Straight razor help appreciated

Olie29

Olie29

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2,704
Okie so the last 10 shaves with my straight have been amazing really enjoyed it but today is when it changed I’ve been stropping the razor after each use today I used the chrome ox and I seem to have ruined the edge can’t get it to cut any hair now very rough and irritated any help would be very much appreciated guys so I can get back to shaving in this wonderful way
Thanks
 
Olie29 said:
Okie so the last 10 shaves with my straight have been amazing really enjoyed it but today is when it changed I’ve been stropping the razor after each use today I used the chrome ox and I seem to have ruined the edge can’t get it to cut any hair now very rough and irritated any help would be very much appreciated guys so I can get back to shaving in this wonderful way
Thanks
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It sounds like you possibly bent (rolled) the edge Jay. Depending how badly rolled it is , you maybe able to bring it back on the pasted strop. give it 100 Laps on the paste be very careful a Lap is once up and one down then 50 on the plain strop. If it is badly damaged it will need a touchup on a hone or re-honing.
 
RussellR5555 said:
It sounds like you possibly bent (rolled) the edge Jay. Depending how badly rolled it is , you maybe able to bring it back on the pasted strop. give it 100 Laps on the paste be very careful a Lap is once up and one down then 50 on the plain strop. If it is badly damaged it will need a touchup on a hone or re-honing.
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Thank you Russ seems I got carried away @Blademonkey sent a message to help me out think I went way overboard on the paste have given it 75 laps on the leather as advised can’t try it yet as I finished off the shave with the oneblade so nothing to even touch up but when I put my thumb on the edge before it felt smooth and wouldn’t cut at all since the 75 laps on the leather it seems to have a bit of bite when I run my thumb over. Hopefully it’s helped and i will keep going on the leather if when I try it it’s still not right. Will update back after the next shave, it’s all learning and I’m loving it
 
Olie29 said:
Thank you Russ seems I got carried away @Blademonkey sent a message to help me out think I went way overboard on the paste have given it 75 laps on the leather as advised can’t try it yet as I finished off the shave with the oneblade so nothing to even touch up but when I put my thumb on the edge before it felt smooth and wouldn’t cut at all since the 75 laps on the leather it seems to have a bit of bite when I run my thumb over. Hopefully it’s helped and i will keep going on the leather if when I try it it’s still not right. Will update back after the next shave, it’s all learning and I’m loving it
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Well done Jay , sounds promising. It is all a learning curve , but definitely worth the effort as you are all ready finding with the shaves you are getting.
 
Personally, I think CrOx can be very much overused and can easily ruin a good edge. It was never intended as a finishing paste - more as a way of extending an edge that really needed a hone. At one stage, people got carried away with using pastes and diamond solutions for creating super sharp edges - what they did not understand is that the supposed smaller grit created a harsher finish. Nowadays, I see very little posted about the advantages - everyone seems to have gone back to straightforward hones.
 
UKRob said:
Personally, I think CrOx can be very much overused and can easily ruin a good edge. It was never intended as a finishing paste - more as a way of extending an edge that really needed a hone. At one stage, people got carried away with using pastes and diamond solutions for creating super sharp edges - what they did not understand is that the supposed smaller grit created a harsher finish. Nowadays, I see very little posted about the advantages - everyone seems to have gone back to straightforward hones.
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Thank you for you’re reply that’s interesting it’s all new to me and I’m just learning I definitely overused the paste though won’t be doing that again in a rush think this is intended as a last resort for a bit of a touch up, think I got carried away with myself the more blunt it felt the more I used the paste rather than doing a few laps and taking it back to the leather to bring the edge back..think I can safely say I did it arse about tit lol
 
What kind of strop did you put the CrOx on? A bench/paddle strop may be less prone to rounding the edge than pasted fabric.

I've got two balsa strops, one with CrOx and one with FeOx. The balsa is glued to a chunk of marine ply for stability.

At some point I'm going to try diamond pastes. The secret, so I've been told, is to go all the way down to 0.1u to avoid a harsh edge.
 
mcgruff said:
What kind of strop did you put the CrOx on? A bench/paddle strop may be less prone to rounding the edge than pasted fabric.

I've got two balsa strops, one with CrOx and one with FeOx. The balsa is glued to a chunk of marine ply for stability.

At some point I'm going to try diamond pastes. The secret, so I've been told, is to go all the way down to 0.1u to avoid a harsh edge.
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It’s just a hanging strop lol not the best with all the terminology in the straight world yet. It’s only my first straight purchased from @Blademonkey he kindly included the strop and paste to get me started, a nice little set up and I find the strop works quite well for me will be going very easy on the paste from now on until I become more knowledgeable il be sticking to the plain leather side and hope it’s manages to pull through after all the punishment I seem to have inflicted on it lol
 
A hanging strop could work fine. It's just a little easier to round the edge if you're not careful. The leather or fabric can deform a little whereas a more solid surface won't. It helps if you pull the strop tight and don't use too much pressure with your razor hand. There needs to be contact but this is polishing not grinding.

There can be advantages to hanging strops. They tend to be narrower (not always) so if the razor isn't perfectly straight a narrow strop and an X-stroke would give you a chance to hit the whole edge. Like most paddle/bench strops my balsa strops are wide and flat and couldn't do that.

If you have a perfectly flat surface - a ceramic tile should be pretty flat, or a granite work top - you can test the razor by holding it down gently with a finger at each end of the spine. If you can rock the razor up and down along the spine you've got a convex spine on this side (test both sides).

If the spine seems flat you can also check if edge and spine are in the same plane on each side. If you hold the razor down with the whole spine and the whole edge in contact with the flat surface, all four corners should be touching the surface at the same time. It's easy to (temporarily) bend a thin, full-hollow blade so be gentle. Again, test both sides.

With the edge in contact with the flat surface it could easily get blunted so don't do this test unless the razor is already scheduled for a full honing session!
 
mcgruff said:
A hanging strop could work fine. It's just a little easier to round the edge if you're not careful. The leather or fabric can deform a little whereas a more solid surface won't. It helps if you pull the strop tight and don't use too much pressure with your razor hand. There needs to be contact but this is polishing not grinding.

There can be advantages to hanging strops. They tend to be narrower (not always) so if the razor isn't perfectly straight a narrow strop and an X-stroke would give you a chance to hit the whole edge. Like most paddle/bench strops my balsa strops are wide and flat and couldn't do that.

If you have a perfectly flat surface - a ceramic tile should be pretty flat, or a granite work top - you can test the razor by holding it down gently with a finger at each end of the spine. If you can rock the razor up and down along the spine you've got a convex spine on this side (test both sides).

If the spine seems flat you can also check if edge and spine are in the same plane on each side. If you hold the razor down with the whole spine and the whole edge in contact with the flat surface, all four corners should be touching the surface at the same time. It's easy to (temporarily) bend a thin, full-hollow blade so be gentle. Again, test both sides.

With the edge in contact with the flat surface it could easily get blunted so don't do this test unless the razor is already scheduled for a full honing session!
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Thank you some very good and interesting information there I’m going to see how it goes tomorrow with a test and if I’m still having issues @RussellR5555 has very kindly offered his help which I really appreciate. Find it quite easy getting the strop flat but have a tendency to want to add pressure I should know this being the first thing we learn in wet shaving is to apply no pressure. I have thought about adding an artist club at some point would see me through when I need to send off for honing and adds a little variety into the shaves. Thank you for you’re help you’ve given me some great pointers to look further into it, so much to learn here I’m really enjoying it best thing I ever did to give the straight a go
 
It's a nice way to shave. I love the simplicity: just a sharp edge and your own skills.

I think you learn a lot about shaving by setting the blade free. You get a better feel for how a razor edge interacts with your skin, how it can just glide across with a good soap the right angle and the right pressure, and how it can cut if you get that wrong. Now that I've learned about skin-stretching I sometimes use that with a DE. Helps to prevent nicks with an ATG pass.
 
mcgruff said:
It's a nice way to shave. I love the simplicity: just a sharp edge and your own skills.

I think you learn a lot about shaving by setting the blade free. You get a better feel for how a razor edge interacts with your skin, how it can just glide across with a good soap the right angle and the right pressure, and how it can cut if you get that wrong. Now that I've learned about skin-stretching I sometimes use that with a DE. Helps to prevent nicks with an ATG pass.
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That’s what I love about it, it’s a very rewarding experience that just gets better with every shave you get a little more satisfaction. You’re spot on there getting a feel for the edge makes shaving with a de so easy, I’m starting to really get the hang of skin stretching now a valuable skill to have for any shave I’ve learnt more using a straight for the last 11 shaves than I have in 4 years of de shaving
 
Olie29 said:
Thank you some very good and interesting information there I’m going to see how it goes tomorrow with a test and if I’m still having issues @RussellR5555 has very kindly offered his help which I really appreciate. Find it quite easy getting the strop flat but have a tendency to want to add pressure I should know this being the first thing we learn in wet shaving is to apply no pressure. I have thought about adding an artist club at some point would see me through when I need to send off for honing and adds a little variety into the shaves. Thank you for you’re help you’ve given me some great pointers to look further into it, so much to learn here I’m really enjoying it best thing I ever did to give the straight a go
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You need at least one other razor that is shave ready so when you find you need to send your razor off for honing you have another one there at the ready.

Paul.
 
Blademonkey said:
You need at least one other razor that is shave ready so when you find you need to send your razor off for honing you have another one there at the ready.

Paul.
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Have a couple lined up Paul for next weeks purchases really looking forward to trying another hopefully with any luck the leather will see me through till then. Will get it sent off then over to @RussellR5555 going to purchase one from him at the same time and have one lined up for purchase from @Fergiebilly next week too really looking forward to it
 
Olie29 said:
Have a couple lined up Paul for next weeks purchases really looking forward to trying another hopefully with any luck the leather will see me through till then. Will get it sent off then over to @RussellR5555 going to purchase one from him at the same time and have one lined up for purchase from @Fergiebilly next week too really looking forward to it
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I brought a razor from Russ a short while ago and he put a fantastic edge on the razor before he sent it to me, you are in for a treat!!! :)

Paul
 
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