Thread: Question for the experts

Originally Posted by inspector710

Yes, it was my first-sort of. I had no good luck with my shavette and thought I would try the one I had sharpened. I have since acquired a Dovo and a vintage Boker. I'll look at the edges and see if I can tell. Thanks for the info. I still have few pints of blood left.

Use them as is, assuming that they have been honed, i would put more money on shaving technique and prep than the stropping.

I tried my first SR shave with the old one I sent out for sharpening, then the Dovo. I heated a wash cloth in the microwave then started. The first and the Dovo were terrible. The Boker-the one I got off E Bay - was fantastic compared to the other 2. If I buy a hone-say the Norton 4000/8000-will I have to strop it afterwards? The Boker was unbelievable. Still cut myself, though. Any help will be appreciated. Let me know if this should be in another forum-moderators, feel free to move it. It still wasn't as good as a DE shave.

Originally Posted by inspector710

I tried my first SR shave with the old one I sent out for sharpening, then the Dovo. I heated a wash cloth in the microwave then started. The first and the Dovo were terrible. The Boker-the one I got off E Bay - was fantastic compared to the other 2. If I buy a hone-say the Norton 4000/8000-will I have to strop it afterwards? The Boker was unbelievable. Still cut myself, though. Any help will be appreciated. Let me know if this should be in another forum-moderators, feel free to move it. It still wasn't as good as a DE shave.

Patience grasshopper. Small steps. Blood transfusions optional. Just kidding. Patience is the key and people here are very helpful and full of suggestions. Another is to find someone close who is willing to mentor you.

Until you declared that you got a better result with the Boker, I was going to suggest the fault might largely be in your as yet unmastered shaving technique. After the Boker you at least have a somewhat better way to assess what is a sharp razor.

Now the question becomes did you dull the razor or did you receive a dull razor? Was your stropping of the Boker significantly different from that of the other two? You'll have to try to assess your stropping to figure that out. It is possible that your razors were not honed properly. Not everyone who claims to be able to hone actually can do so adequately with every razor.

I would suggest that you do a few more shaves with the Boker to improve your shaving technique and continue to carefully strop it each time. After a few of those shaves go back to one of those other razors and carefully strop it 100 times and see if the shave is any better. If not, then you probably should have someone else hone it again.

Originally Posted by Utopian

Until you declared that you got a better result with the Boker, I was going to suggest the fault might largely be in your as yet unmastered shaving technique.

this should be standard science curriculum in secondary schools - the best way of explaining confounding to boys and their new fuzz, I'm sure I would have managed to get a better understanding of it!

Originally Posted by Utopian

Until you declared that you got a better result with the Boker, I was going to suggest the fault might largely be in your as yet unmastered shaving technique. After the Boker you at least have a somewhat better way to assess what is a sharp razor.

Now the question becomes did you dull the razor or did you receive a dull razor? Was your stropping of the Boker significantly different from that of the other two? You'll have to try to assess your stropping to figure that out. It is possible that your razors were not honed properly. Not everyone who claims to be able to hone actually can do so adequately with every razor.

I would suggest that you do a few more shaves with the Boker to improve your shaving technique and continue to carefully strop it each time. After a few of those shaves go back to one of those other razors and carefully strop it 100 times and see if the shave is any better. If not, then you probably should have someone else hone it again.

I did not strop the Boker. I did the Dovo and the Bengall-the old one I had a guy on Ebay do. Was the Dovo shave ready? Who knows? It almost seems like the old Bengall was not shave ready either. I appreciate all your help and as soon as my face heals (LOL) I'll give it another go. I just bought a Norton 4000 8000 waterstone and may try to hone the Bengall following all the videos I have seen here. Certainly, my unmastered shaving technique is playing a large role in this. I hope to learn more. Thank you all again.

One other question about the strop-the Illinois. Do I strop it on the linen or the leather?

Originally Posted by inspector710

One other question about the strop-the Illinois. Do I strop it on the linen or the leather?

Both. Start off with 50/50 linen/leather then decrease the linen and increase the leather laps until you find something that works best for you.

Always strop before shaving, linen followed by leather. Some people strop the balde on linen for a few laps to help dry/clean it after shaving too.

There are more esoteric things to try, but that will follow later - concentrate on the basics first.

Regards,
Neil

Originally Posted by Neil Miller

Both. Start off with 50/50 linen/leather then decrease the linen and increase the leather laps until you find something that works best for you.

Always strop before shaving, linen followed by leather. Some people strop the balde on linen for a few laps to help dry/clean it after shaving too.

There are more esoteric things to try, but that will follow later - concentrate on the basics first.

Regards,
Neil

Thanks for the help. How many round trips should I start with?