Thread: thoughts for newbie shaving sucess

Originally Posted by clarman

...a well honed razor should stay sharp for several months minimum with proper care and effective stroping...

I've yet to find a razor that will maintain a comfortable edge for anywhere near that long. 7-10 shaves and depending on the razor, it needs to be freshened on a pasted strop or a hone...at least that has been my experience.

Just another data point,
Ed

not my experience...I never use paste and I get many more shaves than7-10 between honing...I strop at least 50-60 strokes before and after each shave...maybe your razors arent as sharp as you think after being honed...what does lynn think? he's the master honmeister!

This is a great post as I am new to straight razor shaving. I just purchased my first straight and shaved with it out of the box; not that it was honed and shave ready more due to pure excitement. I knew that I would need to take it slow (even with adrenaline pumping) and it did hurt a bit at first. I came out with a couple of nicks but for the most part okay. It was not a perfect shave but my cheeks have never been shaved closer. I have shave with it three times now and I think I have come to respect the razor enough to know that I need to get it honed to get to the next level. That will start a new learning process.

One thing to think about, too: If you're serious about straight shaving, and want to learn all aspects of this process, from honing to stropping to shaving, having a truly shave-ready razor shortens the learning curve considerably. It did for me anyway. Lets you know what it's supposed to feel like, and what you're supposed to be shooting for in your honing. How you get there is up to you, from pasted strops to Nortons, but if you never feel what a sharp one can do, how're you gonna know when you get there? I've gotten 4 from Lynn and 1 from Bill Ellis, and I can tell you, they're masters. I've gotten close a couple times (and even equalled once. ), but not consistently, but having their examples gives me something to shoot for. Just my $.02

At the advice of members, I've had classic shaving send my new DOVO to Lynn for sharpening, and I want ot be able to keep the best adge possible on it. I've ready through the how to's on classic shaving and looked through the help files here. I have a new Illinois razor strop. Could anyone give some info or shed light on where to find the right info of whether or not I should use paste on the hanging strop, and if so, how often. Also, for how long do I need to break the strop in with pumice?

Classicshaving has a nice how to and why section on the subject, though I don't use a pumice and rarely use strop dressing (bout once every other month). A separate strop with .5 paste is popular with my razors, but not essential.

Hi filmecyan

Since you have a brand new hanging strop, it shouldn't need anything for awhile. Most good strops are ready to go out of the box and don't need a pumice stone or any treatment with dressing.

From reading your post, it sounds like you might be a bit confused on terms. There is strop dressing that is applied to a strop and is used to help keep the leather itself in good condition. Then there is the paste, which is a mild abrasive applied to a different strop than the one you use on a daily basis to prepare the razor for shaving. This second strop with the abrasive paste is used only periodically to freshen up a razor's edge. For the pasted strop, many folks get a 4-sided paddle strop so you can apply different pastes with varying degrees of abrasiveness. Once you put an abrasive paste on a strop, it gets embedded into the leather and then can only be used for that purpose. That's why you have one strop for daily stropping, and another one (or more) for the pastes.

So for daily shaving, you would strop the razor first with the linen side and then with the leather side. After a couple of weeks or so, when you notice the razor starting to pull when you shave, then that's the time you would get the pasted strop and freshen the edge. I usually get about 10-12 shaves before I have to use the pasted strop, but my beard is on the lighter side, so your experience may differ. I hope that answers your questions.

Ed

Well I'd like to put a monkey wrench into this discussion and maybe play devil's advocate but think about it, we all have to start somewhere and universally we buy the razor and the soap then the brush then the strop and then duh how do I sharpen this thing or keep it sharp or isn't it shave ready when I buy it or well I'll send it to lynn for sharpening and then what as it becomes dull?

Don't we all approach this thing from a backwards approach? Isn't honing one of the (if not the) most important and difficult things to master?

Maybe, just maybe we should worry about mastering honing before we think about actually using a straight. maybe we should recommend that newbees get an eboy special and a hone and go at it until they master the skill and then buy the real razor and all the other paraphanelia.

What do you all think about that eh?

Lots of great advice here. I believe you said you bought the Illinois #827 strop. I used to carry that line and would suggest you never use pumice on that model. The #827 is Illinois' Russian model and has a smooth side back that has been pressed with ridges in order to harden the front "business" side of the strop. Basically it is compressed like many Russian strops to give a harder, denser surface. This front surface has a texture to it already since it is actually the rough "cow side" of the hide <g>. (as opposed to the "people side" of the cow we see <g>)
This rough, compressed leather will quickly become wooly textured like a terrycloth towel if pumiced.
Leave te pumice to smooth surface strops if you must pumice at all.

Tony

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Well I'd like to put a monkey wrench into this discussion and maybe play devil's advocate but think about it, we all have to start somewhere and universally we buy the razor and the soap then the brush then the strop and then duh how do I sharpen this thing or keep it sharp or isn't it shave ready when I buy it or well I'll send it to lynn for sharpening and then what as it becomes dull?

Don't we all approach this thing from a backwards approach? Isn't honing one of the (if not the) most important and difficult things to master?

Maybe, just maybe we should worry about mastering honing before we think about actually using a straight. maybe we should recommend that newbees get an eboy special and a hone and go at it until they master the skill and then buy the real razor and all the other paraphanelia.

What do you all think about that eh?

I know, I know, ... put that in my pipe and smoke it ... LOL