Questions about sharpness.

Hi!
I could really use some help here.

I am a total rookie at this straight razor thing, so maybe I am just expecting something from this that is quite simply not obtainable. Or I am doing something wrong;)

I have been shaving with a shavette from Feather for a couple of weeks. It's going good, not too much blood drained anymore:)
But it's kinda hard to use this razor, I really have to be very careful with it, It's really unforgiving. But extremely sharp! (professional super blades)

Now to my concern.
I just got a new Bergischer Löwe. It is a very nice razor, really smooth and compared to the Feather, very forgiving. It's been professionally honed and all, but to be honest, compared to the feather thing, it feels damn near dull.

Espescially when shaving my head against the grain it really pulls and sort of jumps on me. I really have to use a bit of force to get trough the hair.
And the shave is nowhere near as close as with the feather.
My other razors are a couple of Filadelfias, and it is the same with them, the Barbas Duras is somewhat better than the rest, but not what I would call BBS good.

I'm probably doing something wrong here, but cannot for the life of me figure out what.
I have been experimenting a bit with the angles of the blade, different oils and soaps/creams, but as for now, without any kind of success.
I know my stropping isn't the best, but I do 20 laps on the nylon and 50 on the leather strap each time I shave. The Bergischer is kinda funny, it sings sort of when I do it.

Any kind of help or tips would be greatly appreciated.

You simply need to get the razor honed. It will not be sharp no matter how much you strop it (unless you use pasted strops, which might not be enough), you need to hone it.
Welcome to the world of straight razors, before you know it, you have bought a ton of hones, strops, pastes, razors, mugs, soaps, creams etc.
Enjoy!

Btw, I think shavette is a patented name by dovo. I dont think the term applies for any razor with dispoable blades, but I could be wrong.

What feather did you buy? I just bought this:
The Feather "No-Sharpen" Straight Razor

I have yet to shave with it, but I am most pleased with the quality, looks and overall apperance. A great buy!

Thanks for the welcome:)

The feather '''ive got is a feather artist club DX.
It is really nice, but man, this is an agressive little sucker:)

I have bought some Hones as well, I should probably study alle the videos, wiki and threads in here, and then venture into the world of self honing.
The hones I've got is Naniwa superstones 5K, 8K and 12K.

I guess I start with the old Filarmonica Double Temple for practise. Don't wanna ruin my Dovo:)

Countless variables come into play in this type of situation. Prep, Technique, the razor, your lather and stropping all play crucial roles in you achieving a successful shave. My advice would be to get at least two of your razors honed by one of countless members here who offer that kind of service(hate that word honemeister!) and then progressively eliminate each variable. And maybe don't learn to hone with that Doble Temple, you could well regret it.
Good Luck:tu
Mykel

For me the Feather edge is a tough act to follow.
Especially so now that they have three slightly
different blades.

For me the first day is almost always too sharp/ harsh
.... but my beard likes sharp.

Possibly.... for your steel str8s look at some balsa hones
with fine diamond and CrOx. With practice
personal str8s can deliver a more comfortable
shave day in and day out for a lot of us. Not because
they are "sharper" but because we can hone and strop
them to our liking.

Edit:
I see you have Naniwa superstones 5K, 8K and 12K.
The 12K and CrOx on a balsa hone or the back of a strop
should be excellent in getting your steel right....

BTW: Dovo Shavette is a brand as is the Feather Artist club
Slightly different... I think it is possible to put a
Feather DE in a Shavette or any of 50 different DE blades.
I believe the reverse is not true. As far as I know the Artist Club
holders only take blades from Feather. If someone know
of additional blades for one of the Artist Club holders I would
be curious to know....

Since you said in your original post that the razor was professionally honed, then stropping the razor is very likely your issue.

Even a professionally honed razor won't perform at it's best unless it is first properly stropped. And that is another skill unto it's own.

Thanks for the good advice, guys.
I suspect you are right, the stropping might be the problem.
I have no doubt that the razor arrived 'Shave ready'.
When I first went to the Strop, I suspect that I was doing it to hard.
I now try to do it as lightly as I can, let's hope it helps;)

You don't think the edge could be ruined already do you?

This forum is awesome, lots of great help, and fast!!

And yes, the Feather feeling might not be what I am looking for, It's sharp as hell, but a comfortable shave? Not in my humble opinion:).

What I want is quite simply a comfortable shave and 20 minutes of Zen in the morning.

With the help of this forum and you all, I am sure that's what i eventually will achieve!

I also have a Feather disposable straight and can tell you that the blades are very sharp. The other regular straight razors I have are not as sharp and all have been honed professionally.
I agree with the post above that the first shave with the Feather blade is very unforgiving.
I'm curious as to peoples opinions on whether or not a machine made disposable blade can be as sharp as a regular straight razor blade?

Sorry I didnt see that i was profesionally honed.
Good luck anyway.:)

I don't think the edge is necessarily ruined. It would take some deliberately poor stropping technique to actually ruin a good edge (professionally honed - remember), BUT....

It would require some skilled stropping to straighten out the edge should it have been rounded off, or the like (keep practicing, you'll improve. You gotta earn this stuff).

At this point you might benefit from sending it for a re-honing AND stropping. Or, bend your mind to carefully stropping this one until it's right. This may not be as gratifying for you at first as it may take you some time to get it. And then it might take even longer than that. And at some point you will hit an "ah-ha" moment and will then become absorbed in trying to re-create whatever that "ah-ha" was.

Another option is to find someone close to you who has developed their skills and can show you.

At some point you ARE going to have to buckle down and learn this for yourself, though. No time like the present to go for it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by prrfan

I also have a Feather disposable straight and can tell you that the blades are very sharp. The other regular straight razors I have are not as sharp and all have been honed professionally.
I agree with the post above that the first shave with the Feather blade is very unforgiving.
I'm curious as to peoples opinions on whether or not a machine made disposable blade can be as sharp as a regular straight razor blade?

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To answer this question, yes, a well honed straight is as sharp as a feather or DE blade. Frankly, I get better shaves with my straights than I do with my DE...! :)

The reason feather blades feel so sharp is that the makers coat them in teflon to reduce friction. This gives them that "super-sharp" feeling that the OP describes. They're not any sharper, they just have less resistance when cutting, which makes them feel sharper.

There is a tendancy for people to compare straight razors to feather or DE blades like this, and decide that the razor needs honing as its not as "sharp", when in fact the razor is ready to go.

Prep and technique are more important with a straight because you dont have the teflon on the blade adding extra glide and masking the imperfections in your shaving technique. You need good lather, a well softened beard, the right angles and skin stretching to get the best shave.

Stropping is also a key consideration, and you really need to get this right or else you shave will suffer. And so too will your face..!

Good luck!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Stubear

The reason feather blades feel so sharp is that the makers coat them in teflon to reduce friction. This gives them that "super-sharp" feeling that the OP describes. They're not any sharper, they just have less resistance when cutting, which makes them feel sharper.
Good luck!

---

That is certainly true, and they are much thinner than open razors too: on another forum, a sometime poster here has measured a DE blade and found it to be .10mm thick, while his thinnest open razor is .24mm thick, and that the edge angle of the DE is much lower, too. Another reliable poster confirmed the measurements and gave the edge angle as something around 9.5 degrees.

He also looked at the blade under high magnification and found that although it looks shiny-sharp, when it is turned at the right angle to the light it has a mass of machining marks that make it look like it has been honed on a 3000 grit stone!

It makes you wonder about the term "sharpness" if thinner+coated+rougher is apparently "sharper" than thicker+uncoated+smoother ('rougher' and 'smoother' relating to edge refinement, eg 3000 grit as opposed to 12,000 grit, say).

Most people I know find that DE blades feel "sharper" than open razors. I don't know many people who use both though, so take that in context!

Regards,
Neil

I started with disposable straights, so I knew what a sharp razor felt like when I got my first fixed straight razor. As much as I tried to strop it on the leather, it just didn't feel as fine of an edge as the disposable straights.

Then I bought a 4 sided pasted paddle strop with three sides Chrom Ox. 3.0/1.0/.50. After a few passes, the edge of my fixed straight felt just as fine or finer than the disposable straight blade edge. I enjoy keeping my fixed straights very sharp and consider my pasted paddle strop as "key" purchase to making this happen.

I still enjoy my disposables straights and they come in handy, but my fixed straight razors do 90% of the shaving and I always get a BBS shave.

Pabster