Thread: I can't get a straight razor to work

I have been experimenting with straight razors off and on for about two years and can not get a good shave from one. I can get a great shave from a feather artist club replaceable blade straight razor but it seems like a fixed blade just won't get sharp enough. I bought my own hones strops and everything and never could get a razor sharp enough. I finally broke down and bought one from straight razor designs to see what a pro sharpened blade feels like. It came in yesterday and it was sharper than what I had been able to do but it still would not take the hair off my face. So then I thought maybe I didn't strop well enough so I went back and took my time hitting the felt then the nylon and finally the leather and attempted to shave my head. It simply will not give me a close shave on my head or my face. My question is why can I get a perfect shave with the feather disposable blade straight razor but can't do anything with a fixed blade straight razor.

You stropped the SRD razor before using it? If so, the first thing I would look at is your stropping technique. I assume that would be the main difference between your shaves with a straight and with a shavette - if you do the same lather/prep etc for both.

Originally Posted by jameshob

I have been experimenting with straight razors off and on for about two years and can not get a good shave from one. I can get a great shave from a feather artist club replaceable blade straight razor but it seems like a fixed blade just won't get sharp enough. I bought my own hones strops and everything and never could get a razor sharp enough. I finally broke down and bought one from straight razor designs to see what a pro sharpened blade feels like. It came in yesterday and it was sharper than what I had been able to do but it still would not take the hair off my face. So then I thought maybe I didn't strop well enough so I went back and took my time hitting the felt then the nylon and finally the leather and attempted to shave my head. It simply will not give me a close shave on my head or my face. My question is why can I get a perfect shave with the feather disposable blade straight razor but can't do anything with a fixed blade straight razor.

Do you shave at a 30 degree angle? That was my initial problem, that and putting too much pressure on the razor against my face. I couldn't do it, then I paid attention to these things and began to get results.

I have never used a Feather straight, so I don't know the difference, but I have used other shavettes and they aren't quite the same.

I have tried all different angles and pressures. I'm not giving up on it though. I think it has to be my stropping. Can you over strop? Is there a way to test the razor as you strop to know when to quit?

Originally Posted by CaliforniaCajun

Do you shave at a 30 degree angle? That was my initial problem, that and putting too much pressure on the razor against my face. I couldn't do it, then I paid attention to these things and began to get results.

I have never used a Feather straight, so I don't know the difference, but I have used other shavettes and they aren't quite the same.

Start small and easy

Watch this vid and try to do the same and see what happens

http://straightrazorpalace.com/video...-test-vid.html

Nice video, really got me back to the basics of prepping for the shave. Unfortunately my razor failed the test. I've only shaved with it 3 times, its from SRDs so they honed it, and ive been really carefull with the stropping. I guess I could try to touch it up myself. I have all the stones but I wouldn't think that I would need to getting it from SRDs. I did, however, get the best shave of my life with my Feather DX Japanese style "no sharpen" straight razor. I love that razor! Thanks again for the shave prep refresher!

Why not try to touch it up then. If you have the stones, go for it. Stropping can do a lot of damage. Ive been honing and straight shaving since October and I only now let the strop go a little slack for a better finish. So I do 50 laps on the strop daily, for 9 months? that's like 13500 laps on the strop. So it does take a bit of time til you can get proficient at it. And I have 41 straights that were honed 3 or 4 x each. And I look at blades from 4 months ago and cant believe I honed them. Im not an expert but I see how time and experience shows you lots of things. Im looking forward to what I will be able to hone next year and the year after.

The only thing I can say is that when I shave with a good quality DE (feather blade in an ikon OC or Mühle R41, both pretty aggressive shavers, I never used an artist club or the likes) then in terms of ease, speed and smoothness (meaning the resistance felt when shaving) yes, it's better than with a straight, simply because I do think the blades are sharper than even a pro honed straight. But in terms of close shave a straight rules supreme (both feel perfectly smooth after the shave but with a straight it takes about 4 hours longer before I can feel the first roughness appearing). My guess is that if you really get no good result at all and you can exclude insufficient sharpening, it has to do with technique rather than stropping, check your angle. I don't believe in hanging hair tests etc, unless you want to use the razor for cutting hanging hairs and not for shaving. Had razors that passed the hht after stropping but gave a lousy shave and and experienced cases where it didn't pass at all but the shaves were incredible.

Originally Posted by jameshob

Nice video, really got me back to the basics of prepping for the shave. Unfortunately my razor failed the test. I've only shaved with it 3 times, its from SRDs so they honed it, and ive been really carefull with the stropping. I guess I could try to touch it up myself. I have all the stones but I wouldn't think that I would need to getting it from SRDs. I did, however, get the best shave of my life with my Feather DX Japanese style "no sharpen" straight razor. I love that razor! Thanks again for the shave prep refresher!

Simply put in that Vid and in the thread, until you can pass that test whether it be from Prep, Shaving Technique, Stropping or Honing,,,, perhaps a combination of all those, then nothing else really matters, you have to eliminate the variables one by one until you get the solution...

I have the same problem with straights. Very hard to cut my beard with one. The improvements I have made are in the area of prep. Prep that works for disposable blades is often not adequate for a straight shave. Yes, the Feather is sharper than the straight, but the straight is sharp enough for a good shave if your prep is good. Try not shaving for a couple of days to lengthen your beard because it is easier to measure the effectiveness of your prep on a longer beard. When you are doing your prep feel the beard as you progress. If you don't notice a softening/relaxing of the beard and an increase in the moistness of the hair, then you need to change what you are doing and find a way to achieve this. A clean but stiff beard is a tough challenge for any razor and especially a straight.