Thread: Something just isn't clicking

Originally Posted by Marshal

But the reason I'm not looking at that side of the equation at the moment is, when I'm at my final stage and think* the blade is good, it is treetopping arm hair, and will give several close, clean, tug free shaves before things go south. And when they do, 5-10 passes on the barber hone brings them back to form.

Unfortunately, it's a problem that takes several days to evidence itself. If it appeared more readily, it might be easier to diagnose.

Could be a few things happening there:
Bevels not quite set but you got it sharp somehow. eg with pastes
Edge is still somewhat coarse & can catch hair enuff to treetop & shave.
You have a super tuff beard.
You are scraping rather than shaving.

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Could be a few things happening there:
Bevels not quite set but you got it sharp somehow. eg with pastes
Edge is still somewhat coarse & can catch hair enuff to treetop & shave.
You have a super tuff beard.
You are scraping rather than shaving.

I haven't used paste (CrOx is the only one at my disposal) in a long time. It's probably been 9 months or so since I've set blade to paste for any reason. It's all hone and strop work these days.

I won't rule out the edge being coarse. Kinda cycles back around to being ham handed. It's entirely possible I'm getting the edges pretty darn sharp, but still using too much pressure to produce a truly shave ready edge.

I have considered the tough beard possibility. My facial hair is sparse and comes in 2 grades - thin and wispy like an 18 year old, and fairly thick/coarse. I've had edges that shave my mustache and cheeks fine, but tug when it comes to the coarse hair on my neck and below my chin. Another possibility that crossed my mind is rust, metal shavings/filings, and debris from work sticking in my beard after 3-5 days unshaven. I could easily see that wrecking an edge in short order, and a quick once over and rinse in the shower might not be enough to dislodge all of that. Especially with a few day's growth to keep it from washing away.

Scraping is also possible. I try to mind the angle, and keep the spine 1-2 widths from my face, but I'd be remiss if I claimed I never screw that up.

Either the edge was not fully set and is crumbling after a few shaves, too much pressure while stropping or bad steel at the edge.

A not fully set edge is the most common problem.

Look at the edge with magnification straight down on the edge and from the side.

Having it honed is a good idea.

Originally Posted by Marshal

Another possibility that crossed my mind is rust, metal shavings/filings, and debris from work sticking in my beard after 3-5 days unshaven. I could easily see that wrecking an edge in short order, and a quick once over and rinse in the shower might not be enough to dislodge all of that. Especially with a few day's growth to keep it from washing away.

That certainly wouldn't help your edge but you have a few things to work with atm.
I usually find a good honing & fair technique solves most newby problems.

I'm close enough that I could help you by mail, if you'd like. No sense in paying someone for a great honing job if you are dulling it with stropping. Send me a PM too if you'd like just to make sure we're not next door neighbors, or something.

Originally Posted by AFDavis11

I'm close enough that I could help you by mail, if you'd like. No sense in paying someone for a great honing job if you are dulling it with stropping. Send me a PM too if you'd like just to make sure we're not next door neighbors, or something.

May I say that when I started out your stropping video was invaluable to me so thank you very much.

Certainly, it's all about support and knowledge.

Marshal, I'm over in the Great Bridge part of Chesapeake if you want to hook up sometime.

Work's been keeping me too tied up to even shave, much less get on the forum. If it ever slacks up enough I may just take you both up on your offers.

Finally found - or perhaps more accurately took - some time to examine everything. What I found was a combination of problems in just about every facet. Blade angle while shaving slightly too steep. Most likely a hold over from when I started wet shaving that never got worked out. Will have to fix this habit in the future and start shaving rather than scraping. I finally got batteries to get my 60x loupe back up and running, the edge had a sliver of shiny spots that I wasn't seeing before. I couldn't tell if the bevel just wasn't meeting, or if I found a way to roll it but it was thin enough that it couldn't be seen under 30x magnification (or was easily missed). Sharp enough to tree top and shave but could - and should be better.

The razor got a full touch up last night - because I got a little careless while examining the edge and it fell into the sink.

On the bright side, I spent enough time on it with enough attention to detail that I'm sure it should be right and the rest is up to the strop and my shaving technique.

The more I thought about it, trying to sort this out with 7 razors and 9 hones is just too many variables. So I'm turning back to basics all the way around. 1 razor instead of 4. I'm just going to be using the tried and true Norton 1/4/8 and a barber hone, only as needed instead of messing with it as a cure for boredom. And of course I'll be more careful and attentive while stropping and shaving.

If things work out this week, I may just send a Germania Cutlery Works out to have it pro-honed since it's a close facsimile to my dovo. I think that will give me the best reference between what I'm doing with my hones, and what I should be doing with my hones.