Should I be stropping 2 or three times during one shave?
I'm relatively new to straight razor shaving (6 months) although not wet shaving (25 years) I started with a shavette then got myself a couple of straight razors; One is a vintage stainless steel that was polished and I have sharpened, the other is a new Dovo best quality carbon steel that I have also sharpened.
I've sharpened both razors on a Norton Oil stone (set bevel then finished) and finished with a really fine wetstone.
The initial shave is pretty comfortable (comparable with a new blade in a shavette) and I start on the low density areas like the cheeks leaving the chin and top lip (which are my problem areas) to soak a little longer.
What I'm finding is that I need to strop by the time I get to my chin at least twice before I'm done. Having looked around at tutorial videos and reading on here it seems that isn't a common thing to need to do. I wouldn't have said I have particularly tough whiskers (I'm not Desperate Dan or anything) The stropping definately makes a big difference to the shave.
Is there something funamental that I'm missing or do I just have to accept that I'm a 2 strops per shave guy?
Cheers
Fozzy.
Should I be stropping 2 or three times during one shave?
I'm no expert (only shaving 6 months myself), but from what I've read on this forum it may be the bevel isn't set properly.
Others with more experience can probably tell you more though.
I have fairly coarse beard as well but can easily get through a 3 pass shave without stropping.
Should I be stropping 2 or three times during one shave?
What kind of oilstone are you using? And what finishing stone?
Something about your honing progression sounds wrong but it's impossible to guess without knowing what you are using.
Try sending one of the blades out to a member or a pro for honing. Then you can work on shaving and stropping. If the shaves work out then later you can improve the honing
Michael