Razor sharpness question

I have two antique straights that I have bought and restored. I have both of them honed up until they can shave my arm nice and smooth with little effort. Yet I tried to shave last night and my face is killing me. My razor didn't seem to shave very easy. It felt dull.

My question is can a sharp razor feel dull if you such at straight shaving? Or is it likely I need more time on the hone?

What hones? How fine?

If you've never used a straight, many times even a pro honed razor can feel dull with bad technique. Did you strop too?

global_dev said:

What hones? How fine?

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4000 8000 10000 leather with green chromium the stropped on canvas then leather.

I would suggest purchasing one of these and checking your edges. You can easily see if your bevels are even and smooth for the full length of the blade. Do you have any microscopic jagged serrations or damaged sections.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/60X-Magnify...219?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3ccfa74b23

This is a good video to demonstrate how a properly honed edge looks under magnification.

Go back to the 10k, strop and shave. CrOx in the hands of an expert can add subtle character to an edge. In the hands of a beginner many things can go wrong yielding a harsh and unforgiving shave.

Going back and rereading the op I have to ask some more questions. Is this your first time honing a razor? How did you determine it was time to progress from one stone to the next? The problem can exist as far back as your 1k bevel set. Get a box of cherry tomatoes and do the Doc bevel test. Essentially just slicing the tomato held by fingers with a weightless stroke. You can easily feel imperfections on the edge. It should feel smooth and effortlessly slice the tomato.

Avenolpey said:

Go back to the 10k, strop and shave. CrOx in the hands of an expert can add subtle character to an edge. In the hands of a beginner many things can go wrong yielding a harsh and unforgiving shave.

Going back and rereading the op I have to ask some more questions. Is this your first time honing a razor? How did you determine it was time to progress from one stone to the next? The problem can exist as far back as your 1k bevel set. Get a box of cherry tomatoes and do the Doc bevel test. Essentially just slicing the tomato held by fingers with a weightless stroke. You can easily feel imperfections on the edge. It should feel smooth and effortlessly slice the tomato.

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I am fairly experienced sharpening knives up to about a 1500 grit. Going farther than this is new to me. Part of the problem is I don't have the experience to tell when I am good to go up to the next step. I have gone back to 4k twice now. I'll get some tomatoes and test with that before I shave again.

Yes a perfect shave ready razor may feel dull to an inexperienced shaver, most of us suffered from the "dull razor" syndrome.

Only way to know for sure is to have an experienced shaver try out your razor and let you know-if found lacking then hone it for you.

feltspanky said:

I would suggest purchasing one of these and checking your edges. You can easily see if your bevels are even and smooth for the full length of the blade. Do you have any microscopic jagged serrations or damaged sections.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/60X-Magnify...219?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3ccfa74b23

Click to expand...

I was thinking about this and I didn't have a microscope so I took a pin and ran the point along the edge. It was a little sticky. So I went back down to 800 grit. I went back up to 10k. I didn't have any tomatoes so I used a yellow bell pepper. Sliced nicely. I'll update you when I give it another go.

The technique vs. keenness conundrum! For many of us, arm hair doesn't come close to the wire toughness of facial hair. A sharp razor would have to instantly catch and sever arm hair to give me a good a shave. On a WTG pass the razor should remove hair easily, however some pulling sensation will always be there unless you finally hone up a velvet squeegee.

Are you comfortable with stropping? If you rolled the edge it could feel dull, and/or scrape your face up very badly.

Also, if there's pitting or chipping in the edge you didn't remove, the edge could easily shave arm hair, but still mangle your face.

Finally, you could just be rushing the honing. A razor beveled on 1-2k grit will shave arm hair easily, but will not shave your face.

Can a sharp razor feel dull? Well, how sharp? Some finishes it's possible to shave with can tug and pull like they're dull; but a real 10k edge shouldn't offer much resistance to your beard if it's honed and stropped properly. It certainly shouldn't feel dull. Either it's going to hurt you while shaving you easily, not hurt you while shaving you easily, or slice your face up. The first and last are the result of bad technique. "Feeling dull" isn't really a technique issue with a razor as sharp as a properly honed/stropped 10k edge.