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Question about SR pressure ( comparing with Feather AC blades )

Hi all,
I started shaving with SR about 4 months ago, after many years of using Feather AC with variety of razors ( Cobra, Mongoose, Asylum RX and others). Now I am getting consistant, smooth, nick and irritation free shaves with my razors: Boker, Ralf Aust and couple of others. They are professionaly honed ( I only have strop ).

One issue is that my shaves, while very good, are not as smooth, in terms of end result) as what I was getting with Super Pro Feather AC. I was wondering if I should try to apply a little bit more pressure while using SR, comparing with SE. I understand my SR are not as sharp as AC, even immediately after honing. When I am using SE, especially Super Pro, I apply no pressure at all.

I am considering to try Stash McCoy 'method' to get SR sharper, but I am not sure it can rival sharpness of AC.

May be getting shaves as smooth as SE with Feather can not be achieved with SR?
 

rbscebu

Girls call me Makaluod
I don't believe that more "pressure" is going help you, but by all means try it if you like. You will probably find that it is an edge sharpness problem.

Not so much the full Method system, but you will find the diamond pasted balsa stop progression will, with practice, get you SR edges up to near or even better than Feather DE blade edge sharpness.

Another advantage of diamond pasted balsa stropping (0.5μm, 0.25μm to 0.1μm) is that you should never need to hone your edges again.
 
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I have to agree with @rbscebu on this one. More pressure is not going to get you a closer shave. Good contact is all that you need. To get good contact I use a mixture of light and extremely light pressure depending on where I’m shaving. Generally the less blade length that is in contact with the skin, the lighter the pressure.

The following can help to get a closer shave.
1. Sharper edge
2. More acute bevel angle
3. Better cutting angle
4. Skin strengthening try stretching upstream or a two way stretch if you haven’t already
5. Lack of stretching actually helps me in a few areas on a final cleanup under the jaw line
6. Shaving progressively closer to ATG
7. More passes
8. Beard mapping
9. Skin condition
10. Advanced techniques; buffing, wind screen wiper, Gillette slide, scooping the hollows
11. Extremely thin lather on clean up passes. Just water and residual lather.
 
Thanks a lot for the advices. One other problem, which is sort of geometrical, is that if I consider up is North and down is South, then under the jaw line to have ATG, I need to shave from East to West ( horizontally from ear toward mouth). It's possible with SE razor, but nearly impossible with SR. The razor I use most is midi size, has blade length 2.5". The length of feather AC is 2" exactly. So not only SR is longer,but scales sort of get in the way, which makes horizontal path nearly impossible. Haveing a sharper edge, so ATG is not necessary will certainly help.

I might consider to buy Feather shavette just to see if sharpness is the issue, but somewhat reluctant to invest in it. I'll better put money into 'method' equipment and balsa pastes. which hpefully solve the problem of shipping my razors to honing.
 
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rbscebu

Girls call me Makaluod
Thanks a lot for the advices. One other problem, which is sort of geometrical, is that if I consider up is North and down is South, then under the jaw line to have ATG, I need to shave from East to West ( horizontally from ear toward mouth). It's possible with SE razor, but nearly impossible with SR.
I am in the exact same situation as you. As everyone's face (and neck) is different, you will just have to try different approaches. This includes different types of skin stretching, different face-pulling and trying different stroke patterns.

I often use a type of Gillette slide motion when shaving ATG in this area. Of course, this is with a diamond pasted balsa stop edge. This slide motion takes practice but does achieve very good results.
 
Thanks a lot for the advices. One other problem, which is sort of geometrical, is that if I consider up is North and down is South, then under the jaw line to have ATG, I need to shave from East to West ( horizontally from ear toward mouth). It's possible with SE razor, but nearly impossible with SR. The razor I use most is midi size, has blade length 2.5". The length of feather AC is 2" exactly. So not only SR is longer,but scales sort of get in the way, which makes horizontal path nearly impossible. Haveing a sharper edge, so ATG is not necessary will certainly help.

I might consider to buy Feather shavette just to see if sharpness is the issue, but somewhat reluctant to invest in it. I'll better put money into 'method' equipment and balsa pastes. which hpefully solve the problem of shipping my razors to honing.
SR shaving sometimes requires a different approach. With a DE I go east west on the neck just like you. As you’ve noticed this is nearly impossible with an SR. What I’ve found is that diagonal passes are just as effective with an SR. I do a two way skin stretch which helps a lot.
 
It looks like 'all the roads lead to Rome' namely honing. I have a very good strop - Artisan Notovan from Anthony Miller but it looks like stropping alone can't mantain sharpness comparable with AC. So I'll be going with the 'method', luckily there is a detailed description and many posts dedicated to it, most likely addressing all the beginners problems
 
SR shaving sometimes requires a different approach. With a DE I go east west on the neck just like you. As you’ve noticed this is nearly impossible with an SR. What I’ve found is that diagonal passes are just as effective with an SR. I do a two way skin stretch which helps a lot.
I am doing exactly this. As I mentioned, I am getting very good SR shaves, but to bridge this remaining gap to Feather AC with SE on the neck area, I do need a a sharper edve. Hopefully, wine I master the 'method' this problem will be solved.
 
I've got the same mapping problem. I do a N-S first pass, with and across the grain on my whole face/neck. the next two I do basically S-N on my neck until I get to under my jawline, then a scything, bias cut pass diagonally up and in. you can stretch your skin up over the jaw for an E-W pass on what will stretch above the jaw. the rest tends to get sorted on the two pass diagonals. I've found it to be a similar, but slightly lesser issue with the Feather AC/SS.

straights are just different than shorter blade systems.

if you start doing the method system, have a look at your edge as you're doing it. depending on what kind of finisher you're getting from your honer, going to .5 micron will yield a shiny, polished bevel from whatever striations appear on the bevel come from your honer. work the .5 until it's uniformly polished all the way down to the edge, then proceed to the .25 and .1. for your first method edge, treat it like a feather. lower grit finishers tend to require some degree of pressure and it's likely to be subconscious to you by this time. so go gently at first with the new edges.
 
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Regarding the slide motion with SR: I am very comfortable with SE but never tried 'sliding' , since I managed to get BBS without it, just doing ATG. Starting 'sliding' with SR looks very prone to cuts, may be I'll first practice it with SE and see how it's going. I am afraid if I start doing it with SR, I will soon look like a dueling student from Europe of 16-17 century, but novadays those scars are not considered to be 'cool'
 
Regarding the slide motion with SR: I am very comfortable with SE but never tried 'sliding' , since I managed to get BBS without it, just doing ATG. Starting 'sliding' with SR looks very prone to cuts, may be I'll first practice it with SE and see how it's going. I am afraid if I start doing it with SR, I will soon look like a dueling student from Europe of 16-17 century, but novadays those scars are not considered to be 'cool'
It can happen. It’s a risky move.
 
I've got the same mapping problem. I do a N-S first pass, with and across the grain on my whole face/neck. the next two I do basically S-N on my neck until I get to under my jawline, then a scything, bias cut pass diagonally up and in. you can stretch your skin up over the jaw for an E-W pass on what will stretch above the jaw. the rest tends to get sorted on the two pass diagonals. I've found it to be a similar, but slightly lesser issue with the Feather AC/SS.

straights are just different than shorter blade systems.

if you start doing the method system, have a look at your edge as you're doing it. depending on what kind of finisher you're getting from your honer, going to .5 micron will yield a shiny, polished bevel from whatever striations appear on the bevel come from your honer. work the .5 until it's uniformly polished all the way down to the edge, then proceed to the .25 and .1. for your first method edge, treat it like a feather. lower grit finishers tend to require some degree of pressure and it's likely to be subconscious to you by this time. so go gently at first with the new edges.
Regarding 'depending on what kind offinisher you are getting from your honer': Can you, please, be a little bit more specific? What should I look for? Take in account, I never honed a razor before.
 
Regarding 'depending on what kind offinisher you are getting from your honer': Can you, please, be a little bit more specific? What should I look for? Take in account, I never honed a razor before.

depending on what finisher your honer uses, you could have an edge from an 8k-20k grit finished edge. Pretty much from 8k to a .5 micron diamond on balsa is workable. The lower the finish grit size, the more time you’ll spend at .5 getting the previous stone’s striations removed.
 
depending on what finisher your honer uses, you could have an edge from an 8k-20k grit finished edge. Pretty much from 8k to a .5 micron diamond on balsa is workable. The lower the finish grit size, the more time you’ll spend at .5 getting the previous stone’s striations removed.
Thanks a lot, I ask a person to whom I am sending my razors for honing about the details
 
Thanks a lot, I ask a person to whom I am sending my razors for honing about the details

you don’t really need to other than to know what you’re shaving with. If it’s a shavable edge, it’s a shavable edge. Going to .5 from there is doable.
 
I might consider to buy Feather shavette just to see if sharpness is the issue, but somewhat reluctant to invest in it. I'll better put money into 'method' equipment and balsa pastes. which hpefully solve the problem of shipping my razors to honing.

That might be a good idea just to make sure you are ruling out that variable. I've been moving back-and-forth an AC SS and my Dovo SRs as well. I find the AC to be a little easier to shave with since you can shave with a steeper angle and it's smaller than most SRs. I also like shaving with the AC and DE shavettes for their own sake when I don't have time or feel like working with a straight, a shavette is a good compromise since I don't have to strop before nor clean and dry it carefully after.
 
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