Thread: What's the deal with my edge?

I just finished my 'introductory' post over at the new guy place, so hopefully it isn't too rude to immediately hop in over here with a question. Around 30 years ago, I shaved daily with a straight--went to it cold turkey, overnight, with no training (although I had gotten a couple of barber shaves from a guy who had made his living shaving instead of cutting hair!). So my training consisted of casual observation while my entire face (except my nose) was covered by a steaming towel. Anyway, I made it work through thought, persistence, and liberal application of styptic pencil. The point is, I shaved every day (I was in the military at the time). I got my razors back from honing (gssixgun) last week. Same hone on all. Shave-ready. I started with an heirloom razor. It is stamped BEAUTY RITE on the front and "S.D. Shaw . . ." on the back and it is rusty and pitted and hone-worn, but took an edge and I decided to try it because if you can't shave with it, then it isn't a razor anymore. Other than a pretty good razor burn on the left side of my chin (pressure) it was a GREAT shave. A few days later I pulled out my old 'daily' shaver--a Dovo 80 (Fritz Bracht, Facharbeit) for another shave. The right side was fine but the razor felt like it dulled during the move to the left side of my face. Terrible results--no cuts, burns, or weepers but plenty of whiskers leftover. Stropped and tried again a few days later with the same results from the Dovo. Stropped and tried the BEAUTY RITE ugly duckling again and the whiskers practically fell off my face (and no burn this time!). So the question is, finally, why the difference: same honing, same stropping, same shaver and technique, but vastly different results?

First and Foremost Welcome!

When I was a young boy the barber shop that my parents sent me to had a sign on the wall it said:

"If We Please You Tell Others
If Not Tell Us"

Personally regardless of who honed the razors for you, I 'think' that you should have considered contacting the honer first instead of posting. If I have a problem with 'Any Business' I'd talk to them first before doing anything else.

Just my thought

To clarify, it did not occur to me that someone might think I was being critical of, or placing blame on, the honer. The opposite is, in fact, the case. I thought all four of my razors came back uniformly and amazingly sharp--truly shave ready. A simple stropping (25 linen/50 leather) brought both razors back to hanging hair cutting sharpness. I'm trying to figure out if the difference in the steel or the width of the blade or the relative looseness of the blade in the scales or some subconscious psychological defect in me or something else.
Apologies for any unintended slight.

Hmmm... pics of the razors may help. I say this because my initial suspicion is that they may be slightly different in shape (thickness and taper of the tang as well as flat edge blade versus smiling blade (I take it the Dovo edge is 'flat' but don't know about the Shaw) or thickness (full hollow versus half hollow, etc.). Either of these could create slight differences in the way you hold each razor...

A very slight variation in angle (e.g. the gap between your cheek and the razor spine) can have a fairly significant impact on the quality... closeness... and comfort of the shave. I would begin troubleshooting the Dovo performance there first, then try investigation other possibility once angle has been removed from the suspect list.

Welcome to the forum! I am new at straight shaving, about 4 months under my belt now. I know enough to know that I continue to struggle to find the perfect angle of attack. After a pass I will wonder why that spot still feels unshaved! Clearly my angle is off, something that I will learn in time. Hopefully a nice newly refreshed edge will help me get there quicker. I'm sure enjoying the trip so far!

Ryan

Originally Posted by chippiepig

To clarify, it did not occur to me that someone might think I was being critical of, or placing blame on, the honer. The opposite is, in fact, the case. I thought all four of my razors came back uniformly and amazingly sharp--truly shave ready. A simple stropping (25 linen/50 leather) brought both razors back to hanging hair cutting sharpness.

If I've mistaken your intentions Please Accept My Apologies! :

But 'Now' I'm really confused! Can you clarify if when you said: A simple stropping (25 linen/50 leather) brought both razors back to hanging hair cutting sharpness.

Did you strop the razors 'before' you initially shaved with them or 'after' to try the shaves

Just wondering

No. I have followed the honer's advice as well as what I've seen here. First shave with each of them was with no blade prep beyond cleaning the protectant from the blade. Subsequent uses got the stropping. I'm wondering now if I subconsciously do something different. Although I usually only shave 3 times a week now, I think I may start shaving daily to see if I can a)regain my confidence, b)identify my issue. Don't know if they will help but here are the pics of these two:

Is it possible that you rolled your edge a little bit stropping?

Of all of the academic things that people climb over on the initial steep learning curve, the one true thing about honing and maintaining a razor is that even if you're not thinking about trying to get better at it, experience doing it will make you better at it anyway if you are doing something fairly close to correct to begin with.

I'd suspect that either your strop is a bit coarse (that wouldn't explain why a razor is sharp on one side or another, though, but not both) or something has occurred to roll or roll and damage the edge.

FWIW, as a daily shaver who has sort of fallen off of the forums for a while (but *never* stopped shaving or even considered it - I still LOVE the daily shave), I have gotten to the point where a good slick horse butt strop will keep a razor that I'm using in shape for over a month, and with the use of a linen, I hone about once every 6 months. If something substantial happens to the edge of a razor in a couple of shaves to the point that it's damaged, either the razor has a bad temper or there's user error in the maintenance (bad form on the strop, dust or something on it by accident, etc), and the second is much more common than the first.

Make sure that whatever you're doing, the spine is never off the surface of the strop or stone or whatever else when it's moving. It only takes one prop up of the razor or a roll accidentally to make a very sharp razor not very sharp.

Just a thought but it looks like the Dovo has gone through some sort of clean up ? Im no expert on razors but steel is steel. I had / have a Boker in AUS8 steel that i decided to put a mirror finish on. It was the first time i had done it and used a Dremel to get the finish. Well it now no longer holds an edge so during the process i must have destroyed the tempering (ive not made the same mistake again) by allowing it to get too hot. It never glowed or anything but must have got pretty hot, it was a few years ago now but i really don't remember it getting all that hot either. I am just wondering if something similar has occurred here.