Barber rolled edge Nooooooo....

So the last time I was at the barber I said I would bring in my straight and have a shave. The mirrors are nice and big and the lighting is better than the small unit we rent. I spent the morning retouching the edge and had it popping hairs nicely on the test. So in I go and set everything up, there were a few punters and some young kids taking an interest. The shop has a good atmosphere and everyone generally kidds around. To the point of the story, I have my strop attached to a balsa board with hair elastics stolen from SWOMBO as I just like the feel of a mounted strop. The barber has had a look at my technique and gone no mate you should do it this way removed the strop and told me to hold it. He then proceeded to do what looks like a stropping motion from a film, big crashing fast strokes however I can hear the edge kind of grinding on the strop. :banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead:


I have not had a test shave with it yet but I did rub off a little strop dust because he had used it at such an obtuse angle. The art is dying gents, it is our duty to educate the world one shaver at a time. Oh well, back to the preverbal grindstone.

Try shaving with it. Light pressure and an "obtuse" angle when stropping can create a very sharp and smooth edge by removing any trace of a bur. I do it all the time. It is not a beginner technique, but a barber is generally not a beginner.

Did you get that sinking feeling in your gut? So I guess you never did get to shave....
I had a local Barber tell me if a razor had a chip in it, it was no good. He said it in such a way to lead me to believe that they were thrown away........

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Originally Posted by JeffR

Try shaving with it. Light pressure and an "obtuse" angle when stropping can create a very sharp and smooth edge by removing any trace of a bur. I do it all the time. It is not a beginner technique, but a barber is generally not a beginner.

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Fair enough, I am going to give it a go. The strokes looked really aggressive and sounded like a lot of pressure was used. There was strop residue left on the blade which I have never had. The barber was in his mid 30's and In a previous conversation said that his dad had used a straight but he hadn't. It will be interesting to see if I have learnt something new. Even if I have not from him I will give the angle thing a crack JeffR.

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Originally Posted by Trimmy72

Did you get that sinking feeling in your gut? So I guess you never did get to shave....
I had a local Barber tell me if a razor had a chip in it, it was no good. He said it in such a way to lead me to believe that they were thrown away........

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I guess back in the day they weren't worth the effort to repair, especially if you were a barber. Just reach into the drawer and get the next one out. Tools of the trade, while not disposable as we think of items these days, were no doubt expendable.

BUT...
Back in the day few people wasted things so I would guess the chips had to be pretty large to justify the razor being discarded rather than repaired. Of course a barber would want to work with optimal tools but I doubt many would discard any that could be repaired.

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Originally Posted by Crackers

The barber was in his mid 30's and In a previous conversation said that his dad had used a straight but he hadn't. JeffR.

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That is a little scary. I have watched shows on surgery but I wouldn't want to demonstrate to someone how to do it. Have you tried the blade after that stropping to see how it is?

Bob

No, have left the blade in the car because we went to the launch of Duff bear at Woolloomooloo hotel Sydney. Mmmmmm beer, will give it a go on Tursday to see.

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Originally Posted by Trimmy72

Did you get that sinking feeling in your gut? So I guess you never did get to shave....
I had a local Barber tell me if a razor had a chip in it, it was no good. He said it in such a way to lead me to believe that they were thrown away........

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Could have been, there may have been enough around for it not to matter. When you see some of the old early 1900s boxes, though, they have prices like $3 or $2. That was a day's wage for unskilled labor and half a day's wage for skilled. I'd imagine they figured it wasn't worth hours to repair a razor when they probably didn't have the stones available to do it. First thing any of us would whip out is a big diamond hone, and they didn't have that option. Carborundum stones were probably available but a big one cost as much as a razor back then.

Perhaps your shave will be less than satisfactory and perhaps because of your 'concept' of how the razor was stropped. Please check out this link!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vY46z9I90p0

And Then The Story Behind the Man who was doing the stropping.


Straight Razor Place - Conversation with Liam Finnegan

'I' Never Judge A Book By It's Cover" :shrug:

Thanks for the video Cudarunner, good to see how he shaves the off side sideburns. The stropping was somewhat like that except I sware I could hear the edge scraping. Oh well, will shave Thursday and report.

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Originally Posted by cudarunner

Perhaps your shave will be less than satisfactory and perhaps because of your 'concept' of how the razor was stropped. Please check out this link!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vY46z9I90p0

And Then The Story Behind the Man who was doing the stropping.


Straight Razor Place - Conversation with Liam Finnegan

'I' Never Judge A Book By It's Cover" :shrug:

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Great info there cudarunner, one everyone starting out should watch. I have a couple of razors, one with 50 shaves on it, and another with 60 and counting using just a strop. One is a Puma, the other a Bengall. Looks to me that Liam is using a Puma. The Puma is feeling a bit dull, (probably my lack of skill at the time), but the Bengall is still going strong, and feels as sharp as the day it was "set". I find this to be one of the most interesting aspects of this hobby of ours, and have wondered what other members here have reached using just leather.

ouch!

hope your blade comes back to life soon!

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Originally Posted by Grazor

Great info there cudarunner, one everyone starting out should watch. I have a couple of razors, one with 50 shaves on it, and another with 60 and counting using just a strop. One is a Puma, the other a Bengall. Looks to me that Liam is using a Puma. The Puma is feeling a bit dull, (probably my lack of skill at the time), but the Bengall is still going strong, and feels as sharp as the day it was "set". I find this to be one of the most interesting aspects of this hobby of ours, and have wondered what other members here have reached using just leather.

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Same here, though I do use a linen. It's not an issue to stretch a razor with a good strop and linen (and using no abrasive) 180 shaves and still have a razor plenty sharp to shave.

Generally around 100 to 150 shaves, I'll get the itch to put the razor on a japanese razor hone that's got a mirror surface just to ensure that the edge quality stays smooth, but in terms of keenness, it usually drops a shade off of the hone until I've got a couple of weeks of shaving on it.

There's a reference to iwasaki saying that one of his razors was used for almost 1100 shaves without honing, and he states that he wasn't boasting about his razor's durability, but rather it was in the context of using a good quality linen along with the razor. I haven't seen any modern linens that are similar in their ability to step up an edge vs. the good vintage linens (and those good vintage linens don't get black because they don't have an abrasive in them to my knowledge).

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Originally Posted by Crackers

No, have left the blade in the car because we went to the launch of Duff bear at Woolloomooloo hotel Sydney. Mmmmmm beer, will give it a go on Tursday to see.

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Come on now! You gotta let us know how the shave went.

You can be pretty sure that shave will be lousy. Mr. Finnegan has (had?) a lifetime of experience. I have encountered many "barbers" who know very little about shaving, and absolutely no concept at all on stropping. Only what they have seen from their elders, with no actual experience. I have had to teach 3 barbers under the age of 50 so far on proper stropping technique. They were far more like watching the Depp version of Sweeny Todd than they were Mr. Finnegan.

Pessimism: 30 and no experience doesn't sound good.
Optimism: my barber of 50 years ago used a loose strop and made a "fwapping" sound like machine gun fire. He shaved himself daily if nobody else.

Good luck with the shave.

So I broke out the razor (an Invicta) this evening after saving an entire week of growth. The razor was not uber blunt but did tug a bit.

I went to the peerless to finish after a test pass and putting the Invicta aside, I have given it 60 on leather and will see how it goes on Sunday, the edge appears to not be rolled but not sharp either :hmmm:.

The shave from my peerless was great, smooth, no irritation or nicks and as usual no hair.

Just hated the sound the razor made on the strop, it sounded really bad and I am surprised the edge is not in worse condition.

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Originally Posted by DaveW

There's a reference to iwasaki saying that one of his razors was used for almost 1100 shaves without honing, and he states that he wasn't boasting about his razor's durability, but rather it was in the context of using a good quality linen along with the razor.
The other part of that equation is shaving with the razor near flat on the face to preserve the edge. He mentions that in his book also.

I haven't seen any modern linens that are similar in their ability to step up an edge vs. the good vintage linens (and those good vintage linens don't get black because they don't have an abrasive in them to my knowledge). Depends on how many hunderd razors cross their path. :)

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Originally Posted by Crackers

The barber was in his mid 30's and In a previous conversation said that his dad had used a straight but he hadn't. JeffR.

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Something's not making sense here - he stropped at speed - which is something a beginner could not possibly do without shredding the strop, his hands or both.

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Originally Posted by cudarunner

Please check out this link!

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Great video, Cuda. I had forgotten about trying baby powder.

When I worked for the state, I got all of my haircuts and shaves in the convict barber shop in the prison, and they always finished with a little baby powder. Those cats could shine the boots too!

Rich

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Originally Posted by onimaru55

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Well, by saying those linens don't get black, I mean that by the average user's use of them. I guess I've probably got about 5000 strokes on my linen, and no appreciable change in color. Some of the vintage linens I've seen that have little wear on the strop are blacked out in the middle of the linen. I don't know if they came like that or if someone put strop paste on them and caused them to cut fast.

My linen gets black, and I do not put anything on them. Its just the dirt from the blade. left over residue from the last shave? dust? swarf from the last hone?
Not a clue what it actually is, but it does build up over a long enough time.

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Originally Posted by Magpie

My linen gets black, and I do not put anything on them. Its just the dirt from the blade. left over residue from the last shave? dust? swarf from the last hone?
Not a clue what it actually is, but it does build up over a long enough time.

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I can't imagine what it would be other than metal. Unless you're using a silver razor and tarnishing it!

There's always a week of shaves between when my razor comes off of a hone and when it sees a linen, but I just looked on ebay and none of the old strops that have the same type of linen I use (there's only two) have any metal on them, either.

Some strop compounds claim to use talc, but the patented formulas that I've seen for strops sometimes don't have anything.

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Originally Posted by DaveW

Well, by saying those linens don't get black, I mean that by the average user's use of them. I guess I've probably got about 5000 strokes on my linen, and no appreciable change in color. Some of the vintage linens I've seen that have little wear on the strop are blacked out in the middle of the linen. I don't know if they came like that or if someone put strop paste on them and caused them to cut fast.

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My Kanayama linen is darkened in the work area. It has no compound on it.
My home made canvas one loaded with Dovo white is quite black tho it's done a fraction of the work of the Kanayama.

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Originally Posted by onimaru55

My Kanayama linen is darkened in the work area. It has no compound on it.
My home made canvas one loaded with Dovo white is quite black tho it's done a fraction of the work of the Kanayama.

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My friend Oz is one of many that I consider a good friend! And one who has more experience and expertize than I will ever have and when he or one of those others speak I listen and I listen very closely :tu

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Originally Posted by onimaru55

My Kanayama linen is darkened in the work area. It has no compound on it.
My home made canvas one loaded with Dovo white is quite black tho it's done a fraction of the work of the Kanayama.

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Having had the kanayama linen (on an 80,000 strop), there's definitely not much similarity between it and a vintage linen. I haven't had any other modern linens, they all look like they're relatively untreated, which isn't what I'm looking for in a linen after using vintage linens, and...well, when you can get vintage linens fairly inexpensively, I don't know what modern one I'd buy that would get the same bang for the buck.