An unruly Friodur - what to do???

A little background - I've been using straights exclusively since April '07. I've got around a half-dozen razors in rotation. Then there's this 7/8 Henckels Friodur I bought last summer.

This Friodur cuts me up worse than any other razor I own. Little nicks and weepers, in random spots that change from day to day. I've used this razor enough times to get comfortable with it, size is certainly not an issue here (similar sizes in Filly/W&B/Wosty), and it is certainly sharp, so I'm at a loss here.

Most of my others have a nick here or there, and probably over half of my shaves result in zero blood loss. Except the Friodur. Any ideas?

Clearly this Friodur is too sharp for you... I am only half kidding. You keep reading about guys using Feather Artists getting weepers and spots, especially when they are using a fresh (read: ultra sharp) blade.

You stropping this razor? It might knock the sharpness down just a tad... you might not think it needs it because it probably passes all your sharpness tests (HHT, thumbpad, whatever), but try it... you won't do it any harm, and you might discover a new favorite.

Those cryogenically treated stainless steels are pretty hard, and hold edges for a long, long time... this one may be *too* sharp for your face.

Or... you can send it to me for disposal, yadda yadda yadda :)

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Originally Posted by Tfaust

A little background - I've been using straights exclusively since April '07. I've got around a half-dozen razors in rotation. Then there's this 7/8 Henckels Friodur I bought last summer.

This Friodur cuts me up worse than any other razor I own. Little nicks and weepers, in random spots that change from day to day. I've used this razor enough times to get comfortable with it, size is certainly not an issue here (similar sizes in Filly/W&B/Wosty), and it is certainly sharp, so I'm at a loss here.

Most of my others have a nick here or there, and probably over half of my shaves result in zero blood loss. Except the Friodur. Any ideas?

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I can't comment on what maybe wrong, but I have one and it is a fantastic shaver. Leaves the skin like a baby butt.:D

I find that my stainless steel Henckels provide a much kinder, gentler shave after 30-40 laps on a Chromium oxide paddle. Interestingly, they don't seem to like diamond paste as much, and are a bit rough afterwards.

I find these razors need a little smoothing out with chromuim oxide, even after coming off a Chinese 12,000.

Once you get these babies smoothed out they are really great blades.

Never thought it could be too sharp, but that's a possibility. I'm considering stropping with newsprint, but if there's a better alternative I am all ears.

I currently strop (pre-shave) on the rough side of untreated upholstery leather.

As it turns out, my normal honing routine was a 6k stone followed by CrO on a strop, but I sprung for the 12k stone thinking that would smooth things out. Not so much luck there, but if being too sharp is the culprit then I doubt a different stone before the CrO would make any difference.

New things to consider and try. Thank you all!

You could try stropping with just a little more slack in the strop, than what you're used too. It would shape the edge into convex a bit, and it would do that in such a manner that the outer part of your edge becomes extremely smooth.
I have no experience with this at all, but I do remember a certain post where AFDavis spoke about such advanced stropping techniques. At least that's how I understood it. Maybe he'll still chime in, or you could PM him about it.

Good luck,

Bart.

Sorry to add confusion, but it could be the opposite. It took me ages to get a good edge on the Henckels. Absolutely super-hard steel, at various stages I thought I was using the razor to hone my coticule!

I've a 7/8 Friodur as well and yes, it bites too. However, I feel I learned some very valuable lessons from this blade. I've got 5 straights in my rotation with the Friodur being a favorite. I also struggled with nicks and cuts until I did two things. One, I took some pictures of my beard to learn the growth pattern and two, I have really concentrated on my stretching and blade angles. Emphasis on stretching; these blades can really bulldoze the skin if your not careful! I've been able to apply these lessons to the rest of my blades and now my shaves are nothing short of, dare I say, amazing!

Try the newspaper before anything else to smooth the edge, It may be ultra sharp, but that doesn't mean it will cut you like that. if the teeth are too big it might be grabby,
I would say for your next step to tape the spine, and do a few passes on your 12k followed by CrO and newspaper, and see if smothing out the edge/teeth helps.

I have one of these in a 7/8, and it is my #2, easily,,, it took a lot of smoothing on newspaper to take the bite out, and now it shaves like a dream.

The first thing I would do is inspect the edge with some magnification and make sure you don't have micro chips on the edge which could be causing your problem. Other than that I would guess either you need to work on it some more because it may not be sharp enough or maybe there is something about the razor causing your technique to change? Several possibilities there.

More good ideas. I have some newsprint and will be giving it a go soon. The (relatively) good news is that this morning's shave had maybe 3-4 red spots, but nothing that left a mark once I left for work. So it's not like I have red polka-dots or the beginnings of a rash when I enter the office. :D

Thank you all again!

Update: I stropped on newspaper this morning, maybe 30 round trips, and the blade felt a little different on the paper when I stopped. The shave was a bit more work (not as sharp), and halfway through I stropped on the CrO - maybe 10 round trips - and started the other side. Better, but still not quite there. Another 10 laps on the CrO and things were better. Not quite effortless, but better.

Best of all: no blood spilled. I think there's a little more work ahead to get it properly dialed in, but I think the newsprint dialed it back a bit and now I'll be more judicious about the CrO strop.

Thanks once again!

If you have a linen strop, try 30 strokes on the linen side and 30-40 on the leather for a few days after the Ghromium Oxide gets it where you want it.

Lynn