Problem with stropping and hair test

Hello, I'm newbie, but I've used Straight Razor since 2 years. First sorry for my english ;)

So, when I started using razor I watched every instruction about honing and stropping. I used to shave with not so sharp razor. I did my own home made strop from very thin cow skin, I was really proud of it and I've used for 1,5 year. I bought using strop form thick skin scored on one side. After few months using first strop I used oil to improvement slip and sharpness. I don't have polishing paste. I try to do the same on the new one strop, I stropping very slow, very fast, with little pressure with no pressure and I can't cut a hair... I'm used to shave with not so sharp razor but I want to try strop razor one time and properly to have sharper razor. I'm using 12000 grit water stone. I've got 2 razor and I can't sharp it well. Please help me :(

Best regards mlodyellow

I am not clear whether you want a better strop, or you want help sharpening your straight razors. If you want a better strop, I will send you one free made of quality leather. If you want help with your razors, I will hone one free.

If interested, send me a private message and we can work out details.

If I misunderstood, and you just want advice, please clarify your question.

mlodyellow;

I don't know where you are in the world, I do know how much freight is these days, but I would take that man up on his offer. Cause that's how we roll on SRP, booyah
Mike:)

Welcome to SRP. A very nice offer by Larry. What part of the world are you in ? There may be a member near to you to help you with your razors. Sending one off to get it professionally honed would give you a point of reference for your own honing/stropping as well as something to shave with. So it is a good idea if there is no member in your locale to help.

Check out the SRP Wiki here . There are tutorials on honing and stropping which may be helpful.

So, Poland is in the center of Europe ;) I don't know anyone who can help mi in my country. I have problem with stropping not with my strop or hone. There are photos of my strop. Picasa Web Albums - Mateusz utowski - strop

I watch every film on youtube and in SRP wiki and still I can't strop my razor very well :(

I will try to record film with my stropping from diffrent angel and I hope you can help me :)

Best regards, mlodyellow

here are some good videos that arent on youtube;
Rasurpur.de / Maintenance / Pflege

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mlodyellow

So, Poland is in the center of Europe ;) I don't know anyone who can help mi in my country. I have problem with stropping not with my strop or hone. There are photos of my strop. Picasa Web Albums - Mateusz utowski - strop

I watch every film on youtube and in SRP wiki and still I can't strop my razor very well :(

I will try to record film with my stropping from diffrent angel and I hope you can help me :)

Best regards, mlodyellow

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You have a PM.

Sorry for my delay but every time I shaved I did it at night ;)

So it's my film

YouTube - Stropping-what i've done bad?

Can you give me advice what I've done bad?

Thank you so much ;)

Because of the angle of the video it is hard to see if your blade is making contact with the strop from heel to point. If it is that is good. What was the stuff you applied to the strop ? Also hard to tell how much pressure you apply to the razor on the strop. Perhaps lighter pressure on the blade to strop would be something to experiment with ?

IMO at some point too many strokes reaches a point of diminishing returns. I didn't count but it seemed like you did an awful lot of strokes. I used to do 50 on linen and 50 on leather but I've been cutting that down to 40/40 and lately 30/30. Just experimenting.

Also I've never stropped sitting down. Might be fine if you're comfortable with it but an old ironworker foreman told me anything you can do sitting down you can do better standing up. :) Try hooking your strop to a waist high level and see if you get better results.

Also you seem to be turning your wrist to make the razor flip. I used to do that and tended to nick my strops on the the end I held with my left hand, on the side closest to my body. Once I learned to flip between the tips of my thumb and forefinger, supporting the scales with my middle, ring and small finger, I stopped nicking the strop and was able to more easily control the pressure applied. Just my thoughts.

Did the hanging hair cut ? On my monitor I couldn't tell. Old eyes maybe. If it did HHT well ignore all of the long ramble above. :)

I will try your advices. Also it doesn't cut the hair ;( I apply mineral oil to better slip. So I have to make less circle? About 30-40 yes? I Will try it another time about 2 days I think ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mlodyellow

I will try your advices. Also it doesn't cut the hair ;( I apply mineral oil to better slip. So I have to make less circle? About 30-40 yes? I Will try it another time about 2 days I think ;)

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Fine, lay off the mineral oil. Too much of a good thing. :)

i could see you lifting the spine of the razor for the flip before the razor stopped moving on some strokes and the razor actually lifted fully off the strop and seemed to slap down hard on some strokes you would be rolling the edge and then doing more damage when you slapped the strop you need to slow down come to a complete stop before flipping it over and concentrate on technique it's not a race and wont take much longer doing it slow my computer is slow so it had to keep stopping to load and that was how i saw what was happening slow can be good

Ok, I will try to slow down and be more patient ;) I will write after next shaving ;)

I try to do your advices but I still can't cut a hair :( I only cut it if I hold it on my nail and then it cut off but in air I can't cut it... I hone again 2 razor and strop it very carefully and without too much speed and nothing :(

How sharp do you hone to mine i hone till arm shaving on my hard arkansas then several hundred lapps on the surgical black arkansas until it will cut hair close to where it's held and usually after a touch up it will pop the hair close to where it's held a few goes on the strop and amazingly sharp i test the edge on my fingers not the pad but the side next to the nail and can tell when it's getting sharper but i've been working with blades for 30 years so i've had plenty of practice,what hones do you have and how do you hone and test for sharpness as you go you may not be honing enough

I've got this hone

Osełka 12000 grit, kamień naturalny wodny (1383738624) - Aukcje internetowe Allegro

I do about 60-100 lap on it and nothing :( I've polished it on sand paper 600 because It had blemish and it's really flat now.

with a hone that fine and a razor that's not shaving sharp it will take more than 60-100 laps it will depend on how sharp the razor is to how many laps best i can think of is to start on the stone and make sure razor is sharp to start with, can you shave arm hair with the razor?? concentrate on how you hone making sure to keep razor flat,when you get to arm shaving sharpness your getting close but it could still take several hundred laps to get it hair cutting,once your shaving arm hair do twenty to thirty laps then strop 50 laps and try cut hair try cut it close to where you hold it if not lap on the stone again and keep trying every so many laps,maybe send one razor to be sharpened to shave ready so you have something to compare it with

You have 1 hone? ok, here is what I would do.
First, stop stropping on the coarse side.

Second, stop applying oil to the smooth side of the strop.

Third, clean that hone with water and a nylon scrubbing pad. The goal is to remove any "stuff" that may be embedded in the hone.

Fourth, use water on the hone when your honing. This will help keep the hone from clogging up.

Fifth, make a short video of you honing and put it in this thread, just like the stropping video.

Sixth, perform 200 round trip laps on the hone. Then strop for 50 round trip laps. Then test shave. It should be better than before. I suspect that you razor is not honed enough.

Seventh, forget the hanging hair test. Let the shave test be your guide.
Repeat the honing using 100 laps each time until the razor shaves you very well. If that hone is actually 12,000 grit and a slow cutting stone and the razor has never been honed professionally then it will take a lot of laps on the hone. This razor can be made shaving sharp on that hone but it may take a lot of honing and shave testing.

I am trying to keep this as simple as possible so I will not talk about generating and using a slurry or various honing strokes. I just want to give you a procedure that will deliver results.

Hope this helps,:)

Here are some people in Poland. Send them a Private Message or email.

Straight Razor Place Forums - View Profile: nickyspaghetti

Straight Razor Place Forums - View Profile: Karakoup1

Straight Razor Place Forums - View Profile: kekon

Straight Razor Place Forums - View Profile: macrob

Straight Razor Place Forums - View Profile: wojtec76

:)

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Originally Posted by randydance062449

You have 1 hone? ok, here is what I would do.
First, stop stropping on the coarse side.

Second, stop applying oil to the smooth side of the strop.

Third, clean that hone with water and a nylon scrubbing pad. The goal is to remove any "stuff" that may be embedded in the hone.

Fourth, use water on the hone when your honing. This will help keep the hone from clogging up.

Fifth, make a short video of you honing and put it in this thread, just like the stropping video.

Sixth, perform 200 round trip laps on the hone. Then strop for 50 round trip laps. Then test shave. It should be better than before. I suspect that you razor is not honed enough.

Seventh, forget the hanging hair test. Let the shave test be your guide.
Repeat the honing using 100 laps each time until the razor shaves you very well. If that hone is actually 12,000 grit and a slow cutting stone and the razor has never been honed professionally then it will take a lot of laps on the hone. This razor can be made shaving sharp on that hone but it may take a lot of honing and shave testing.

I am trying to keep this as simple as possible so I will not talk about generating and using a slurry or various honing strokes. I just want to give you a procedure that will deliver results.

Hope this helps,:)

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This is really good, clear advice. I think this is the best post I've ever read.

Also, I want to emphasize slowing down a little on the strop. Both honing and stropping require patience and a careful thoughtful approach.

Thank you very much!

So I stop used oil, I use water in honing, and I clean hone very good last time. Also I do many laps and I strop very well and I feel difference :D But I still can't cut a hair... I will buy one more hone in the future and I will try to hone on this 2 stones. I will record a film from honing soon ;)

And one more. I used to hung strop about on 1,7 m but I see on most videos that you hung in about 1m so I will try to hung it on this height

If you're only going to buy one more stone, may I suggest a Norton 4000/8000 double sided stone. That way you have all of your needs covered for now.
I like to keep it simple for myself. I own three (3) stones; a 1000/6000 double sided, a 3000/8000 double sided and a 12000 same as you. I can do everything I want with these stones and my strop.
Good luck.


Mick
P.S Many years ago I had a Polish friend...Taught me some very bad words in Polish. He was a funny man, a great sense of humour, but with a very stern side to him. I should have learnt to say hello, goodluck and goodbye instead... :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mlodyellow

Thank you very much!

So I stop used oil, I use water in honing, and I clean hone very good last time. Also I do many laps and I strop very well and I feel difference :D But I still can't cut a hair... I will buy one more hone in the future and I will try to hone on this 2 stones. I will record a film from honing soon ;)

And one more. I used to hung strop about on 1,7 m but I see on most videos that you hung in about 1m so I will try to hung it on this height

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Do you mean the razor pulls when shaving or it won't pop a suspended hair? I suggest you forget about the latter & concentrate on the shave--hair popping must be calibrated in reverse: after you have a blade that you know shaves well, you play around w/ hair popping. Otherwise it's a useless parlor trick.

I would recommend you contact one of the members in Poland & see if they might hone your razor. You should probably also bring your stone & see if they can find out what it is & what its cutting properties are. Hope this helps.

YouTube - Honing, stropping and hair test

Film from honing and stropping. I still can't cut the hair :( I hone razor before about 3 times about 150-300 laps. I will send the private message to users from Poland.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mlodyellow

So, Poland is in the center of Europe ;) I don't know anyone who can help mi in my country. I have problem with stropping not with my strop or hone. There are photos of my strop. Picasa Web Albums - Mateusz utowski - strop

I watch every film on youtube and in SRP wiki and still I can't strop my razor very well :(

I will try to record film with my stropping from diffrent angel and I hope you can help me :)

Best regards, mlodyellow

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I've been straight shaving for about 10 months and I have trouble stropping too. I'm just going to keep on practicing.

Hi.
Unfortunately i no longer live in Poland but i will try to help you.
Email sent.

I bought a new hone but It have too much grit I think. After honing on it and next on my 12k hone it's better but I still don't have sharp razor... Have any one hone to sell? Of course used hone about 4/8 k with reasonable price? :(

I would get a loupe or strong magnifying glass if I was you. Angle a desk lamp over your bench, place dark paper on the bench, and get the light from the lamp to really illuminate the bevel against the dark background. Then have a look through the loupe - the bevel face may have a multitude of fine scratches - normal - but there should not be a brighter or white edge at the very tip of the bevel - if you can see one it means that the bevel is not set and you have a thin flat of metal all along the bevel where there should be a point. If that is the case, you have to drop down in grit ratings to get the sides of the bevel to meet in an apex.

Of course, you might see other things like micro-serrations (little chips) and/or bits of metal protruding from the bevel, in which case you either have poor steel or are over honing.

Poor steel might not show until you strop - if you look at the bevel again after stropping and notice little flakes out of it then you have a problem!

Regards,
Neil

Ok, I've solved the problem. I pass now HHT :D I have to only hone well my razor, about 20 laps on my new hone, and after about 100 laps on my 12k hone. Thanks for all your posts ;)

Sorry i've missed your post. What stone did you buy ? Congrats.

Sorry I don't have any auction link or photo of new stone. I think it's about 8-10k grit. Maybie less.