So, I have been using my new straight razor for the last few days aaaannnddd...I am not doing so well. I have been going slow and trying to keep my blade angle stable, but I am not getting close shaves and my neck is getting some serious irritation after just one pass. I have yet to get through an entire shave without switching over to my Gillette black handle Super Speed and a PolSilver Super Stainless to finish up. I traded for a Robeson ShurEdge 4/8 straight from a respected member here on the Den and received it last week. The razor looks to be in pretty good condition and was said to be shave ready and honed by Lynn, a respected guy in the world of straights. I have no reason to doubt that this razor is indeed shave ready, but I also have no real way to tell if it is or not. I also have a poor man's strop kit and a barber's hone from Whipped Dog and have done my best to use the leather strop properly, but I have a feeling that my stropping technique could use some work. Being new to straights makes it difficult to isolate my issue. Is it poor shaving technique or poor stropping technique? Could it be a poorly honed edge or or an edge that was well honed, but not maintained? Maybe my face just doesn't get along with this razor...the only way for me to be able to tell is to eliminate as many objective variables as possible. I have a second straight on its way (a nice Union Cutlery 5/8 razor) and I plan to send that one off to Whipped Dog to be honed, so I will probably send the Robeson off too. Once I have two different razors that I know for sure have been professionally honed I can concentrate on my technique and try to figure out how to improve. I don't plan to abandon using straights, but man am I having a rough time of it. Any suggestions beyond what I am already planning would be greatly appreciated.
I have just started with straights myself. What I have found helps with stropping is to lay the strop on a flat surface instead of trying to use it hanging at first. What really helped me was 100 slow round trips on the strop that way. I am sure someone with much more experience will be along shortly.
It's definitely a steep learning curve. How many shaves have you done? I think the neck area is really tricky at times where my hair grows side ways right under my jaw. It took me a couple tried to get a good blade angle. My left hand started doing well after about the 3rd or 4th time. I have still only sliced myself with my left hand. haha I just think Learning with a straight takes a while. Finding out how to hold it, light pressure, correct blade angle, blade maintenance. There are so many variables to worry about. I think your doing the right thing but picking up 2 and getting them both freshly honed. That will start canceling variables out. Just keep practicing. I recently have been using shavettes a lot just because of the lack of maintenance and the guarantee of a sharp blade. Cuts out some of the guess work, lets me just focus on the technique. Been getting fantastic shaves with them.
Sounds like poor technique and possibly stropping as well. It's very easy to drop your wrist and open the angle when shaving under the chin and jaw, which I'd wager is what your doing. Keep that spine close to the skin and maybe stop doing a pass there alltogether until you start nailing close and comfy shaves on your sideburns and cheeks.
I started by using the straight on my face just one pass and than using my DE to do second pass and the neck, worked up to doing two passes on face and DE on neck and than to the point where using the straight for it all.
The shave test : I have written this many times, but it bears repeating When we say the words "Shave Test" it doesn't mean a full shave, it means exactly what we type.. Just like every other "Test for Sharpness" there is a specialized final test.. You have to set up with the Perfect beard prep, then as best as you possibly can, work up a great lather on a well soaked face, then taking as perfect a stroke as you can with the best 2 spine width from the face angle, that you can accomplish, start at the strong side Sideburn line and do a confident perfect stroke as you can manage down to the Jawline.. That is a "Shave Test" it should almost suprise you with how easy and smoothly it cuts the beard,, now try the other side, If this does not cut the beard well... STOP !!! Either you are doing something drastically wrong, or the edge needs help.. There is no sense in going farther until you solve the issue, it will not work on the harder areas of the face if you can't make the easiest stroke work right.. This is the true test for an edge, and even this isn't foolproof but it is as close as a beginner can get... Just to double check yourself do this once again the next day...
Good advice from everybody. I know that my technique needs work, so I will try out that shave test and see if my blade is also contributing to my issues. I've only done three shaves with the straight so far, but I guess I was just sort of expecting to pick this up as easily as I did DE razors. Unfortunately, straight razor shaving is proving to be much more difficult than I imagined, everything feels so alien to me. I tend to learn things pretty quickly and with minimal effort (placing my first IV on a patient was a piece of cake, the first time I sutured a real wound was in the back of a moving humvee and I did marvelously), so when something doesn't come quickly it is frustrating (that damn 15.5" viola mocks me every time I look at it). I will get this down eventually...I just have to eliminate as many variables as possible and focus on keeping my angle true.
So, I have my Union Cutlery 5/8 now and it works MUCH better than the Robeson 4/8. When I received the razor I knew that it was not shave ready, so I ran it over the barber's hone for a while and then stropped it on my pasted balsa strop first on the chromium oxide and then on the iron oxide. When I felt like it had a fairly clean edge I stropped on leather, cleaned off the blade, put some mineral oil on it, and left it for the morning. I know that the edge is still not where it needs to be, but I used it a few times anyway and had OK results. My routine is pretty much the same as when I use DE razors. I soak my brush while I shower. When I am ready to shave I wet my face with warm water, apply some preshave oil and lather up my soap or cream (for the past few shaves I have been using an AoS unscented sample that I was given at the local AoS store), and then wet the blade and shave with the grain. I use my Gillette black handle Super Speed with a PolSilver Super Stainless blade for the second pass (which is against the grain), and then do a final clean up pass with the straight (again with the grain) followed by a cold water rinse. I am still getting irritation on my neck, but not as bad as with the Robeson. The passes with the straight still do not yield the cleanest results, but they are better than before. I am having issues with the Union Cutlery's square point, but that will just take some getting used to. All of my irritation comes from the first pass, but is probably not helped by the subsequent passes. I am still planning to send both razors off to Whipped Dog for honing, but now I feel like I will actually be able to get some good results in the not too distant future. All of this leads me to several conclusions: 1) The Robeson was most definitely NOT shave ready 2) Although the Robeson is supposedly a 4/8 blade, when compared to the Union Cutlery it is MUCH smaller and leads me to think it may actually be a 3/8 3) Square points are easier to nick yourself with 4) This is going to take some time to master, BUT it is not as hopeless as it seemed to be a few shaves ago 5) Stropping isn't that difficult if you don't over think it 6) Styptic was invented my sado-masochists I am making progress and once my razors are professionally honed I will continue to work on and improve my technique. Pretty soon I'll be slicing off hair and partying like it's 1909!
You'll enjoy it much more when the blades are actually shave sharp like you said in your post. I use a barber's hone to maintain mine and I think you could work the blade on that stone until Doomsday and not get the blade sharp. Great for keeping a sharp blade sharp, but lousy to try and sharpen anything dull.
on your progress!! There is a definate learning curve with a straight, with both shaving and stropping. One reason why I stick to DE/SE... Let me just pass this info along, for whats its worth, I've been sharpening knives for a longgg time and I feel I do a fair job with them. When I first started however I could take a scary sharp edge and strop it "DULL".... Don't underestimate the power of stropping to both put a super keen edge on a blade and to make a perfect edge virtually unusable .... Hang in there....
I just sent your Fat Boy back to you. I can't bear the thought of you thinking I traded you a bum razor. Please keep the Robeson because it is a good idea to have at least two razors so you can keep shaving while one is out for honing if you are like me and don't try to maintain my own edges. I measured the thing and came up with 4/8, but hey, maybe I need new glasses. I had not shaved with it since getting it back from the honer other than popping a few arm hairs off my arm before I mailed it to you, so I am at a loss as to why it was not shave ready.
That is not what I wanted to happen at all, I do not blame you at all for my inability to get good results. I don't want you to think that I am disappointed with the trade. The Robeson is not working out as well as I would have liked, but that does not mean that I am willing to give up on it. I believe that my poor technique is at least partly to blame. I have a feeling that my poor stropping in the beginning may also be partly to blame for the edge. If I hated the razor I would have passed it along to someone else who could do better, but I will have it honed and continue to try. A trade is a trade. You presented the razors fairly and honestly and even gave me good advice. I have no reason to go back on our deal.
Am I dreaming?? Whoa mang!! It's great to see you here!!...I hope you are back.... Yo Jabberwock....This might be out of line.....but, I found it quite helpful, shaving with a shavette....I knew the edge was cool....it removed all the stropping and honing variables and isolated everything to my technique...Now I know trad. Straights are way more forgiving, but even if you only use the shavette as a once in a while or once a week "reality check" .......I don't know....thats what I did anyway. Well actually I shaved with a Shavette daily for 6 weeks til I was getting great, comfortable shaves. Then regular Straights became user friendly...and I diffenantly know what to expect in the way of an edge from one....I'm not recommending shavettes as the best way to learn Str8 shaving, but it is a way...and it does answer your questions about what a good edge is suppose to feel like.... Lots of great advice here...Hope you get this sorted out asap! Good luck...
I am on my second shave with a Shavette. My reasoning was the same . Master the technique first then worry about stropping and honing. So far no cuts or nicks but also no good shaves. I think my problem is poor angle control and too light a touch. Maybe if I finally cut myself I wont be as fearful. Another possibility is I am using pro guard blades in a Feather SS. The blade maybe too mild for the SS. However, it works well in my Cobra. my sideburns come out passably clean shaven but the difficult areas need 3 and 4 passes and are very irritated.
