Thread: Preparing a home for new razor

Hi, I've been lurking around for a few months now and am finally taking the plunge. My wife is buying me a new razor for Christmas ( now if I can just find it, I know it's hidden in the garage somewhere....) and am trying to get set up. Razor is new from Classic Shaving with sharpening from Lynn. Got badger brush, couple different shaving soaps from England, 2 sided paddle strop, .5 micron diamond compound, protractor.... Good thing this will save me so much money since I'm sure this will pay for itself in... well, maybe my grandchildren can finish paying for it!

Now my questions are, is there any good video of how to use a paddle strop? I've watched a honing video of using a Norton 4000/8000 but would like to see what proper paddle strop technique looks like. Is there anything I need to do to prepare strop? Do you strop before? after? Before and after? During? Is .5 enough or should I get 1.0 micron too? (Would that require a 3 sided strop? )

Should I pick up a Norton too (along w associated flattening tools- yet more $$$) or a Swaty? What is the grit size of a swaty and how does it compare? Is there a way to protect the gold spine during honing/stropping or is that just destined to wash away? Any thoughts on rust prevention? I know wd40 would work but methinks it may be an irritant- besides which, the smell doesn't blend well with Trumpers Almond.

Perhaps I need a second practice razor. Besides, a second razor would save me money twice as fast by making the first last twice as long, right?

Lots of questions huh? Well you've come to the right place. Unfortunately for you, I'm going to answer. Ok, my opinion. Your doing everything right so far. I wouldn't suggest buying anything else right now. I can't compare a Norton to a Swaty. Except to say they don't really compare to each other. I would suggest in this order. That you buy a small handheld microscope at Radioshack. When you get the blade, look at what it looks like. This will become your guide for the end product for shaving. For stropping I can't give you a good video reference, I can tell you I have seen lots of bad ones. Gentle on the strop, smooth, spine leads the motion. No points for speed. I don't think you need a hone yet, but a Swaty is a nice addition. The Norton is designed to hone a blade from the other end (dull to sharp). The pasted strop and the Swaty from the end you'll be on (sharp to slightly pulling). If you decide to learn to hone from dull to sharp and use a Norton, I WOULD BUY ANOTHER RAZOR.

Usually the spine juts out along the edge and you don't hone the gold wash off you hone on the steel, this is incorportated in the design. WD40 smells great with Almond soap, what are you talking about? I just dry my razors, most guys use a dab of oil, machine oil, etc I think. Keep the razor open and dry for about 5 minutes, the water inside the scales is a problem. I oil it if I'm not going to look at it for more than 3 days.

Learning to use a razor and using a washback beauty honed by Lynn has some drawbacks. YES, you need to learn how to strop first. Yes, you may hone it to ugly uselessness. So, please go slow with honing. Good side, is that badboy will shave you and with good prep you'll figure out where your blade should be. Stropping a beauty like that should be done nice and easy.

.5 by itself should be fine, I would strop on plain leather the first time and shave with it (after looking at it with a micro) It should shave well. After a while it'll pull, then use the .5 to "update" the edge. This should be rare, shaving wise. Like maybe once a month? Don't know...gotta tough beard? I do not strop after shaving, because I don't want to subject my strop to that kind of punishment. I believe though that most guys do strop after shaving. Benefits? Got me... You'll get more input on that later. As a newbie, watch out for advice like: I strop before, after, during, and on Sunday. First, stropping is done to improve the shave, I strop naked at midnight a week before I'm going to shave too, but I know it doesn't do much to improve the results. Two, you are new, and excessive stropping is dangerous to the blade and lowers your feedback for how well you strop. Some feel stropping afterwards will keep the blade life longer. I'll let them tell you that, I wouldn't know. If you screw up the blade stropping after a shave, hey, thats your problem, compounded only by the fact that it didn't really need to be done. Sometimes I strop on linen afterward, don't think you have that as an option though (and most people don't do that).

The key with a razor honed by Lynn is to strop very lightly, keep the blade flat, keep the paddle secure, and don't let the blade "fall" off the strop sideways. Send it back to him if you screw it up with a big apology letter. You need a video? There is a video around here somewhere which is correct for the first 20 seconds, after that it goes all to hell. If you ever see anyone slapping a razor against a strop, slap them back for me.

There's another thread titled The Grand Experiment where we are discussing this very thing now and early reports seem to indicate that stropping after shaving does help the edge stay sharper longer.

That aside, Mr. Davis is right on all accounts, especially a noobee's tendancy to damage the edge by improper stropping. Ensure you strop gently and slowly about twenty-five to thirty times immediately before shaving.

X

PS A second razor is essential IMO. You need to learn to strop on something.

Yes I saw the video of the barber stropping- however I've seen batons in a marching band being twirled slower than that razor was being twirled in that video. Maybe I missed something in the blur. I think if I attempted it I would end up with one or more missing fingers and a really pretty folding butter knife!

I personally don't think strop after shaving makes a difference. I have never stropped after shaving and I have a Lynn honed razor I have been using for the last five months with no noticeable decrease in sharpness. I have used several of my favorite razors in fact for several months with no problems. Just my 2cents.

Originally Posted by AFDavis11

I can't compare a Norton to a Swaty. Except to say they don't really compare to each other. I would suggest in this order. That you buy a small handheld microscope at Radioshack. When you get the blade, look at what it looks like. This will become your guide for the end product for shaving. For stropping I can't give you a good video reference, I can tell you I have seen lots of bad ones. Gentle on the strop, smooth, spine leads the motion. No points for speed. I don't think you need a hone yet, but a Swaty is a nice addition. The Norton is designed to hone a blade from the other end (dull to sharp). The pasted strop and the Swaty from the end you'll be on (sharp to slightly pulling).

Usually the spine juts out along the edge and you don't hone the gold wash off you hone on the steel, this is incorportated in the design. WD40 smells great with Almond soap, what are you talking about? I just dry my razors, most guys use a dab of oil, machine oil, etc I think. Keep the razor open and dry for about 5 minutes, the water inside the scales is a problem. I oil it if I'm not going to look at it for more than 3 days.

I've been looking at stereo microscopes over on the bay. I suspect the quality I can get there may be better than Radioshack special for not that much more money. Maybe. (Then on the other hand two of the ones I was watching just surpassed 100.00 and 200.00 respectively) Besides which, my wife already thinks I've gone off the deep end, so the microscope will not be for the razor, it will be an 'educational purchase for the kids' They use microscopes in 3rd grade don't they?

I was curious about how the swaty compares to the Norton because I wasn't sure if it would be a redundant purchase. Ie if the swaty is a finer abrasive than an #8000 Norton would it be about the same as the 12000 grit shapton? The Shapton has the advantages of being available in a larger easier to use size (I think- I haven't seen any published swaty dimensions), new, cheap (40.00), and not having to rely on e-pray to aquire.

Well I'm with RichZ on the stropping after shaving, hopefully you'll see different opinions on many issues. I assume your real question is "Is it better to strop after shaving?" and I hope you see that my answer is "I don't know but I don't do it". To give you an even stranger view on hones I've decided to stop worrying about what grit they are and just focus on the results they produce. I would be shocked if you couldn't do a search on Swaty and not come up with a grit for it. Randy could probably tell you to the tenth degree. I prefer to just classify them as finishing hones. So I believe that for simplicity sake you only need one finishing hone and with .5 paste even that might get debated. I wouldn't spend $40 on a finishing hone, especially if I had .5 paste around. Now I don't know squat about the Shapton, but I would think a 12,000 grit hone would be the bomb diggity. As you can imagine I would put it right after the 8,000 Norton and before the .5 paste. To be real honest I would probably skip the 8,000 all together but I can get a razor near shaving with just a 4,000. But thats another story. I bought a good microscope but didn't like it. I thought the Radioshack was better. Why? Seemed to be better at looking at a razor and I didn't have to fight the Bisquick (gf daughter) for time on it. Although she kept begging me to nick myself so she could look at the blood. The radio shack microscope is $10. You can't even park in my town for $10, so the choice is yours, just don't complain if you can't see your blade well enough on some $100 whiz banger. Unless the blades are "singing" you don't need a stereo microscope...HA, sorry a little straight razor humor there!

I did a search for ya on Swaty and Randy says Swatys are 8-10K grit, thats 8,000 to 10,000.

I just got a new Dovo Bismarck 6/8 from Ray at Classic Shaving and he advised me to get some of the 1.0 diamond paste and put on one side of my paddle strop, then put .5 on the other. I did as he instructed and was able to get the razor hair popping sharp. One important thing I found was to use VERY LIGHT strokes when the razor was getting pretty sharp. Then I stropped it 30 times on an un-pasted strop and shaved with it and it worked great. I did have some problems with nicks, but I think that's my technique. Ray said that the Bismarcks have a reputation of coming from the factory with a sharp edge so that might be why I had such good luck. Good luck with your razor and sharpening.

Great work Smokey! I just bought a new B Lowe from Ray as well. It was shaving sharp! Wow. Raven, I'm wondering what part of the country (or world) your in, maybe you could PM or put it in your profile. BTW, "twirling" the blade is OK. It is raising the spine and slapping the strop you should really be worried about. Pressure as well according to most is bad juju. But lets not add any flare to your twirl. Maybe the word flip connotes a slower motion. Don't confuse practice and ability with the way you should start out. I still strop slow and soft most of the time. One thing I love about straight razors is it seems everything is so gentle or finite. I should clarify that stropping with a honing motion is self critiquing. You'll cut the strop bad.

Originally Posted by AFDavis11

Great work Smokey! I just bought a new B Lowe from Ray as well. It was shaving sharp! Wow.

That's a sweet surprise. My B. Lowe needed to go to the hones for some serious work before it would shave well. Now it's all good and a real beauty. Keep that sucker dry man, or that blade and the gold WILL stain. It needs a little extra TLC.

Enjoy!