Thread: A little curious...

Hello all,
Hoping to get some veteran advice on something that I am noticing with my straight lately. History: I purchased a shave ready 6/8 hollow ground round point from the classifieds here about a month ago. The razor shaves great, but I'm starting to notice that I'm having to put more effort/technique into the shave to get the same effect. I'm wondering if it is possible that my razor is getting prematurely dull (a little bit). I haven't tried to hone it or do any upkeep besides stropping daily on my RupRazor Philly strop before shaving (on the non-pasted side).

Just wondering if anyone has had this issue and what I might do to solve it. I've considered a few passes on the .5 micron CrOx on the backside of the strop, but am holding off until someone says differently and because all the wiki's and the beginners guide advise against it until 4-6 months when the razor should be due for re-honing.

Thanks for your help.
Mike

I do not think you dulled it prematurely if it has been your daily shaver for a month. Some of us do a touch-up after 5-10 shaves.

Getting a new honed razor is like filling you car with gasoline. Eventually it needs to be refilled again. As to when it depends on a variety of factors which differ from one car and driver to another. A razor is the same. Eventually it needs a touch-up and if it goes too far you need a more thorough honing.

If this is your first razor and you are learning on it, it may be your stropping that is causing your razor to dull a little sooner than you would hope. Stropping takes some technic to learn and if you are a little heavy on the edge it will dull the razor. If you are comfortable with your stropping it will not hurt to run a few passes on the crom ox side. Then strop as you normally would. When you strop your razor just make sure you are not putting to much pressure on the edge as this will round it slightly. Hope this helps some

I think you are right, it must be my stropping technique that is causing the blade to round a bit and making the shave less comfortable. I seem to have solved the problem with a few strokes on the CrOx paste followed by stropping. The shave I got was better and I could tell that the razor was cutting hair much more easily. Here's what I've noticed: if I strop the razor by putting my strop on a table instead of hanging it from a towel rack like I was doing then perhaps I'll avoid the blade rounding/dulling problem I have been having. What do you all think? Thanks for all your help.

Whatever works for you. If laying your strop flat on a table works then run with it. Glad to hear you noticed a difference when you went to the cromox. It's nice to do something and get results.