Search:

I haven't managed to hurt any of my leather with saddle soap, so there's that. Maybe if you subject it to many cleanings without ever giving it a small drink of oil to replace what you've displaced....

This is entirely possible. It doesn't take much to ruin a razor's edge, bad form or a dirty strop will certainly do it. I'd use a soft bristled brush and some slick shave lather to clean the leather...

Exactly that. At 10-30x the cutting edge of the blade should be straight, no chips, and burr free. The higher you go in magnification the more microchips you're going to see, but passed a certain...

My go to is a 30x jeweler's loupe. Costs like 3 bucks on amazon. Having more helps in the beginning when you're just starting to get an idea what you're looking at, but isn't necessary.

I usually find if a razor isn't going to shave due to poor honing, it'll be pretty immediate. Either the first shave will be bad, or the second terrible.

I had this issue myself, I could put a...