Thread: joseph elliot razor, start shaving

I have just bought an old razor made by joseph elliot. I would like to startshaving with it, the bladeis in good condition and has been honed. Iv bought a cheap leather strop and have stroped the blade. I have tried to shave with it and feel that the blade isnt sharp anought.

I am used to sharpaning knife's and would be happy if my knife was this sharp. I'v been watching clips on youtube about stroping and feel like I am doing it right.

Any tips would be brilliant

Honed by whom and on what?

You're probably right and it's not sharp enough to be honest.

While I am far from an expert (in fact I have yet to use a straight, but I do carry and maintain a series of pocketknives), I have read that what I would call "sharp" for a pocket knife (shaves armhair) merely indicates that a straight razor has a decent bevel. In order to have a shave ready razor, that bevel must then be polished to a much finer edge than we would use for our pocketknives (in fact, the finest hone I might use on a pocketknife is too coarse for even drastic profiling of a straight).

The edge on a razor should be so fine that using it for normal pocketknife tasks would dull it immediately.