First stop of course I messed it up

Attachment 227013So recently started shaving with a safety razor and loved the whole wet shaving process. So boom I watched all of srd's you tube video bought a dovo razor and here I am.

Took it out straight from srd, showered, lathered, did my first shave, not bad but I need more practice. I went to do my first stroping today and I kept messing up when I rolled it over. I'd roll from the spine to the blade but would go too far so the blade hits the leather. This happened 3 more times and I'm about to freak out.

i spent 60 on a strop and don't want to be going through the them like hot cakes. I actually have a cheapie from Amazon for 15 but don't know if that can mess it up since it's cheap.


The places I hit aren't bad just like the color portion came off on the strop not like a slit. Still don't know if that just makes it dead.

It should be fine, little scratches and cuts won't do any harm if you have flaps hanging off then you can fix them back down and sand it or on mine I just carefully cut them off as they were only surface deep. They are also most likely at the ends anyway.
Work more slowly it sounds like you might have finished the flip without reversing the direction of the razor. Take your time to learn proper technique and let the speed come on its own.

Edit : I have just seen the picture, I personally wouldn't worry about the damage however you probably need to flip a bit earlier so you aren't stropping on the embossing.

Go slow and develop your motor skill . The vids show guys doing 2 laps a second which is possible but not the way to start. That takes a couple years to get. By the way the real fast guys in those vids are strop makers :<0)

Use a butter knife or other dull razor shaped object and do a bunch of practice with it and really watch the flipping part of the stroke. You will build some muscle memory and hopefully save your strop. This worked well for me when I learned

I've found it very useful to have a cheap/old straight to learn stropping with. Dull the edge so it won't harm your strop and follow the advice already given. Proper mechanics are key, see if there is someone in your area to spend a moment with and learn face to face. The proper effect on your razor is the priority and it takes a little time to learn that.

Don't know anyone that uses a straight razor, kinda a man on an island here. Don't know how friendly business are to showing you techniques. Seems like you might be able to search people in your area through the forum but not sure if that's creeper style.

In in South Florida, Miami, Ft Lauderdale area.

Chances are your strop will look worse with time. My first strop has several learner marks. Most from not stopping completely before flipping. Just go slow and stop before you flip, work up speed as your proficiency allows. Little ones at the ends are no big deal.

Good excuse to buy a better strop after 8-12 months, that's how I justified my new one.

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Originally Posted by Lumberjack55

Don't know anyone that uses a straight razor, kinda a man on an island here. Don't know how friendly business are to showing you techniques. Seems like you might be able to search people in your area through the forum but not sure if that's creeper style.

In in South Florida, Miami, Ft Lauderdale area.

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I don't think you need any personal teaching for this. If its convenient, fine. But its not really too complicated. Watch a couple vids, read the advice that's all over this site, and simply SLOW DOWN. Just think about what you have to do and how you need to do it. Then slowly and methodically start doing it.

Not at all creeper style, most of us love to help.

Here's a list of South Florida users:
http://straightrazorpalace.com/membe...sername&order=

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Originally Posted by Lumberjack55

Don't know anyone that uses a straight razor, kinda a man on an island here. Don't know how friendly business are to showing you techniques. Seems like you might be able to search people in your area through the forum but not sure if that's creeper style.

In in South Florida, Miami, Ft Lauderdale area.

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I know the feeling of learning in isolation so if you can find someone for a face to face go for it & make the most of it but stropping is more about practice & reducing pressure while doing it

& sorry but can't see anything wrong with your strop 'yet'
you should of seen my first one before I passed it on to another new guy to learn on
I had a couple of lapses of concentration in the morning & BOOM strop fillets in nothing flat.

but it is a learning curve, as mentioned start slow & work up to it does take time to train the brain & the muscles
keep practicing with a butter knife & folded paper to get the form right between strops

also remember that you razor will unfortunately need a touch up every time you cut your strop as it will dull your edge, your shaves will remind your quicker than looking at it.

Edit: also Hirlau is a top bloke & may be close enough to you & able to help you out with some mentoring face to face or at least point you in the right direction, you could try send him a PM if he doesn't see this post anyway.

There is nothing wrong with this small nicks, just make slow careful movements. Confidence and speed will come with time

When I started I purchased an inexpensive one to practice on. When I felt it time to graduate to my nice strop it was much better. I also or practiced on a flat surface too.

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Originally Posted by Augustagj

When I started I purchased an inexpensive one to practice on. When I felt it time to graduate to my nice strop it was much better. I also or practiced on a flat surface too.

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I started about three months ago. I found that it was appealing to me because I tend to be fairly stressed out and I wanted to have something to relax me. I went to a local store that carries men's grooming utilities and they advised that I start with the Dovo shavette.

I gave that a good three weeks of constant use and thought that I was improving. I was very attracted to some of the more expensive razors out there. I purchased a couple DOVO razors I thought I'd like, one with stainless one with carbon steel. I quickly found out that the experience with a real straight razor is completely different. The one thing that I wish I could've told myself is you do not need to use much pressure at all. I was having success with the shavette because it's more forgiving at higher shaving angles. Coming from your standard three bladed razor, learning to take the pressure off is very difficult. One tends not to trust that a single blade can handle the work by itself.

I had a similar experience while stropping. I watched the videos online, a great deal of time practicing, before stropping. It may have helped, but I still ended up marking up a new strop pretty badly. At that point I should've stopped and started looking for help, but I didn't realize I was doing anything wrong. My razor needed to be honed to refine back to shaving shape. I wasn't aware, and continued to try to shave, initially having more success because the blade was now more forgiving. My razor shaved now Like a Shavette.

Here's the top things if I had to do it over again:


One. Use less pressure. Use only necessary pressure required to cut hair.
Two. This applies when stropping your razor.
Three. Take your time. Go slowly, even after you've established muscle memory. There is no reason to rush, in fact you've got every reason to take your time.
four. If you feel like you've made a mistake, and trust me you'll know when you have, stop using that razor and take the time to look at it. Make sure it doesn't need minor finishing touch repair work.
Five. Standard three bladed razors have the advantage of being built with safety guards to prevent the blades from damage. Heck, even if they do get damaged, they're disposable. Keep in mind, you are using one single edge blade. If you were a soldier, this would be your weapon. Treat it as such. Don't touch the edge against fabric. Don't touch the edge against Kleenex. When you are cleaning your blade never ever touch the edge of the blade. In order to keep the cutting edge, the blade must be angled down to micrometers. The slightest bend, scrape, nick, or cut made into any material will dull the edge. Proper LIGHT stropping should restore that edge. Once the edge has been applied against any material it is not intended to cut, it likely will take damage of some microscopic yet very impactful form, and will overtime need rehoning. This is normal. But you want to minimize this as much as you can. This includes your thumbnail, A test strand of fiber, or even simply your hand when closing the blade into the scales.

When you do need refinishing, use the resources you can find here to send it to someone you trust to have it honed. Unless you have a test razor that you feel confident running along a test stone, please realize that you are taking a greater risk by running that good razor edge against that stone than you are by simply touching the blade improperly. Making bad situations worse generally is not a good way to go about things.

I apologize for the long message. I just wanted to say thank you for everyone on here. For every posted thank-you, I'm sure many pieces of advice are used to good results that are never acknowledged.

In the meantime, if anyone feels like fixing my blade, or replacing my strap that I have hacked into after three months of use, please feel free to contact me anytime. ( that's a joke )

Yup, no need to freak. If you get a nick that makes the strop feel rough, you can just lightly sand it with a bit of 1k grit sandpaper or higher grit, an emory board or the like to smooth it out. If you have a flap of leather, you can glue the flap down with some Pliobond, flexible glue, and it will be fine (don't use super glue). When people say "slow it down" they are talking, I believe, about the point of the stroke where you're flipping the razor, not necessarily the stroke itself. Learn to role it like a pencil between thumb and finger tips and it will come together quickly. Start the stroke a little BEFORE the edge touches the strop, then let the edge come down after the motion has started.. It won't take long before you're stropping like an expert.

Also, based on where your nicks are in the picture, flip the razor sooner, use that stamp at the top as a boundary and make sure you flip before you get there, otherwise you run the risk of hitting the edge against the leather at the end.

Take a pumice stone and some lather and smooth out those marks. You're strop will look like new again.

Aw...that's nothing at all. 10 minutes with an Emory board and you'll never know it's there.

Also..another great learning platform is to simply practice on the fabric part. Hard to really mess up and most easy/economical to repair if necessary.