Thread: Strange problem, can you help?

I have a quick question for the more experienced shavers.

Yesterday I had a shave with my Dovo 5/8 'Black Star'. I had stropped it 50 or so times, first on a green paste strop and then on a regular clear paste strop. By the time I took it to the clear strop I made sure it was clean.

After stropping I lather up and start my shave. During my second pass I had to abandon the shave because I was nicking myself. Now here's the thing; it didnt feel like any normal nick. It happened four times and each time it was an identical feeling. I'm fairly certain too it happened using the same part of the razor. I examined closely the blade and saw nothing. It felt like there was a nick in the blade or that there was something sharp on the blade. Each of the four nicks was very small and as I mentioned came from the same part of my razor.

Now I only have one razor and am keen to sort out why this happening before I shave again. Any ideas guys? Whats gone wrong here and what should I do?

Thanks in advance,

Sandy

It sounds a bit like a wire edge to me! I could be wrong!

Have you dinged it against anything (rivets on strops, faucet) or the like?

Try some back honing to make sure it isn't a wire edge as JMS says.

(it's like stropping on the hone) Go light!

It does sound like a wire edge.

I think we're all thinking along the same lines, a wire edge is when you over strop with pastes, or over hone on the finer hones. The edge is flimsy, and will actually move or fold when you touch it.
When this happens, you can get several things happening, one being that the razor gets teeth, and will bite you.

assuming this is the case, you need to get the wire off, and refinish the edge.

Your best starting point IMHO is to do some back honing on the 4k, and then work your way back up.

(Even if your problem isn't a wire edge, and is a chip or other anomaly, going back to the 4k, and reworking the edge will often solve the problem)

Originally Posted by poona

Have you dinged it against anything (rivets on strops, faucet) or the like?

No I dont think so. (and you know if you'd have said taps i'd have known what what you meant )

Thank you all for your words of wisdom. I will do some back honing and report back to you after the next shave.

Originally Posted by sidneykidney

No I dont think so. (and you know if you'd have said taps i'd have known what what you meant )

Thank you all for your words of wisdom. I will do some back honing and report back to you after the next shave.

HAHAHAHAHA, yeh true enough. This forum is Americanis(z)ing me :P

In regard to a wire edge, when I picked up my razors from Mastro Livi (sorry for the name-dropping, I just want to give credit where due) he told me how to check for a wire edge. Bunch up a towel (terry cloth) and try to saw it with the razor. A sharp razor won't cut it but a wire edge will rip it up.