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First Straight Shave & Stropping

Well Guys, I had my first straight shave last weekend.

I picked a nice, quiet time so I could concentrate and not get bumped into by my four year old son who loves to watch me shave. Also, I don't want him to see me use a straight just yet because he'll be dying to get his hands on it once he sees it.

Back to the point. I went slowly and respectfully. I had no anxiety going into this shave. I learned that anxiety and shaving A) don't mix, and B) is usually unfounded. I was all kinds of scared to try my first Feather blade in a DE which proved to be completely not scary. Also, I was all kinds of scared to try a Slant. Again, not scary.

So, I went at it with my new Southern & Richardson 6/8 roundpoint medium hollow. It's a thing of beauty, really. The blade looks practically new. Sparkly and clean. Larry from Whipped Dog hooked me up. Long story short, I followed Larry's instructions. Wiped the petroleum jelly off and started shaving without stropping.

I got a very decent shave. One tiny speck of blood in my usual trouble spot (cowlick on the neck). No problem. I even did a few extra passes just to get a feel for it.

Onward to this evening. I just stropped the razor on my Poor Man strop. I was careful and deliberate, and I shredded that poor piece of leather like a hotdog in a blender. LOL. I've read in a dozen places that we ALL nick our strops when we begin, but I can't believe how many micro-slices and nicks I put in that bad boy. Wow. I hope it's still worth using.


There's still about 10" of undamaged hide between the top and bottom nicks. Should I avoid making contact with them? Will it have a negative impact on the blade?


Thanks to Larry @ Whipped Dog for the very nice looking razor and the helpful, timely instructions.
 
Congrats! Since you have children, I would recommend storing the razor in a lock box, but it's up to you. When I get a new straight, even if it's been previously honed and stropped, I would still strop it myself. I think an initial stropping is good to get any debris that might have accumulated on the blade. If you can, try avoiding the spots you nicked on your strop.
 
If the nicks are small you can shave the flaps off with a DE blade, then sand down with some sandpaper, maybe 800 grit or so.

Bigger issue is to find out why you are causing so many nicks on your strop and remedy that.
 
Thanks Fellas! I just finished my second straight shave ever. This shave is very good, save for a little blood in the same spot I hit the first time around. There's a little bump there that gets in the way. I had trouble with that spot when I began with DE razors, too. I'm working on using my non-dominant hand right from the beginning. It feels like I'm going to slice myself, but somehow the result is excellent.

Congrats! Since you have children, I would recommend storing the razor in a lock box, but it's up to you. When I get a new straight, even if it's been previously honed and stropped, I would still strop it myself. I think an initial stropping is good to get any debris that might have accumulated on the blade. If you can, try avoiding the spots you nicked on your strop.

Thank you. A lockbox has been on my mind. I will likely use one when I start adding more straights to the collection. For now, I'm keeping it out of the children's sight, in a toothbrush case, on a shelf that none of the children could ever reach without a ladder. And to reach it with a ladder, they'd first have to carry one up a spiral staircase...so I'm safe for now as long as I always remember to put the razor where it belongs.

If the nicks are small you can shave the flaps off with a DE blade, then sand down with some sandpaper, maybe 800 grit or so.

Bigger issue is to find out why you are causing so many nicks on your strop and remedy that.

Thanks! I examined why this might be happening, and it's either that I'm not holding the strop tight enough, or I'm putting too much pressure on it with the razor. It's happening because the strop is still bouncing a bit when I do the flip at the end of the 'away' stroke. I'm going to try to fix it up with the sandpaper trick and mount the strop someplace a bit more sturdy where I won't be scared to pull it tighter.

Good work! :thumbup1:
Thanks Luc! I believe you warned me some time ago that it was probably only a matter of time before straight-madness descended upon me.
 

Luc

"To Wiki or Not To Wiki, That's The Question".
Staff member
:lol: Yes, once you're hooked, that's it! :lol:

If you want to, start using your non-dominant hand. It will feel very strange at first but then, it gets better and more natural every shave. I think I waited until shave #5 to use my left hand.
 
Hold the strop taut, but not white knuckle tight. That much stress can cause the strop to bounce a bit.
Go slow on your stropping as you learn and start to lift the edge of the blade before you finish your stroke. Then make sure your stroke is completely stopped before you flip the edge back on the strop.
When you stop your away stroke abruptly with the blade edge still on the strop it acts like whiplash and the blade edge moves backward a little bit, digging into the strop.
 
A couple of things that really helped my stropping.
1) I stopped picking the blade up at the end of each stroke, now I roll the razor over on its spine. Haven't nicked my strop since(about 6 months ago).
2) I realized I didn't have to go at lightning speed like I saw in all the videos I watched. Going at a comfortable speed with good technique(right pressure and keeping the blade flat) is much better.

Also to fix your strop try some rubber cement under the flaps and then just push down and wipe of the excess. If the flaps are tiny and you don't think rubber cement will work I used one of my wife's fingernail files and it worked great there is a course side and a fine one to finish on. An easy way to tell when your finished sanding is if your finger can feel it so can the edge of your razor. FWIW I tried cutting a flap off once and I made it way worse.
Hope this helps:thumbup1:
 
Thanks for your help and suggestions guys.

I'm pretty sure I've got it figured out now. One of the problems was that the lighting wasn't great in there while I was stropping, so I didn't see just how badly I had chopped that strop. I was going slowly and picking up the blade on the flips, but on the far stroke (where all the damage is), the strop was springing back up and hitting the blade as lifted and flipped. Once I put the vanity light on I saw the true horror of it all.

BTW, here's a couple of pics of my shiny new friend. I know it's not much to look at compared to some of the beauties out here, but it's mine and it's all original, and I love it. (I'm no kind of photographer and it's my cellphone camera).
 

luvmysuper

My elbows leak
Staff member
Sounds like you're well on your way, congrats.
I'm glad to see more folks giving this a try, it's great news.
Also I applaud you trying to start from the get go on using your non-dominant hand.

That's a very nice looking razor, anyone would be proud to own it.
 
Sounds like you are off to a good start!!

When I strop, the edge is lifted off of the strop before I stop moving, and I start moving back the other way before I finish the flip. That way the edge is only on the strop when moving in the correct direction. It decreases the length of each actual stropping stroke, but it keeps me from nicking the strop.

Also, that is a great looking straight!
 
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