Thread: Help/Advice needed With My Straight Razor

I posted this on another forum as well:
OK, I bought a Shumate straight razor from an antique store recently. It is in very good condition. No nicks, no rust, nothing. I sent it off to be professionally honed at my shave shop here in OKC. It came back. It cut hair on my arm. I stropped it before I used it....and it still feels like I am using a VERY dull cartridge razor. It barely shaves any hair off my face. it feels like its pulling the entire time.
Am I doing something wrong? Is it a bad razor? More honing? Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,

Brad

Many possibilities.

You didn't say how experienced you are. Maybe that's the problem. Maybe in stropping you dulled the edge. Maybe the hone job wasn't so hot. All things to think about.

It's a bit of a risk to take a presumed shave ready razor and do all kinds of stuff to it before shaving. That could dull the blade.

I would also question whether the shop did a good job in the first place. Do they hone lots of razors? Shave with them? Test each one before shipping? What do they use for honing?

Read as much as you can on this site and try again. If the edge really is crap then send it out to someone in the classifieds.

I'd also be happy to have a look at it and hone it if necessary for free.

Michael

Originally Posted by mjsorkin

I'd also be happy to have a look at it and hone it if necessary for free.

Me too. I have several different honing methods available (norton, naniwa, coticule, etc..) if you're interested...(no charge)

Similar experience... Not all "shave readies" are created equal. I bought a ~100 year old Boker off e-Bay and had it sent directly to Lynn at SRD for honing. It came back sharp as heck, cut the hairs on my arms readily, and gave as good a shave as this first timer could have expected. RAD set in very early so I ordered a Friodur from e-Bay as well. This came directly to me purporting to be shave ready ("been sharpened to the extreme cutting edge by a Japanese blade sharpening specialist."). Anyhow... although I love the heft of the Friodur (it's much more substantial that the old Boker), it didn't cut the hairs on my arm, and it didn't give as close a shave as the blade that Lynn tended to. I plan to strop the hell out of it before my next shave, but I think it may need to go to a real expert for honing before it reaches its full potential.

Originally Posted by borchard

I posted this on another forum as well:
OK, I bought a Shumate straight razor from an antique store recently. It is in very good condition. No nicks, no rust, nothing. I sent it off to be professionally honed at my shave shop here in OKC. It came back. It cut hair on my arm. I stropped it before I used it....and it still feels like I am using a VERY dull cartridge razor. It barely shaves any hair off my face. it feels like its pulling the entire time.
Am I doing something wrong? Is it a bad razor? More honing? Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,

Brad

You have symptoms typical of a not-quite-sharp razor.

"It cut hair on my arm." Do you mean it cut hair when you ran it along the skin?

. . . Or did it cut ("pop") hair when you held it 1/4" above the skin and "shaved" in the air?

It's the second "shaving in the air" test that a truly "shave-ready" blade will pass.

. Charles

Originally Posted by borchard

I posted this on another forum as well:
OK, I bought a Shumate straight razor from an antique store recently. It is in very good condition. No nicks, no rust, nothing. I sent it off to be professionally honed at my shave shop here in OKC. It came back. It cut hair on my arm. I stropped it before I used it....and it still feels like I am using a VERY dull cartridge razor. It barely shaves any hair off my face. it feels like its pulling the entire time.
Am I doing something wrong? Is it a bad razor? More honing? Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,

Brad

You have symptoms typical of a not-quite-sharp razor.

"It cut hair on my arm." Do you mean it cut hair when you ran it along the skin?

. . . Or did it cut ("pop") hair when you held it 1/4" above the skin and "shaved" in the air?

It's the second "shaving in the air" test that a truly "shave-ready" blade will pass.

. Charles

Right....didn't pop.

Originally Posted by cpcohen1945

You have symptoms typical of a not-quite-sharp razor.

"It cut hair on my arm." Do you mean it cut hair when you ran it along the skin?

. . . Or did it cut ("pop") hair when you held it 1/4" above the skin and "shaved" in the air?

It's the second "shaving in the air" test that a truly "shave-ready" blade will pass.

. Charles

You may be right. i did the FIRST test. I'm taking it back into the Shave Shop today to see if it's my technique that's off, and not the razor. If not, I'm going to try to have it honed again.

Just to clarify. The razor that Lynn honed passed the "pop test" with flying colors. The other razor, which purported to be shave ready by another vendor, did not. Bottom line, send it to Lynn at RSD. Money well spent!