforehand. I shaved a number of bumps off my face, which bled quite a bit. I also went the full monty and shaved the whole face in one shot..... okay, I'm imperfect...bad me.

Anyway, tonight, I decided to try the Henckels Emperor, which has a rounded point and hollow edge, which I figured was a more suitable beginner blade. This time, NO DRINKING, I took a shower first, full hot brush lather. I shaved with the grain, with minimal pressure...By the time I was done, I was bleeding from a dozen minor nicks. Can a razor be too sharp? It was far from comfortable, and took 8-10 minutes of dabbing with a cool washcloth to stop bleeding.
?
Now, to be sure, the texture of my face is pretty darn smooth, but I feel like I may be doing something wrong, or that perhaps I have rebuilt my bevels incorrectly. How Straight does the edge have to be? is a slight roundness okay? Hmmm

I am dedicated to making this work and want to do it right!

Any advice will be welcome

Thanks

David

Welcome to SRP and the deep end of the learning curves:)

Presuming you lapped your hones, take some lesson's from the Beginners, The 1K shave, Famous Infamous JaNorton, and Revisiting the Chinese 12k hone threads.

But most likely you need to work on two main areas; stropping and pressure. For the stropping after honing try up to 200 on plain leather. After shaving 60 on plain leather. For pressure use so little pressure that you are only using the middle third to remove lather on the gently convex areas like the cheeks. Another way to visualize it is to try to remove the lather without touching your skin.

About honing, the edge should match the spine or be slightly more smiling. The other interpretation of your question is about multiple bevels. I don't like using micro bevels, they work, but are usually unnecessary. A convex edge is not desirable for a razor.

I would suggest sending out the wedge as they are a pain for everyone not just beginners. It will allow you to compare your edges to a known good edge. Take a look in the Member Services section in the Classifieds to find a pro. You could also try contacting some of the members near you. Try variations on your approximate location in that search, then pm some of the experienced members.

Jonathan

Jonathan,
Thanks so much for your lengthy reply!

I will try all of these suggestions. I have been considering sending the wedge to someone for a professional honing, even though I tend to be a DIY-er, as you say, for comparison...

Well, thanks for the welcome, the advice, and i shall "see" you in the discussion boards

Be well

David

Welcome to SRP, David, and just go to the Forum of interest....brushes, cologne, razors, soaps, etc. Also, recent postings is very interesting.