Quick Dulling Razor

I wonder if anyone else has seen this before...

I have several razors which hold their edge pretty well. I can shave and strop and they continue to shave well with stropping, but..

I have this one razor which dulls to the point where I cannot get a close shave with it before I finish my shave. In preparation, the razor is sharp and passes HHT but then shaving begins, the razor quickly dulls to the point where it is difficult to finish with. I have resorted to stropping again mid-shave to get the edge back to a point where I can finish up.

Anyone seen this before or am I the lucky one?

So what brand of razor is it? an over honed or wire edge can both appear ready to shave and then fail almost immediately. also a razor that is not properly treated and then tempered may not hold a shaving edge.
more info on the honing, stropping and brand of razor would be helpful.

jim

Hey Jim

The razor I am having issues with is my Otto Deutch "Hans".

I can get the edge back with Chromium Oxide on a paddle strop to where it passes the HHT easily. THen I strop it with my leather strop about 50 - 60 times and begin to shave with it. It starts out very nice and comfortable but by the time I get to my chin, I see the edge dulling.

I don't think the edge is rolled because I can get the blade back to a very sharp edge. I do notice that this razor starts to show signs of oxidation much sooner than any of my other razors. In fact, this is the only one to do so. I have to buff off the oxidation and basically prepare the edge again. If is cover daily with oil, this prevents the oxidation but I still see the edge loose its effectiveness too soon.

good so we can rule out "razor shaped object"
are the scales original? and what was the condition when you first acquired it? very rapid "oxidation" on some blades can be the effects of cell rot. also, can you look at the edge magnified even 10x will give you an idea about the condition of the metal and the bevel.

i would suggest, if it not rot, then you go back and reset the bevel and then re-hone the blade.

The scales look to be in very good shape and its condition when I received it was good but it was heavily oiled. I guess this is pretty normal since you don't know how long it has been sitting ready for sale and an oil coating is pretty standard.

I do have a 30X loupe, I'll give the blade a good look when I get home this evening. Hopefully all is well with the metal. If so, I will re-hone the blade and see what happens.

Thank you for your help. This is a bit odd for me. I have about 15 razors and this is the only one which is problematic. The remainder are a solid rotation with little maintenance to be done except for normal stropping.

If this happens while I'm shaving I turn to my small handheld Barber Hone. I'd use that 1st before I went to the leather. Try it it can't hurt.

This post really caught my eye because I two have a similar situation with my Wiss 6/8 squarepoint, I found it odd that it starts to tug n pull half ways through my shave. I really dont know what to make of it, Lynn, Glenn any input on this matter?

There are really only two possible causes for an edge to dull quickly, a wire edge or the metal was annealed and lost it temper. If a blade looks like it was restored I will not buy it unless I know the person's capabilities w/ restoration. It is very easy to heat the metal to it's annealing temperature which will turn the metal blue and soften the steel. The blue can be polished off but the metal has already been softened. I've walked away from many a razors in local shops that were worked on and had blue metal. Steels can be re-heat treated to regain their hardness but that also causes stress in the metal. The extremely thin hollow ground blades have a high probability of cracking during this process.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Joed

There are really only two possible causes for an edge to dull quickly, a wire edge or the metal was annealed and lost it temper. If a blade looks like it was restored I will not buy it unless I know the person's capabilities w/ restoration. It is very easy to heat the metal to it's annealing temperature which will turn the metal blue and soften the steel. The blue can be polished off but the metal has already been softened. I've walked away from many a razors in local shops that were worked on and had blue metal. Steels can be re-heat treated to regain their hardness but that also causes stress in the metal. The extremely thin hollow ground blades have a high probability of cracking during this process.

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Thanks Joed, an educated answer for sure, wire edge NO, but I can answer YES to all of the second explaination, this "full hollow" was restored to a full polish and I did the initial cleaning of the blade with my dremal, always being carefull to not to get it hot, I may have gone past it's threshold accidentally, I may be the culprit, thank you for you explaination.

i still think you should try rehoning it with a fresh bevel... just to make sure

i believe those green otto hans scales are prone to cell rot as well, i would keep it away from your other blades while in storage.

Thank you for all of the responses to me post. I will try all of the recommendations because they are all possible and I have nothing to loose by trying them.

The razor was a brilliant polished finish when I bought it but unsure as to how the person restored it. Perhaps it was done improperly. I will reset the edge and try the other suggestions. I hope it can be salvaged because I really like the razor.

I examined the blade this past weekend with a 30X loupe and found that the blade looks to be similar to the surface of an orange. Several pits which do not appear to be filled with rust but the blade surface is not smooth at all. Looking over my other shaving blades, none of them have the same appearance as this.

Was this just a bad buy and basically garbage? Can the blade be salvaged?

well you could try to keep honing past the "orange" portion to get to good steel. But is there pitting all the way up the blade? IIRC the otto hans blades are extra hollow, so any small amount of pitting COULD be troublesome.

*edit - posting pics of the blade would help a little bit in diagnosis.

If it sharpens fast and easy, then its gonna dull fast and easy.

I will post pics.

Thanks

I would continue to hone it to get past the pitting or chips. I have had some that would dull fast, but once I got past the bad metal they started to hold an edge alot better. Remember to use a very light hand when finishing cause I find that to much pressure can cause very tiny chips.