Thread: Question for the experts

Is it possible to dull a blade with stropping? The reason I ask is because I recently sent away an old Bengall SR for sharpening. When I got it back, I tried stropping on my Illinois strop and the razor seemed to pull when I tried it. Did I mess this up? Do I need to hone it again? Thanks.

Hello Inspector, bad luck on the shave. I'm no expert, but type "incorrect stropping" or "folding the edge stropping" into the search bar and there are a few threads with eminent members contributing. I think that this link may be the most useful for your question from Glen:
http://straightrazorpalace.com/strop...ding-edge.html

Sorry, also in the interest of not folding the edge again (if that is what you have done), here is a link I found invaluable and still look at every so often:
http://straightrazorpalace.com/strop...st-2012-a.html

yes you can dull by improper stropping, you should have shaved with it first ,, then on all shaves strop before, and in most cases we strop after shave too to clean the blade,you might have rolled the edge ,, and next answer , you may not need to re-hone, should only need to refresh the edge, Crox on felt or 4- 5 stokes on a barber hone, but there are more experienced guy who probably have a couple more things in their bag of tricks good luck let us know tc

Usually, the only way to dull a razor quickly on the strop is to use a lot of pressure and then lift up at the end of the stroke rather than keeping the razor in motion and turning it on the spine to change directions.

Was this your first straight razor shave? If so, don't rush to have the razor re-honed, vs trying a few more shaves to improve your technique. Try shaving from one sideburn to the jaw on the same side of the face for a few days to get a good cutting angle and get used to the razor. Then move on, a little at a time.

Have fun.

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.

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!