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I don't know if its because I've honed it myself or my stropping techniques is bad but my straight razor seems to get dull during the shaving process so I'm going to switch my dovo shavette temporarily until the problem is fixed. My shavette feels sharper and get the job done better than my straight razor at the moment and its mind boggling.
Anyone know what could cause this? What I usually do is just soften up my face with hot water, apply shaving lather and go at it after stropping.
How many shaves are you getting out of a blade roughly and what is your stropping routine?
If you've honed it yourself before the shave, and the edge degrades during the shave, I'd put in a vote for an overhoned edge that is perhaps breaking off when you shave.
Otherwise, some level of dulling is expected over time when you shave. As was asked above, some more specific detail would help us understand what is going on and therefore give you something more definitive.
James.
As for the stropping I usually just stick to the leather side doing about maybe 20 or more strokes. It could be a lot of things (like a rolled edge) since I'm relatively new to stropping in general and if stropping is my problem then its an easy fix.
As for the straight razor, it usually gets unbearable half way (maybe even way before that) through wtg to the point where its not taking any hair off. The shavette shaves fine, I've had to resort going back to it because the other one wasn't cutting it for the past few days.
I'll start analyzing my stropping thoroughly throughout the week to see if its me and not the razor (hopefully).
Overhoning could be another problem but personally, if the honing wasn't going anywhere, I'd kill the edge and start over but I haven't had to resort to that with this one. I'll keep this in mind but I'd rather go from the possibility of bad stropping before I have to resort to sending it off to have it professionally rehoned.
I am actually thinking its ethier over honed like has been suggest or a bevel issue. If its an eBay special the bevel might need a longer time on the hone to get just right.
Out of curiosity who made the razor and was there any pitting on the blade at any point
It does sound like overhoning to me and perhaps you still have micro chips. If you had rolled the edge I don't think you would get anywhere with the shave at all.
As much as you may not want too I would have to suggest sending it out for honing and ask for some specific feed back as to the issue with the blade from the honer. This could provide you some invaluable information to note and at the same time
you will have a shave ready edge to give you a clear target as you learn.
It's been a long time since I stropped fewer than 100 laps. I think if I was going to do only 20 laps, I'd probably pass altogether. I've found that my 100 laps usually brings the razor back to at least where it was pre-shave and sometimes even improves upon that level.
The razor is a no-name that I've received from a friend earlier this morning and he had no use for it. There isn't any pitting but I do see signs of early rusting and staining but its no where near the edge. As for sending it in, thats something I might have to do. I'm just an impatience guy so I'm a bit weary sending it in. I wish I had a magnifying glass of some sort so I could see whats going on.
After further review, I've checked the edge thoroughly under an unnecessarily bright light and saw some minor nicks on the edge. So I guess I'll have to send it in.