something ain't right - help please.

Had my first shave with a real straight razor yesterday. I have used a Shavette for the better part of the past few years.

Had the new razor (A dovo special 5/8) sent to Lynn to ensure that it was honed properly. Stropped it as per the instructions I've read, using one of Tony Miller's 4 sided strops. 10 passes on a rough leather side, 10 passes on a smooth leather side.

In comparison to the shavette, it really felt like my beard was being pulled at rather than cleanly shaved off. I don't doubt Lynn's hand when it comes to honing, so am trying to figure out why it was not nearly as "effortless" a shave than a Shavette with Feather platinum blades in it.

I kept the blade flat when stropping, using enough pressure to keep it in contact - could I have dulled the edge nonetheless?

I'm not intending to use any hand pressure when shaving. At least not any more than I do when using a Shavette. Am I using too light a touch? Everything I've read suggested the blade edge / angle / weight should be doing the cutting, not my hand pressure.

Could it be possible that a 5/8 is just insufficient for my beard thickness?

Any other ideas?

I can get a good shave on my heavy thick beard with any of my razors that are keen. I find I do have to use a little pressure even with my 7/8 in order to get a really good shave. I use very little pressure on the third (S-N) pass.




Wayne

Howdy, my only concern is the stropping. Usually on a freshly honed razor, stropping on smooth leather is the ticket and all that's needed. I'm not familiar with stropping on rough leather of any kind. If it continues to pull, just send it back to me and I'll take a look at it for you. Lynn

Deep,
I think 10 passes is part of the problem. I useually do 25-30 on a long hanging strop. My short paddle has less surface area and will need at least the same 25-30 passes.
Sharpness, while supposedly a finite thing, at times seems subjective. I have had shave ready sharp razors from several members here that to me still needed work. I have also hones razors for others who found them to be a new experience in sharp and others who found them lacking. Your beard is one factor, the angle to the face another BIG factor. I can take any good razor change the angle and get anything from great to poor results.
Try more passes on the strop, try changing the angle a little and if all else fails let Lynn look it over again.
Best,
Tony

Thanks for the input everyone.

I will try and see next time if I'm just using too little pressure i.e. being gun shy with the new razor.

I just spent 50 passes on the smooth leather (final stropping) side so hopefully that will make a bigger difference than what I did before.

Usually I find I have to keep the angle of the blade nearly flat to my face in order to get a comfortable effective shave in general, perhaps it was the case that the areas I felt it the razor really pulling I had unconsciously allowed too large an angle.

Compared to Shavette (DE blade) straight razor will have some pull to the action.

Well, round 2 wasn't any better. I stropped a good 40 passes, made sure I prepped well, paid attention to angles, wasn't as gunshy in terms of hand pressure. It was marginally better than the first time but still not an effortless shave and some spots on the face were just painful to shave - like using a butter knife.

The shave is very loud - it sounds like beard is being scraped off rather than being sliced through. I don't know if this means my beard is just obscenely coarse and I don't realize it - because I don't hear this much of a scraping noise from my shavette or even a cheap disposable razor.

Advice please? Thank you.

Deep, the stroping is the real trick in straight razor shaving, and I think the part to learn the hardest. I use straight razor for 3 months now, and I am just getting good at stropping...

Just keep the light touch, and don't go too slow.

Best of luck

I think all razors are different blade size and all. I get good shaves from keen 4/8, 5/8 & 7/8's. I usually strop on smooth leather for 30 strokes. It might be the angle. It is easier for a person to judge a razor they usually shave with as to if it is dull. Sorry.

Hey guy! Welcome to Str8 shaving!

First off, the sound of a str8 will depend on the grind, size and steel used. Some of the full hollow razors make a fair amount of racket while the "wedge" grinds are less noisy.

The Feather Platinum blades are reported to be the sharpest things available. If you can get your Str8 that keen then you are doing wonderfull.

Please pay close attention to your prep. You probably are since you have been wet shaving for awhile.

The angle should be approx 30 degrees or two blade widths away from your face. This is the general rule of thumb to start with. Never flat against the skin nor at a 45 degree angle. Somewhere between 25 and 35 degrees.

If after your third attempt you feel that the razor is still pulling then its time for the abrasive pasted strop.
Try 30-50 round trips on that , clean the razor then 30-40 round trips on the plain leather strop. Then shave again and note the change.

Are you using a stainless steel razor? New ?

Hope this helps,

I started str8 shaving with a Feather Artist Club and moved to a regular str8 from Lynn (actually several, thanks, Lynn). I can relate to some of what you are saying. Some things I found.

- It is easy to dull your razor by poor stropping. Make sure that you are lifting the blade away from the strop at the end of the stroke, and not digging it in as you see illustrated in old cartoon images of a barber stropping.

- There is more feedback from a true str8 in terms of sound and feel. This is not really pulling so much, just a different sensation.

- If your beard is tough (like mine) you have to have some momentum to the blade in your technique. Start the cutting motion just above the beard as you bring it down. If the blade has no momentum, it can "stall" and grab a heavy beard.

- Use short strokes for that heavy beard. Experiment with what works best.

- Using a magnifying mirror (carefully) can show you what is happening.

- Try not to go directly against the grain - again the blade can stall.

- Over time, you will get better and learn what works best on your face. You might try a heavier razor if your beard is tough.

- At first, I thought that the str8 was inferior to the Feather. After awhile, I have learned that it is just as good, but requires a bit different technique. If you don't like that technique, or the feedback of a str8, consider the Feather Artist Club. Ray will tell you that it is his favorite razor, and it is awesome. But different.

Bob

Bob: YTou are right, the feather is different. I love the feel of a regular straight much more, in fact, there is nothing like it. i tend to get better shaves on my neck and near my ears with the feather straight as it has a shorter length of blade, allowing more manuerverability. but your suggestion of short strokes, i will try. i get the best shaves on my cheeks with straights, but they do not get as close as i would like on my neck. i have to touch up with the merkur DE razor.

sam

Sam -
I would spend some time with your neck and a magnifying mirror. I just can't see how you could be doing so poorly there that a DE would be used for cleanup. I like my Merkur DE, but there is no way it could be as close as a str8 in my experience. Something sounds wrong there. What I like the DE for is speed if I am in a hurry. But I never seem to be in that much of a hurry.
Bob

I just (really and finally) started shaving with a str8 week ago or so, and found out that the first few shaves were horrible, although I used pre-honed razors from Lynn and str8_razr (Andrew). Indeed, my face was red all over. I didn't get any bad nicks, though. The razor didn't seem to slide well enough on my heavy beard and I imagine shaving against the grain is still impossible at places. It also gave me kind of a dissatisfying feeling when the razor passed over the whiskers on the sides of my chin. I could say it hurted a bit.

My stropping couldn't have been so bad since the razors still pass the hanging hair test after a week of use. I can clearly feel them becoming sharper after stropping.

Now, after the first few days, the shaves have started gradually get better. It's quite amazing how things have changed and how my skin has adapted itself on the razor. In fact, last night I had a superb shave with almost no irritation whatsoever and only a small nick on my chin, healed with cold water.

I have still much to learn on this: shaving my chin, shaving against the grain, etc., but there's no turning back now, as the sensation of shaving with a str8 is just so great.

BTW, I've used 5/8 and 6/8 full hollows. I ordered a 6/8 wedge from Andrew few days ago and gonna try how it does the job.

Since I use a Feather and an assortment of str8s, i can tell you that the str8s are not as smooth as the Feather. They pull just a little, so they require some pressure. It may be the same with the Shavette.

Guys here will tell you to use a 30 degree angle on the razor, but there's no reason for that. At 30 degrees, half the force applied to the blade goes into the face. If anyone doubts this, think about laying the razor flat against the face and stretching the skin from behind. You will be unable to cut the skin. THen think about what would happen if you placed the razor against the skin and perpendicular to it. You know that if you use a large blade angle like 45 degrees you'll scrape and irritate your skin. The irritation will decrease as you decrease the angle, and it will continue to decrease below 30 degrees, plus it'll take less applied force to cut the whiskers. You just need to figure out how flat you can go. I can keep the angle just above a spine width aboove the skin.

With a heavy beard you should also take more passes before you try to get down to skin. If you don't try to go down to skin until you have a fine stubble you'll find that there's less pull.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by deep

Had my first shave with a real straight razor yesterday. I have used a Shavette for the better part of the past few years.

Had the new razor (A dovo special 5/8) sent to Lynn to ensure that it was honed properly. Stropped it as per the instructions I've read, using one of Tony Miller's 4 sided strops. 10 passes on a rough leather side, 10 passes on a smooth leather side.

In comparison to the shavette, it really felt like my beard was being pulled at rather than cleanly shaved off. I don't doubt Lynn's hand when it comes to honing, so am trying to figure out why it was not nearly as "effortless" a shave than a Shavette with Feather platinum blades in it.

I kept the blade flat when stropping, using enough pressure to keep it in contact - could I have dulled the edge nonetheless?

I'm not intending to use any hand pressure when shaving. At least not any more than I do when using a Shavette. Am I using too light a touch? Everything I've read suggested the blade edge / angle / weight should be doing the cutting, not my hand pressure.

Could it be possible that a 5/8 is just insufficient for my beard thickness?

Any other ideas?

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