Newbie here.. need help :X
I've been thinking about this since probably last november or so, and after much reading and no less hemming and hawing I decided to put a SR on my xmas list. Not too surprisingly, no-one bit, so I had to decide on one to buy myself.
I have a really, REALLY heavy beard so I decided to get a heavy razor - a TI 7/8 from classicshaving. My friend picked up a 5/8 TI at the same time, so we're in this together :P I also picked out a dovo leather/linen strop to be sent along with it.
Then there came the really unbearably long wait as it shipped from california to my workplace in toronto, but that magical moment finally came yesterday.
I finally got it straightrazor home and, as impatient and anxious as I was to shave with it, I decided to do some more reading about SR shaving before putting it to the test.
One recurring theme I saw was that the blade should be sharp enough that if you take a hair and slowly push the blade into the side of it, it should pop in two if the razor is really sharp enough to shave with. HOLY SHIT. So I did the hanging hair test and the razor didn't hold up its end of the bargain.
Apparently this isn't unusual for razors when you get them from the factory.. generally they just need some stropping but nothing so serious as an initial honing so I attempted to strop the razor, taking some tiny nicks out of the leather strop as I began to figure out the proper hand motion.
After this work, the razor still wasn't popping hairs in two but I stupidly decided to try it anyway since it felt pretty damned sharp.
After a long hot shower and some facewashing with glycerin soap I was ready to lather up and shave. Now, I really set forth a task here because I had nearly 2 weeks of growth to shave off and I am one hairy mofo. It actually started really easy on the cheeks, but started to get really difficult by the time I made it to the neck.. I was trying to acclimatize myself to switching hands when shaving different sides of my face but my left-hand motor control is way too retarded so i nicked myself and decided to stick to the right hand from then on. Due to the lack of sharpness, I had to tend to the delicate parts around the mouth by using both hands on the blade to steady it.
In the end I had maybe 3 or 4 nicks, and probably not the closest shave I have ever experienced, but now I see I have alot of learning to do. I'm gonna spend some quality time with the strop this weekend and see if I can't get the blade popping-sharp. If not, It may be time to buy a hone :X
Do you guys have any advice for me? I'm feeling like this is going to be a really involved hobby :)