Thread: Felt + Diamond spray = Ruined my edge!

Hi,
I got my english bridle last week and I also tried the felt with Diamond spray. Before my felt rest all night to get dry, I tried my english bridle and it worked great. My razor was scary sharp.
The day after, I tried the felt with Diamond spray (0.5 micron), I gave it about 15 laps and I think I ruined my edge. It didn't pass the shave test after that! :-( Even 60 laps on the bridle doesn't help getting a good edge back.

I think 15 is too many laps?!?!

Anybody here experienced this with felt and Diamond spray?

My razor will go on the hone tonight! ;-)

If your razor was where you wanted it to be after stropping on the english bridal, why then effectively move backward in the process to the diamond spray? Diamond spray can be a little 'rough' in my experience. Good luck.

I agree with MykelDR. Since your razor was already sharp from stropping it on your new English Bridle strop, you should have left well enough alone.

I am far from an expert on stropping or honing, but I would place a diamond sprayed or CrOx pasted strop in the "intermediate maintenance" category for str8 razors. That is, its not something that you do everyday, but only intermittently, such as the 4-6 month mark when you've been shaving with a str8 razor everyday.

In my own experience, I lapped my razor 10-15 times on the diamond sprayed felt of the SRP paddle strop, then 10-15 on the rough leather, then 50 laps on the fabric and 55 laps on the leather side of my daily strop. Of course this was with a razor that I have been shaving with for the past 6 months. It restored the edge of that str8 razor for me.

Be patient. Before heading to the hones, wait for replies to your post from other more experienced SRP members/mentors or pm one of the SRP mentors. They may be able to provide advice so that you can avoid honing your razor, while still restoring its edge.

Just my 2 cents. Take care.

+1 to what has been said above. IMO, The hardest part of shaving is leaving well enough alone.

I have never used diamond paste but it took me about 4 months before I ever went to the CrOx on the rear of my filly. Since then I have went back, to it, for 4 to 5 passes ever 4 to 5 shaves, seems to be working great so far. Shaves are close and comfortable.

Abrasive paste is basically honing, since it is removing metal, so it is best used sparingly. I would suspect that your edge has been rounded off.

I see this a result of improper technique
Pastes are usually used for a touch up or final step after honing, before stropping.

Here's an unasked question...HOW did you spray the felt? Because with my first run on the felt,I sprayed it WAAAY too much, and the felt bubbled up. That CAN damage the razor... However, an appropriately sprayed felt won't hurt it

-note, more often than not, even if you don't overspray the felt, there will be slight bubbling, but not enough to matter... if you overspray it, it bubbles a LOT and will be damaging-

You should probably read this thread,,,

http://straightrazorpalace.com/strop...xperiment.html

I seriously doubt that 15 laps on a felt strop with .50 diamond wrecked you edge...You would have had to be lifting the spine on every lap to be doing that kind of damage...

Originally Posted by pdube1

Hi,
I got my english bridle last week and I also tried the felt with Diamond spray. Before my felt rest all night to get dry, I tried my english bridle and it worked great. My razor was scary sharp.
The day after, I tried the felt with Diamond spray (0.5 micron), I gave it about 15 laps and I think I ruined my edge. It didn't pass the shave test after that! :-( Even 60 laps on the bridle doesn't help getting a good edge back.

I think 15 is too many laps?!?!

Anybody here experienced this with felt and Diamond spray?

My razor will go on the hone tonight! ;-)

You probably have managed to undo a perfectly shave ready razor . 0.5µ Diamond paste is pretty aggressive. That's what we newbies do...make mistakes like this. This is how we learn, I guess. I've "almost" been then, done that.

I say "almost" because as a newbie myself, I got myself a "practice" blade (before anything else) because I knew that I would have a hard time resisting the urge to take a 'perfectly" sharp edge and try to make it sharper .

I try my honing, pasted strop etc practice using this "practice" blade...that way if I ruin it, I won't care and I can always go back and redo until I get it right.

Like you, I purchased a felt/webbed fabric (from SRD...Don was extremely helpful in letting me know what I needed). I put diamond spray on the felt and CrOx on the webbed fabric. I also have a daily strop (Bridle IV), which remains clean of "stuff".

I would recommend getting yourself and eBay razor and practice the hell out of it and learn on it...and keep your good daily razor, which is shave ready (honed and sharpened by an expert) for your everyday shaves. Whenever the urge to "do better than the master" gets you (although we should know better by now), just take out the "practice" blade and knock yourself out

Live & learn my friend,
-Robert

I'm with Glen on this one. If your stropping technique is acceptable I doubt you ruined a good edge with 15 laps on felt. Before going to a hone (especially if you aren't totally comfortable honing) I would try more laps on the leather. 60 laps may sound like a lot, but many of us do that much (or more) as part of the normal routine. Give it a few sessions like that and see if your edge improves.

Originally Posted by pdube1

Hi,
I got my english bridle last week and I also tried the felt with Diamond spray. Before my felt rest all night to get dry, I tried my english bridle and it worked great. My razor was scary sharp.
The day after, I tried the felt with Diamond spray (0.5 micron), I gave it about 15 laps and I think I ruined my edge. It didn't pass the shave test after that! :-( Even 60 laps on the bridle doesn't help getting a good edge back.

I think 15 is too many laps?!?!

Anybody here experienced this with felt and Diamond spray?

My razor will go on the hone tonight! ;-)

Guessing from the cheep seats....
Either too much pressure or lifting the spine
on felt or leather... cannot tell from here.

With a bright light can you see any shiny line on
the cutting edge that is not the polished bevel.

What is your hone process?

As you hone it tonight use as little pressure as you can,
and a very light hand on the strop with smooth deliberate
strokes.

As aggressive as diamond is, the felt should temper it
keeping it from biting very hard.

Listen to the others for hone/ refresh tips. We may
never know what dulled it.