Thread: Am I being unrealistic?

Recently, everything clicked a bit for me and I've had significantly better shaves. Still, I had been noticing a lot of pulling and the blade skipping over my skin. After a short trip to a barber hone and another short trip to a pasted strop, I had the absolute best shaves ever. The blade went through the hair like butter...it was so easy. But then my second shave after the hone/strop wasn't as good. The third was a disaster. Back to the pasted strop. Best shave again. And then another precipitous dropoff. What seems to be happening is whatever I do on the hone and pasted strop is only enough to get me one great shave. Tonight I shaved with an un-pasted razor and it left a lot to be desired, with a lot of pulling. Initially, I thought no problem, I'll just do the pasted strop before every shave. Right? But that doesn't seem right to me.

It seems it could be one of three things: technique, blade quality or just the characteristics of my face. It could be all of them for all I know.

Well I'm not sure what to do. Am I being unrealistic in my expectations of blade-sharpness? I've asked about it here many times in the past 3 months, so it's been on my mind. After years of destroying electric razor foils and mach 3 cartridges at an extreme rate, I wonder if I'm just oversensitive.

I'm also wondering if it's realistically possible to use a pasted strop with every shave? Would it destroy my blade or otherwise cause damage? I shave 3 times a week. Suppose I were to use my barbers hone every 3-5 shaves and my pasted strop before every shave?

Also, is the fact that this is a problem an indicator of a bad blade? It's a 1930s CF Wolfertz, which seems to have a decent rep.

Unless I'm otherwise doing something wrong, it seems that I'm getting a duller blade after one shave. What do I do?

How often do you strop the blade regularly, i.e. on an unpasted strop?

My opinion is that the razor needs rehoned starting with a complete bevel set. You really shouldn't have to ever use the pasted strop before every shave. With a properly honed razor, I don't need to touch up the razor untill at least 15 shaves in and that usually buys me at least 5 more shaves before needing touched up again on the barbers hone.

You're doing something wrong with shave technique, stropping technique or both. Your edge should last well more than 1 shave, and excessive honing/pasted stropping will severely shorten the life of your razor. Like commiecat asked, how many laps do you do when stropping? Increasing your lap count might be a start, assuming good technique....

My stropping regimen is as follows: pre-shave: 75 laps on linen, 100 on leather. Post shave: 30 laps on linen, 80 on leather. I think my stropping technique is pretty good. It's good enough at least that one time, I forgot to strop before I shaved and I noticed it immediately.

As for my technique, I've learned that I get the best shave with a shallower angle of maybe about 20 degrees. I shave in short, quick strokes. On my second and third passes I use a mild scything motion on my neck to get the tough spots. I do this by laying the blade almost flat and using slow, long strokes in something akin to a X pattern used on a strop. It's been effective and provided I don't use too much pressure, almost irritation free. Could excessive pressure cause edge issues? I've been struggling with that, though I'm improving.

For a little perspective, when I used Braun electric razors, I went through cutters and foils like crazy. They're supposed to last 3 months. I got one month before the razor began to pull at my beard and even develop little holes in the screen. With Mach3, after one shave the cartridge was useless. I could even see with a magnifying glass that the edges of the tiny blades were ragged. With a DE or SE, I get two shaves before the razor is no longer comfortable (3 with GEM blades), though I don't have enough experience with those yet to determine how many shaves I can actually get.

I did use the pasted strop again after this shave...5 laps. I don't think I would have shortened razor life as of yet, as I've only done it 3 times so far, total, which is why I'm asking about this.

There's no way I can afford a fresh honing until after Christmas, at least (as I've detailed in the past), so I'd like to get it sorted out. It's been an ongoing issue.

I have to say that first shave after the pasted strop is the smoothest, most comfortable shave I've ever experienced, so I must be doing at least something right...right?

That's plenty of stropping laps, however technique still can't be ruled out completely.

Yes, excessive pressure will shorten an edges life. So will beard density, but not to the degree that you speak of. And 3 touch ups won't shorten the life of your razor, but if done daily (or almost) daily over a long period of time that will almost certainly cut a razors life in half or worse.

One other thought - what kind of razor is giving you grief? There is also the possibility that it's bad steel and won't hold an edge.

While I do sometimes use a little too much pressure it's not enough that I bleed or cut myself. I just get a little razor burn if I'm not paying enough attention. Sometimes there's a spot or two of more moderate irritation.

All I know about my razor is it's a 5/8 CF Wolfertz carbon steel from approx. the 30s. Bought it at an antique shop and had it honed by Larry at whippeddog. It's my only razor.

What can I do rule out (or improve) my stropping technique? It's the one thing that I think I've really been doing well with lately.

My stropping regimen is as follows: pre-shave: 75 laps on linen, 100 on leather. Post shave: 30 laps on linen, 80 on leather. I think my stropping technique is pretty good. It's good enough at least that one time, I forgot to strop before I shaved and I noticed it immediately.

My first thought was also "Bad steel!", but that's unlikely with a vintage Solingen blade.

But your stropping regime is a bit extreme. You're doing this between shaves:

. . . 75 linen;
. . . 100 leather;
. . . 30 linen [which re-forms the edge left by the leather, post-shave]
. . . 80 leather.

A suggestion, FWIW (more in line with "typical stropping" here):

. . . post shave, 10 laps on leather to dry the edge.

. . . pre-shave, 20 laps linen, 50 laps leather.

Those laps should be with _very little pressure_ on the edge, with the spine of the razor always
touching the strop, and the strop held "taut" so it doesn't bend much around the spine. [You knew that already, eh?<g>]

I can't see any reason to strop both before and after a shave. Choose one, or the other.

Your story is a good justification for having two razors -- if they _both_ dulled quickly, we'd know it wasn't the razor.

Charles

PS -- this idea is in the "What can you change?" category, not the "good theoretical reason for . . . " category.

A possibility is, being a restored razor, it was honed & tested only once & found shave worthy then sold. However successive shaves are worsening until you touch up. It is possible not enough metal has been removed at bevel set to give a clean slate & healthy durable edge.
I just recently restored a razor & rehoned it 3 or 4 times before the edge stopped crumbling after the linen & even after shave tests.

Are you having similar issues with other blades or just this particular one? Ken