Thread: Newbie: How to get it sharp enough to shave?

Hi all i have a question with two parts, and thought where better to come for some advice from some veterans :P

I have recently purchased a Muhle RM30 in a shaving gift set form Executive Shaving co, It contains a presentation box, the razor, a super badger hair brush a leather strop with what i believe is a Dovo Dual grade strop pastes.

My first part of the question is how can i tell if it is sharp enough to shave with, it gave no indication if it was shave ready or not. So i conducted a few tests such as the hanging hair test (Fail), Arm hair test (Pass), Thumb pad test (Fail) Shave test (Big fail). I did strop before use (50 lengths). During the shave test it kept pulling and snagging. I am not a newbie to shaving and i used my regular routine i use when using my DE razor. I washed my face before hand in warm water, used a steaming hot face cloth, then lathered my cream using my shaving brush onto my face.

The shave was unpleasant to say the least with all the pulling and cagging, in the end i used my DE to finish off which had no problem getting rid of all the fuzz, Granted i hadn't had a shave in a week but if the DE could cut through like a knife through butter then surely the straight razor SHOULD have no problem unless it needed stropping or honing.

My second question is do you think the blade needs honing before use because i don't have access to a honing stone, If so what do people recommend and if shaving twice a week how often should it be honed. in your opinions.

I have done my homework before but was still unsure so i thought I'd ask

Thanks in advance

Dan

MODS: If i have posted in the wrong area i apologize

It could be a few things. Maybe it wasn't shave ready from the vender, you killed the edge stropping or your technique isn't there yet. The only way for sure to tell if it shave ready is to shave test it, most of us have some sort of sharpness test that will let us know if it's in the ballpark (hanging hair test, thumb pad test etc).

If you have a fellow member close to you maybe they can help you out

Welcome aboard!

One of the things that you'll hear here is that most newly purchased razors are not shave ready unless they were honed after leaving the manufacturer...regardless of what the vendor may claim. And that honing needs to be done by someone who knows what they're doing; not your local knife and tool sharpener, and probably not by you. So check out the services section of the forum, and get that brand new razor honed...and then DON'T strop it do that you know what it's supposed to feel like!

The first question that sprang to my mind is what is your level of experience with straight razors; my impression that you're brand new to straights, though not to shaving. Unfortunately, DE experience isn't all that transferable. The eye-hand coordination required is different, and is quite demanding from the moment you pick up the razor. Stropping looks like a no-brainer, but is anything but. And proper strop work can make or break the shave quality. Once the razor is on your face, angles and pressure (or the lack of it) become critical. So what I'm saying is that technique is hugely important...and only comes with patience, practice, and if you're lucky, some friendly help.

I'm sure that others will chime in. But in the meantime, good luck!

Dovo straights don't come from the factory shave ready. Unless the vendor has arranged to have the razor honed (which very few do), it will not be shave ready. Send it off and get it honed. You will then know that it is ready to use. Have a look at someone in the UK like Neil Miller. How often does it need to be honed? How long is a piece of string. Too many variables to give an answer. How good is your stropping? Do you use paste? How thick is your beard etc etc etc.

I honestly believe the most critical first step in straight shaving is learning to determine when a razor is sufficiently sharp to provide a comfortable shave. A shave test is IMO the only universal test to determine this.

Until you're comfortable in making this determination and developing the skills to maintain your edges in this fashion, I would recommend two things: first, get an inexpensive shave ready razor from a reliable vendor. Then, have your Muhle professionally honed. Decide on one to serve as simply a benchmark of sharpness, not to be used regularly until you're comfortable maintaining your own edge. The other, becomes your daily shaver as you "hone" your skills.

Stick with it! Best of luck!

Welcome to SRP

Yes you should contact the vendor, for example here: Shaving Help and Advice On Shaving Matters | Executive Shaving
and ask if your razor has been honed by them, or if it came with a factory edge. If they had honed it may be they would be willing to look it over again and double check that it's good.

If it was in a sealed factory box you can skip that and send it out for proper honing. On a rare occasion the factory edges are fine, but most of the time they aren't.

Originally Posted by Danktt

I have recently purchased a Muhle RM30 in a shaving gift set form Executive Shaving co, It contains a presentation box, the razor, a super badger hair brush a leather strop with what i believe is a Dovo Dual grade strop pastes.

My first part of the question is how can i tell if it is sharp enough to shave with, it gave no indication if it was shave ready or not.

Dan, a few months back I bought three (!!) ⅝ Mühle RM 30 straights during a trip to Vienna, Austria because they only cost me (brand-new) the paltry equivalent of $76 a piece.

First I bought one, took it to my Hotel room, stropped it, shaved with it and liked shave.
Then I went and bought 2 more...

After the usual stropping, they all shaved nice out of the box.
I was pleasantly surprised, even more so since the shop is not known to prepare razors before the sale.

So I can say that out of three RM30's all three were shave-ready out of the box and that all that the three required was the daily (no paste) stropping before the shave.

Which would then mean that in your case it could be stropping, or more likely technique that is behind the less than optimum experience.


I hope you don't mind my saying so, but I vividly remember that my first shaves were a far cry from my Mühle R101 (a variant of the open comb R41) close and smooth DE shaving experience and it took me around 6 weeks of daily straight shaving before I got to a comparable shave.


So my advice would be to keep practicing and don't give up; once you get there you'll most likely find that it was worth the experience!

Hard to say now, if it was… shave ready, do the following check and if not send it out for honing. Do not strop before shaving, when you get it back.

As said, find a mentor locally to get you started with stropping and shaving, stropping is not as easy as it looks. One missed stroke can ruin the edge.

Hands on mentoring will greatly reduce your learning curve.

The following video will show you how to check for a set bevel, only your face will tell you if it will be a comfortable shave.

Hang in there you will get it… we all did.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZYFsOP7rBc

Hi Danktt
I would personally send your razor to either steve at the invisible edge or neil at the stropshop here in the UK. I say this because I'm pretty sure unless specified all of the straights at the executive shaving come with a factory edge which is nearly always not shave ready. It'll cost roughly £25 but you will know what shave ready feels like. Once you've established what a truly shave ready razor feels like you can work from that. I've used both steve and neils honing services and you cant go wrong.

a straight razor should be better than a DE for a weeks growth

get it professionally hones and try again