Thread: straight razor, edge retention during shave

Hello there. Thank you to anyone interested in reading my thread, and possibly giving me some insight on this observation I have made.

So I have a good collection of straight razors, shavettes, and safety razors.
Lately I have been using my shavette, but decided to go back to using my straights again. I picked up my Dovo BQ Col. Conk version 5/8s and went to work.

Towards the end of the shave I realized why I had stopped using straights as much, and the reason is between 2 of my very new dovos, I notice that the edge will not hold up through the entire shave. If I do any aggressive XTG or any ATG at all, before the shave is over my razor has a noticeable rough feeling to parts of the edge. I am sure not to use a huge angle, and i'm not getting much irritation, but the roughness does take away from some of the comfort.

Usually 20 laps on leather will cure the issue, but sometimes I have to go over to a refreshing method, with some cromium ox, or something similar.

Do I just have a very coarse beard? Is this normal? Perhaps the heat treat on this razor is not so great, but if I recall I had the same issue with my other dovo BQ.
I'm trying to figure out of it has something to do with how I honed it.... did I take the edge to fine, and its now weak? I'm not sure what to think, but it kind of sucks. Perhaps I have "the beard from hell" !
-Max

When was it last honed and by who? May need a touch up. If you bought it new it may not have come shave ready and did not give it's full potential. If you or professionally honed check bevel with magnifier. If possible close op photos of bevel might help.

what would I be looking for in a close up? this particular razor was originally pro honed by whipped dog, I started to have this same issue so I honed it my self. Came out exactly the same. my second dovo that has this issue had a great factory honing, but I decided to see if I could refine it my self and I did. Has the same problem. I also have a super cheap chinese ZY razor that I honed, has the some problem but its made from cheap steel.

I've tried using lower angles and such, nothing seems to help. If I do anyything but WTG strokes it goes out of whack!

Also, if you are used to a shavette, then you need to be aware that a straight requires a lower shaving angle. If you use too high of an angle, then you are scraping, rather than cutting, your whiskers.

If your razor was "pro honed" by wd, then you have no idea if it was good enough since multiple people have honed for them. Get it honed right and see how it goes after that.

Really? Larry told me he hones his new razors before he sends them out... I originally asked him if he would give me a discount if I didn't want it pro honed, but he said that he does it before he puts em up on sale...
I didn't know he had other people doing it for him. He charges like 18 bucks for it too, so that would be pretty bad to get something not set up from him.

What is your skill level of honing? What stones do you use?
I use a 300 diamond hone to set bevel.
6000 grit water stone then 12,000 oil stone and finish on a piece of 1/2" glass.
Strop on linen with paste and finish on leather

Gives a polished fine edge and smooth comfortable close shave.

I am a previously experienced knife sharpener so I know my foundations. Ive had a fair amount of practice. Lately i've been using naniwa super stones, hitting a 1k, 5k 8k 10k 12k. Sometimes I will use the green brick of joy 2k cuz I like it. I never liked my glass stones much for razors though. I can get the edge anywhere from cutting free hanging hairs all day, to being polished to where its as if there is no edge.
It could very well be my fault, but i'm not really sure how I could hone it any differently to help with the issue. I guess what I was really seeking out is to know if this is a common thing for some people.
I will occasionally hit the 12k naniwa, then do .50 diamond, .25 diamond, then .10 cbn followed by .050 poly lol. It doesn't really seem to do much after the .25 though.

Originally Posted by glytch5

I am a previously experienced knife sharpener so I know my foundations. Ive had a fair amount of practice. Lately i've been using naniwa super stones, hitting a 1k, 5k 8k 10k 12k. Sometimes I will use the green brick of joy 2k cuz I like it. I never liked my glass stones much for razors though. I can get the edge anywhere from cutting free hanging hairs all day, to being polished to where its as if there is no edge.
It could very well be my fault, but i'm not really sure how I could hone it any differently to help with the issue. I guess what I was really seeking out is to know if this is a common thing for some people.
I will occasionally hit the 12k naniwa, then do .50 diamond, .25 diamond, then .10 cbn followed by .050 poly lol. It doesn't really seem to do much after the .25 though.

Sometimes you can get a razor that is poorly made but more often it is rust compromised steel that will break down during a shave or a bit of both. Another thing that can happen is warps & poor grinds that result in more honing on one side of the bevel & very little on the opposite side. These inevitably result in a wire edge & is obvious under magnification. Getting a clean bevel set is a challenge on those.
Diamond stropping these razors may be more detrimental than of benefit.

You could have a very tough beard.

You could be just missing the perfect angle on your second and third passes.

With the grain is usually the most comfortable, you may be missing the mark honing or creating a false edge.

Is there anyone near you that hones or shaves with a straight. Have them give the razor a go and see if their results are different.

Yeah im thinking its my beard. There are 2 barber shops near by, and they both told me "oh yeah we use straight razors" but no of course they meant shavettes. I think there might be some sort of ordinance in my city against the use of them... we have some pretty anti everything cool laws here in Rochester NY, could be wrong though.

That would be easiest, I'd hate to send a razor to Lynn and have him hone it to find that wasn't the issue, and pay all that money/waste that steel. Perhaps i'm going to hard at against the grain. The razor still shaves when it gets "roughed" in the spots, it just feels bad when I feel it. From knife sharpening I judge all my edges by how well they enter that first layer of skin on either my finger tips, thump pads or a part of my palm, so thats what I mean when I say "feel"
I do not do fingernail testing.

Heres a funny bid, I took my 8 dollar ZY razor last week, and sharpened it on a 600 grit slack belt, then honed it off with a couple buffing wheels. It shaved great! haha