Thread: First shave

So after about 1 full year of trying to hone my razor and get it into a shaveable state today I finally did a complete shave (i've been using a shavette doing full shaves for about that same length of time and am comfortable with blade angle and holding the razor). The big mistake I made when I bought my Dovo hollow ground 5/8 blade was that I didn't get it pre-honed. Some perspective: all the other times I did a shave test, the razor would pull so bad that I couldn't even get my sideburns done - it simply would not cut the hairs at all. It didn't go perfect in that there still was some tugging but not nearly as much as before and this time it was actually cutting hair. I'm writing this because only after changing my stropping technique to have the strop actually sag somewhat did my results improve. I know most people say to keep the strop tight but I have found that when held tight, I dont get that "shhhh" "shhhh" sound of the razor's edge being in contact with the strop throughout the full stroke (but when it sags or allows more deflection the sound is much more pronounced) While reading another user's post I remember he mentioned the strop "cupping" even slightly when held very tight and I suspect that might be the issue. What are your guys thoughts on this?

By the way, I'm using a SRD 3" Black Latigo strop.

Yes, a *bit* of sag is fine. Some old barbers hold their strops so loose they look like like a hammock, but I wouldn't recommend doing that until you're a pro

When pulling on your strop it shouldn't be so tight that you pull the anchor out of the wall, but just tight enough to take out the slack. The weight of the razor and the stropping action itself will naturally add deflection/sag. Check out Lynn's latest stropping vid for a good example of this.

Hi Eclipse,

I'm with Ryan--keep the strop fairly taut. Your shaving edge is a microscopic thing, two planes meeting out in space, each tracing the path from the spine to the bevel. The stropping action should occur along those same planes. Any slack you intentionally put in the strop is going to abrade the edge, and possibly even bend (roll) it.

A little abrasion is the point, but again it should be in the same plane your blade experienced in its final honing, not steeper than that. By steepening it yes, you're getting more abrasion sooner, but you're also on the road to blunting your blade sooner.

Try a pasted strop--paddle or balsa, not a hanging one--with some CrOx and see if that smooths out your edge. Use it after your hone and before your plain leather strop.

Where are you located? Maybe there's a member nearby who can let you try their CrOx strop.

Congrats on mastering the shavette. I hear they're squirrely little things!

Best wishes to you.