New razor's edge ruined on second shave.

[filmecyan]

I recently got a new DOVO blade sharpened by Lynn. My first shave with it as I commented in another post was overall positive, comfortable and fairly close. Last night, when I went to shave, I decided to do a few passes on the linen strop on my Illinois razor strop before I hit the leather. Bad idea. I used the same technique on the linen as on the leather (no pressure, blade flat on the strop, rolling it over along the back.) Boy was I suprised when the linen left the razor with a jagged edge. The razor was still sharpen enough to get a close shave, but the shave was painful and I couldn't even do against the grain for fear fo cutting myself. Has anyone else had this experience, or any experienced user with any advice on how to smooth out the edge and keep it sharp? I've got some pictures of the edge after the linen attached.

Thanks - Evan

[Lynn]

Evan, Send it back and I'll re-hone it for you at no charge. I don't often use a linen side, but everyone does things different. It's not uncommon for new guys to mess up an edge even just stropping. Lynn

[filmecyan]

Thanks a lot Lynn, I'll try to stay from that linen side at least with my good razor.

-Evan

[superfly]

The pic is crappy, but it looks loke you've been stroping on sandpaper?! Unless you have something like dirt or tiny hard particles embeded in the linnen, it should not and must not look like this. Lynn, you better hurry with the instructional videos...

Nenad

[filmecyan]

You can't really see it very well in the picture, but there are some cerations in the razor that the leather won't be able to fix. As for the sandpaper, I had a similiar thought after seeing it, the linen is very hard and quite coarse, I've got some old razors and I can try on it when I get home and try to see what's wrong with my technique on it.

-Evan

[Korndog]

was there any kind of thermal event that coud have altered the steel properties? just a thought.

[filmecyan]

When I got home last Sunday, I tried an old razor I had on the strop to see what I did wrong. This was an old Wade and Butcher that was sharp, but did not shave at all. After stropping it on the linen, rather than meeting the fate of the dovo razor, it now shaves OK (not as good as the razor that Lynn sharpened, but does cut the hair without too much pulling).

[clarman]

I would spend a few bucks and buy a 3 in strop from tony...after using his strops, there is no equal...

[wvbias]

Evan,

Try stroping again 25 or 30 round trips
on the leather. This time, use some pressure.
Using a little pressure could in fact fix the
problem. I don't think you messed up the edge
though.

Terry

[wvbias]

Evan,

Take Lynn's advise. He's forgotten more than I'll ever
know about this game. He answered while I was formulating
an answer lol.


Good luck,

Terry