It's pulling, now what?

[petr]

The edge is starting to pull, now what do you gents do?

A simple touch up does not seem so simple at all. Frustrated

I've tried four times, and each time ended up not getting a shaving edge. Each time I ended up going back to the stones and putting a lot of time in. For the touch up I was using .5 diamond on the paddle and somehow over did it, or it was too far gone maybe?

But, I don't want to take it to the stones every time. Help.

 

[Woodash]

What'd'ya got? How many shaves do you have into it? What are you using to touch it up? How's your stropping? Have any Cr-Ox?

Let us know what's happening and you'll likely get some good info.

 

[azmark]

I'd recommend stop trying to touch it up first. .05 diamond is rougher than crox but even I'd avoid any paste until we can figure out what is going on with your honing.

What honing method are you using?

 

[professorchaos]

More often than not, when a razor needs a touch up, I'll go back and do a handful of passes on the 1.2K bevel setter - often as few as 4 laps. Once it passes the TNT, you know you've got a good foundation on which to build a shaving edge.

 

[petr]

More info.

I've got a perfectly honed and stropped razor. Freaky sharp and smooth.

I shaved about 6 times with it. I strop 50-100 passes before and after shave. My beard is coarse and it hurts a bit to force the shave. Tugging at the hairs, but it does shave fine.

I had the idea that I could touch up a razor at this point and avoid going to the hones completely by stopping on a pasted felt paddle and then leather. I do have Crox as well as the .5 diamond felt paddles.

I have Naniwa stones 1, 5, 8, 12.

 

[Legion]

It's possible you have rolled the edge with incorrect stropping. 50-100 laps before and after the shave is a lot, IMO. That means you are potentially doing 200 laps each shave? Man, your technique better be good if you are doing that much.

If your edge is rolled pastes probably are not going to be able to bring it back. You might need to work through your stones again.

 

[Disburden]

Sounds like you rolling the edge from improper stropping, happens all the time with new guys. I am sure someone can help you with honing if you continue to have problems. If you want send me a pm and I can help you.

 

[azmark]

As mentioned you may have rolled it enough to take the keenness from the edge but it still shaves but not as well as it was.

I recommend taking it back down to the 1K then go through your normal progression.

I would personally stay away from using crox too often to touch up the razor. I use it once to touch up then when needed I rehone the razor. If you want to avoid rehoning I'd get a good barbers hone and use that. Too many touch ups on crox (YMMV) just doesn't leave a comfortable edge to keep using.

 

[Disburden]

Make sure your naniwa 1k is lapped well.
Hone on it until you can shave arm or leg hair, shave well not pully pully.

Let us know when you get there.

 

[BladeRunner001]

As mentioned you may have rolled it enough to take the keenness from the edge but it still shaves but not as well as it was.

I recommend taking it back down to the 1K then go through your normal progression.

I would personally stay away from using crox too often to touch up the razor. I use it once to touch up then when needed I rehone the razor. If you want to avoid rehoning I'd get a good barbers hone and use that. Too many touch ups on crox (YMMV) just doesn't leave a comfortable edge to keep using.

Big +1 here .

The ultimate touch up is to take my razor(s) to my Escher, JNat or if you don't have these, use a 12K Naniwa, Coti or whatever. The trick is not to let it get to a point where you need to start honing all the way from the 1k. Having said that, I touch up my blades every ~10 shaves or so. The longer you go between touch ups, the lower in grit you have to move to get the edge you desire (of course, that's purely my opinion and that's what has worked so far for me) and work from that progression. I haven't used a pasted strop for awhile now and haven't had the need to.

 

[Disburden]

If the edge was rolled though you need to start on 1k, 12k* won't do anything.

 

[petr]

You guys are accusing me of rolling the edge?

Just because you have all rolled the edges does not mean I did.

Okay, there is a chance the edge is rolled. The scope says no, but it seems reasonable. I just thought I had the toughest beard in town.

 

[Disburden]

Could be many things but this is very common. If you've shaved only several times the razor would still be cutting nicely. I've been shaving since I was 12 and I don't wear blades down anywhere close to that fast.

 

[life2short1971]

Does it pass the hair test anywhere along the edge?

 

[jeffus]

I also only get about 5 or 6 shaves before I have to hit the J-Nat. My beard is like a diamond lapping plate and is easiest to deal with if I shave every day. I strop a lot less than you do though and don't use sprays or pastes. It took me over one year to find the perfect touch up hone though...

Sorry that I don't have anything more helpful to add, but just to say I have a similar problem.

 

[danjared]

You guys are accusing me of rolling the edge?

Just because you have all rolled the edges does not mean I did.

Okay, there is a chance the edge is rolled. The scope says no, but it seems reasonable. I just thought I had the toughest beard in town.

Have you tried doing some passes on your Naniwa 12k (however many you normally would do, I'm not familiar with using one), stropping and shaving?

Also, you said that your felt strop was on a paddle. Is it glued onto a paddle? How heavily is the diamond spray sprayed onto it? How many passes did you make on it? It's possible that it has a fresh (over-)application of diamond spray, which would very aggressively modify the edge. And I have found that felt strops can have a grain to them that can result in one side of the bevel being made convex (checked under a microscope) while leaving the other side noticeably not-convex.

 

[natchez]

Big +1 here .

The ultimate touch up is to take my razor(s) to my Escher, JNat or if you don't have these, use a 12K Naniwa, Coti or whatever. The trick is not to let it get to a point where you need to start honing all the way from the 1k. Having said that, I touch up my blades every ~10 shaves or so. The longer you go between touch ups, the lower in grit you have to move to get the edge you desire (of course, that's purely my opinion and that's what has worked so far for me) and work from that progression. I haven't used a pasted strop for awhile now and haven't had the need to.

I also touch up after about a week of shaves with a razor and have not had to rehone a blade yet. Usually, I use a small Celebrated Water Hone (Thurigian). I also use four or five strokes on a piece of felt with diamond spray after the stone touch up, but that is it, then strop and shave.