Thread: Are these welts? Technique or equipment?

Also, only go with one pass until it clears, with the shavette. I can't do more than one pass or I get bump and whiteheads in the same spot.

Don't strop the new razor, a truly shave ready edge should be good to go right out of the box.

It is not unusual for new inexpensive strops to be dehydrated or that could benefit from proper hydration and a bit of oil.

A while back I purchased an inexpensive leather strop from CNTG, it was not a high-quality leather and was very dry. A hydration treatment, over about a month, improved the condition of the leather, it is now a decent strop that could easily maintain a razor.

Your wrinkles may be from the cut of the leather, or from folding, during storage or shipping, but properly hydrated it should be as soft as a well washed sock and many of the wrinkles should come out or at least not be detrimental to a bevel or edge.

Some photos of the strop could help in advising you. I is not uncommon for new guys to have issues stropping and damage the strop while learning, (it can take up to a year to develop good stropping technique). So, a strop of the CNTG quality is perfectly acceptable for learning the skill.

As your stropping improves, so too will your edges and shaves, then is a good time to upgrade to a quality strop, where the strop can make a difference.

Worst case it can be converted to a pasted strop for knives or tools. Post some photos and use light pressure.

Originally Posted by animeist

If you mean more pressure compared to the shavette then yes absolutely. It is a pretty small razor though too. So I was expecting to have to put a little effort in.


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Size of the razor won't really matter. I have a few that are 4/8 or less, old vintage blades I bought that had cracks or just extreme wear through the years. They don't require any more pressure than a full size 5/8 or 6/8 blade. The edge is what does the work more so than the weight of the blade. So just to lump in with everyone else, it has likely become dull.

I will say this though, the height of the blade edge to spine is probably not doing you any favors. It's easier to keep a wider razor flat on the strop, and it's easier to see and control the blade's angle relative to your face while shaving. Since a straight is a little different than a shavette, I posit that it will be easier to learn with a wider blade. But when you DO shave with the skinnier blade, try to keep the spine between half a spine width and 1.5 spine widths away from your face. You'll want to keep the spine a tic closer to your face with that one since it's shorter.

It's easier once you've got muscle memory down and can shave without thinking too hard about it.

It sounds like the edge might have rolled during stropping or your angle is off which is easier to do with 4/8" and smaller blades. Try the blade flat on the skin and slowly increase the angle

Originally Posted by dinnermint

Also, only go with one pass until it clears, with the shavette. I can't do more than one pass or I get bump and whiteheads in the same spot.

Don't strop the new razor, a truly shave ready edge should be good to go right out of the box.

Yeah I think I will stick to one pass for the majority of my face from now on. Way to sensation otherwise.


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Originally Posted by Euclid440

It is not unusual for new inexpensive strops to be dehydrated or that could benefit from proper hydration and a bit of oil.

A while back I purchased an inexpensive leather strop from CNTG, it was not a high-quality leather and was very dry. A hydration treatment, over about a month, improved the condition of the leather, it is now a decent strop that could easily maintain a razor.

Your wrinkles may be from the cut of the leather, or from folding, during storage or shipping, but properly hydrated it should be as soft as a well washed sock and many of the wrinkles should come out or at least not be detrimental to a bevel or edge.

Some photos of the strop could help in advising you. I is not uncommon for new guys to have issues stropping and damage the strop while learning, (it can take up to a year to develop good stropping technique). So, a strop of the CNTG quality is perfectly acceptable for learning the skill.

As your stropping improves, so too will your edges and shaves, then is a good time to upgrade to a quality strop, where the strop can make a difference.

Worst case it can be converted to a pasted strop for knives or tools. Post some photos and use light pressure.

Cheers for the advice on the strop. I am going to try and hydrate it and see if it helps.

I did practice on a piece of newspaper first to find the right amount of pressure to use but I guess I might of rushed to the strop a bit to quickly.

I will try and post a photo of my strop when I get a chance. But like I said, I am 99% sure that it is my doing.

As the saying goes "a bad craftsman always blames his tools".


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Originally Posted by Marshal

Size of the razor won't really matter. I have a few that are 4/8 or less, old vintage blades I bought that had cracks or just extreme wear through the years. They don't require any more pressure than a full size 5/8 or 6/8 blade. The edge is what does the work more so than the weight of the blade. So just to lump in with everyone else, it has likely become dull.

I will say this though, the height of the blade edge to spine is probably not doing you any favors. It's easier to keep a wider razor flat on the strop, and it's easier to see and control the blade's angle relative to your face while shaving. Since a straight is a little different than a shavette, I posit that it will be easier to learn with a wider blade. But when you DO shave with the skinnier blade, try to keep the spine between half a spine width and 1.5 spine widths away from your face. You'll want to keep the spine a tic closer to your face with that one since it's shorter.

It's easier once you've got muscle memory down and can shave without thinking too hard about it.

I think the size contributes to small movements, as they can translate to drastic changes in angle with just a small twist of the wrist. But you sound right when it comes to actually cutting effectiveness it probably does not make a difference.

Unfortunately I can't get that close with the razor in that current condition. But I will keep that in mind once I receive my new razor [emoji4]


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Originally Posted by rodb

It sounds like the edge might have rolled during stropping or your angle is off which is easier to do with 4/8" and smaller blades. Try the blade flat on the skin and slowly increase the angle

Thanks, I'll look into both of those [emoji4]


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Originally Posted by animeist

I think the size contributes to small movements, as they can translate to drastic changes in angle with just a small twist of the wrist. But you sound right when it comes to actually cutting effectiveness it probably does not make a difference.

Unfortunately I can't get that close with the razor in that current condition. But I will keep that in mind once I receive my new razor [emoji4]


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Basic rule of bio-mechanics - Small muscles make fine adjustments, big muscles make substantial adjustments. I roll the tang between thumb and forefinger rather than pivoting my wrist to adjust the angle of the blade. Also the width of the tang is fairly close from one razor to the next, and doesn't change with use. So once muscle memory was built up using the tang as the pivot point, rather than anchoring the edge to my face and pivoting with the wrist to adjust the blade's angle, it became easier (for me at least) to transition from one razor to the next. I kinda fall into that zen like 'don't think, just do' state of mind because the placement, motions, and follow through become essentially the same regardless of which blade I have in my hand.

Originally Posted by Marshal

Basic rule of bio-mechanics - Small muscles make fine adjustments, big muscles make substantial adjustments. I roll the tang between thumb and forefinger rather than pivoting my wrist to adjust the angle of the blade. Also the width of the tang is fairly close from one razor to the next, and doesn't change with use. So once muscle memory was built up using the tang as the pivot point, rather than anchoring the edge to my face and pivoting with the wrist to adjust the blade's angle, it became easier (for me at least) to transition from one razor to the next. I kinda fall into that zen like 'don't think, just do' state of mind because the placement, motions, and follow through become essentially the same regardless of which blade I have in my hand.

It is probably easier to maintain the grip by rolling it through the fingers rather than adjusting at the wrist, and learning proper technique with one would transfer to others more easily

I did try my shavette two days ago and no irritation or welts whatsoever, and it also glided across the skin.


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