Pulling not cutting - help ! arghhhhh

[Yonjuro]

... Hi all,

same old post type I am afraid...

Here's my predicament;

I am really new to straights, having only used a feather AC in the past. I have been getting wonderful shaves with my DEs but I am committed to learning the craft of the straight.

I have a really nice straight that I bought of a great forumite here. I have tried on three different occasion with 3 different lathers and 1 day growth and 2 day growth.

THe razor feels super sharp ie, it will shave my forearm and I hung a hair (borrowed from the wife) and kind of swung the razor at it and it broke or cut the hair.

I have tried the left sideburn area (I am right handed) and I simple cannot get it to cut my whiskers. I try very little pressure and it just stops dead. I try a little pressure at 1 and 2 spine widths from my face and it just digs in or starts to really pull.

I have hesitated using the strop but carefully gave it around 40 very careful strops on my horse leather stop. I am confident that I haven't rounded the edge - I can shave some hair but it really feels like am in danger of injury due to the pressure I seem to "need" to apply.

Help

Cheers

Jase

 

[FiveOhNine]

I think you need some 'momentum' but what would you guess your angle is? are we talking WTG?

 

[Yonjuro]

I think you need some 'momentum' but what would you guess your angle is? are we talking WTG?

Actually, that's a good idea. I have been placing the blade against my face, then moving the spine away from my face to around 30 degree angle and attempting to gently encourage the blade to move gently down and cut WTG.

Cheers

Jase

 

[professorchaos]

As noted, check your angle. You want the shallowest angle that allows the edge to cut the hair. So forget about degrees. Lay the razor against your face. Lift the spine one spine-width off your face. If the edge skips over the stubble rather than cuts it, increase the angle a little more. Perhaps 1/2 spine-width.

If it is still pulling once you get it cutting at the shallowest possible angle, the razor isn't shave ready.

 

[Yonjuro]

Okay, here's the lastest.

Beard was 24 hours old. Normal DE prep that I use. Shallow angle with a bit of 'momentum' (slight up movement before the downward stroke) and yes it did cut! Not smooth and not real easy but I did get to lower the hair height around my face. Comparing to my DE shaves it was a far less comfortable but I did get a reduction in hair.

I would say that the feeling was a bit of pulling still.

I re-lathered and did a pass with my DE. Then relathered again and used the straight again of very little hair - it was far far easier on very low hair height. When I tried previously on a 48 hour growth (about 2.5mm on my beard) it was near impossible to cut at all.

I must admit that I dont quite understand the logistics of it being harder to cut longer hair with a straight as I assumed it is really just cutting off the hair at the base and it shouldn't matter quite as much as it did (to me)

So, what next fellas? Keep practicing the same or similar?

Cheers and thanks for the advice thus far

 

[SliceOfLife]

Bare in mind that I've only DE shaved maybe four times, and I learned on a straight before trying a DE... but frankly. DE's pretty much killed off straights for a good reason. They are almost laughably easy to shave with by comparison. It could take weeks, months, maybe years to be completely comfortable with a straight to where you shave as easily with it as with a DE. I've been at it going on half a year now, and I still have moments where I notice myself using a pattern I haven't tried before and it works better than what I normally do. Put it this way, I started honing razors about the same time I started shaving, and I consider myself a MUCH better honer than shaver.

As for just getting the hair to cut? Well yes, with longer hair it's a bit more tricky than with short hair for the simple reason that you will "catch" long hair without being anywhere near the correct angle (and as you said, you'll pull it).

As others have said, start flat and keep moving the spine out until the razor cuts smoothly. If it feels like you're scraping at the skin you went too far.

Also, Straight razors seem to need a lot more slip in the lather than DE's do. In my experience this translates to more soap and water and less air. When I collect lather from the rim of my scuttle, I tend to trap it in the base and give it a good squish to press out the bigger air bubbles and also get some of the lather from the inner (much less airy) part of the brush out before I resume lathering.


Really it's a case of practice makes perfect. You'll think you've "got it" about a half dozen times before you actually do (unless it's more than that and I still haven't got it).

But yes, it will take much, much more time if you aren't confident that your razor is sharp. So if there's an experienced straight user near you, you may want to get him to check your razor a couple times now and then while you're still getting the hang of things to make sure it's as sharp as it should be.

 

[Yonjuro]

Bare in mind that I've only DE shaved maybe four times, and I learned on a straight before trying a DE... but frankly. DE's pretty much killed off straights for a good reason. They are almost laughably easy to shave with by comparison. It could take weeks, months, maybe years to be completely comfortable with a straight to where you shave as easily with it as with a DE. I've been at it going on half a year now, and I still have moments where I notice myself using a pattern I haven't tried before and it works better than what I normally do. Put it this way, I started honing razors about the same time I started shaving, and I consider myself a MUCH better honer than shaver.

As for just getting the hair to cut? Well yes, with longer hair it's a bit more tricky than with short hair for the simple reason that you will "catch" long hair without being anywhere near the correct angle (and as you said, you'll pull it).

As others have said, start flat and keep moving the spine out until the razor cuts smoothly. If it feels like you're scraping at the skin you went too far.

Also, Straight razors seem to need a lot more slip in the lather than DE's do. In my experience this translates to more soap and water and less air. When I collect lather from the rim of my scuttle, I tend to trap it in the base and give it a good squish to press out the bigger air bubbles and also get some of the lather from the inner (much less airy) part of the brush out before I resume lathering.


Really it's a case of practice makes perfect. You'll think you've "got it" about a half dozen times before you actually do (unless it's more than that and I still haven't got it).

But yes, it will take much, much more time if you aren't confident that your razor is sharp. So if there's an experienced straight user near you, you may want to get him to check your razor a couple times now and then while you're still getting the hang of things to make sure it's as sharp as it should be.

THanks mate,

regarding the lather, I tried various lathers from thick cream to a lighter slicker soap. My best result his morning came from the lighter soap, but I think this was due to the technique rather than the lather, so I may revert to my favorite thicker tallow soap lather and try again.

I suppose I need confirmation that my edge is sharp enough for a good shave and herein lies my problem - lack of experience. A bad workman blames his tools and to coin another phrase - I have a feeling that I am stuck between a rock and a hard place ie. inexperience and perhaps a blade that isn't sharp enough for someone with my experience (lack of)

Are there any experienced straight users here that live in Perth ??????

Thanks again for the advice, I will continue to work on this. I don't expect it to be as easy as a DE - and this is part of the fun and challenge.



Jase

 

[professorchaos]

Are you certain that the razor is shave ready? Shouldn't feel much pull, if any, with a suitably shallow angle.

 

[JeffE]

Henry's right. All of what you are saying above makes it sound like the razor isn't really shave ready. The HHT, by the way, doesn't really prove anything. Try sending the razor to a recognized honemeister and have it honed so that it is really, truly, undeniably shave ready. I bet your shaving results will improve. --Jeff

 

[Yonjuro]

Thanks, I may have to get it checked for peace of mind.

Cheers

Jase

 

[Yonjuro]

... well, I did around 40 strops with Red Dovo paste and 60 on plain horse leather. I mixed up a super lather and it went much better.

I managed to get all areas except by chin relatively okay. I still may get it checked and I will have something to compare it to once I send my other razors to Henry for the honing

Cheers

Jase