Gentlemen,
I am fairly new to this manner of shaving. About 2 years ago I was in Italy and came across a straight razor. It looked interesting so I purchased. Over the next 2 years I became nearly obsessed with learning to property sharpen and hone that plus a couple of new razors. I wathched so many videos I have lost count, I purchased several types of whet stone sets including the full set of Shapton Glass Stones from 1000 to 30000 grit and the referance lapping plate. Of course I also purchased the Norton set, their lapping plate and the DMT full set of DiaSharp plates and their lapping plate. I have tried every imaginable combination and method to sharpen and hone my Dovo Flowing razor. I could easily get the razor sharp enough to slice through the hair on my arms and legs dry. When I came to my coarse facial hair, it has always been painful around chin.
One of the problems I discovered early on was that two of my razors were not flat. I flattened them and this made a slight improvement.
I even purchased the Edge on Up, Bess Certified Industrial Edge Tester. This is a scale that measures the force (in grams) necessary to cut through a standard, certified test media. The lower the number, the sharper the edge.
A high end cutlery edge is around 300 grams new
A utility razor just under 200 grams
A double edge razor blade is about 40 to 60 grams.
My efforts were getting me in the 150 range until I made one significant change. Rather than applying the lightest pressure I could when stropping, I tried heavy pressure.
This is where it all came together. My Dovo Flowing dropped to a Bess Certified sharpness of 33 with 10 high pressure laps on the strop. In fact I had used it for extensize shaving and it would barely cut hair. Rather than trying to clean up the edge like I usually do I went straight to the strop, applied excessive pressure (you only need 5 laps each side) and went to the Edge on Up Industrial Edge Scale and I almost could not believe the results, a 33. I had never seen this low (sharp) of a number.
Typically when done honing I will test the razor on my arm hair, passing it above the skin and waiting to hair that ting, ting of the hair popping off of the edge. Typically I will hear a few hair pop and end up being disappointed. This time it was more like they exploded off of my arm.
I have an estensive collection of Benchmade knives, many that are new. I decided to test them before and after this new method of stropping. Most came out of the factory with a Bess Certified Sharpness of 150 to 180. What Bess describes as sharp utility razor blaze. They will shave the hair on my arm to some degree. I ran then over the strop, nearly all of them, and in every case, then dropped at least 50 points. One in particular dropped to a 25, lower than my Dove Flowing and I put a 17 degree angle or 34 degree inclusive on each side.
What do you gentlemen make of this. Keep in mind that the force I am using is excessive. In some cases I was wondering if the I would accidentally break the scale or handle if my hand slipped.
I am fairly new to this manner of shaving. About 2 years ago I was in Italy and came across a straight razor. It looked interesting so I purchased. Over the next 2 years I became nearly obsessed with learning to property sharpen and hone that plus a couple of new razors. I wathched so many videos I have lost count, I purchased several types of whet stone sets including the full set of Shapton Glass Stones from 1000 to 30000 grit and the referance lapping plate. Of course I also purchased the Norton set, their lapping plate and the DMT full set of DiaSharp plates and their lapping plate. I have tried every imaginable combination and method to sharpen and hone my Dovo Flowing razor. I could easily get the razor sharp enough to slice through the hair on my arms and legs dry. When I came to my coarse facial hair, it has always been painful around chin.
One of the problems I discovered early on was that two of my razors were not flat. I flattened them and this made a slight improvement.
I even purchased the Edge on Up, Bess Certified Industrial Edge Tester. This is a scale that measures the force (in grams) necessary to cut through a standard, certified test media. The lower the number, the sharper the edge.
A high end cutlery edge is around 300 grams new
A utility razor just under 200 grams
A double edge razor blade is about 40 to 60 grams.
My efforts were getting me in the 150 range until I made one significant change. Rather than applying the lightest pressure I could when stropping, I tried heavy pressure.
This is where it all came together. My Dovo Flowing dropped to a Bess Certified sharpness of 33 with 10 high pressure laps on the strop. In fact I had used it for extensize shaving and it would barely cut hair. Rather than trying to clean up the edge like I usually do I went straight to the strop, applied excessive pressure (you only need 5 laps each side) and went to the Edge on Up Industrial Edge Scale and I almost could not believe the results, a 33. I had never seen this low (sharp) of a number.
Typically when done honing I will test the razor on my arm hair, passing it above the skin and waiting to hair that ting, ting of the hair popping off of the edge. Typically I will hear a few hair pop and end up being disappointed. This time it was more like they exploded off of my arm.
I have an estensive collection of Benchmade knives, many that are new. I decided to test them before and after this new method of stropping. Most came out of the factory with a Bess Certified Sharpness of 150 to 180. What Bess describes as sharp utility razor blaze. They will shave the hair on my arm to some degree. I ran then over the strop, nearly all of them, and in every case, then dropped at least 50 points. One in particular dropped to a 25, lower than my Dove Flowing and I put a 17 degree angle or 34 degree inclusive on each side.
What do you gentlemen make of this. Keep in mind that the force I am using is excessive. In some cases I was wondering if the I would accidentally break the scale or handle if my hand slipped.