My Thiers-Issard

Hi Forum

Thanks to all the welcomes on the sub-forum.

As I mentioned on the beginners' intros, I have a few questions after having been straight shaving for a couple of months.

First up, I'm curious about the grind that my new Thiers-Issard has. Wonder if anyone can shed any light. The info on the box is:

SING-5/8-889-CN
RAZOR 5/8 889 CORNE
NOIRE AIGLE NEZ ROND

'5/8' I understand just fine, and 'nez rond' is pretty obvious thanks to my A-Level French! But can I deduce from 'SING' that this is a singing razor?

Thanks

Yea, that would be my assumption too.

Bob

Any pics?
Before you do anything with it, check that it's straight, they have had a bit of problem with their QC in the past.

Thanks guys.

Have already shaved with it several times, but I'm still fairly inexperienced, so not sure if I could tell if it was faulty.

The lady in the shop said that their QC was poor a few years ago, in her view they were now up to scratch.

I'll take a snap and work out how to upload it.

My beard grows very slowly (one shave every five to six days). It is also pretty tough (I think, though actually I don't go about feeling other mens' beards for comparison!). I wonder if a singer is the right razor for me considering my tough beard?

Oh dear. Just tried to upload a 2.55 MB zip file of a snap I just took of it.

Just got repeated msg, 'upload failed'.

Stop press!

Just found it on the online version of the (real) shop where I bought it.

And it answers my original question as well. Indeed a singer.

Groot aanbod aan scheermateriaal in De Messenwinkel -

Looks like a nice one!
Dutch, a language I can almost read, it's like in between English, Swedish and German.
Singing or not is just personal choice, either you like it or not.
Good to hear they got their QC under control.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by midnightrambler

Stop press!

Just found it on the online version of the (real) shop where I bought it.

And it answers my original question as well. Indeed a singer.

Groot aanbod aan scheermateriaal in De Messenwinkel -

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Beautiful razor, I have the same one, "The Flying Eagle", only mine has snakewood scales and a slightly different blade. Very heavy blade!

Thiers-Issard 5/8 Eagle Snakewood, Straight Razor

With German and English I can understand most of it. Although there are some words, e.g. 'kip'='chicken', that have no relationship to any other language I know.

As far as the shaving is concerned, I am learning all the time, though still a long way to go. I have though, perfected the art of shaving the easy strip, straight down from the sideburn to the bottom of the jaw. And here the razor makes the most satisfying noise, it's like you can hear each individual hair snapping under the razor. Sort of like a pleasant tearing, if that makes any sense.

I have heard though that the 'singing' name comes from the noise it makes on the strop.

Very nice razor that should sound similar to the sound buttering toast makes, when shaving if it is a singing full hollow. I always thought Dutch sounded similar to Hamburg Plattdeutsch to my ear.

Bob

Thanks to all for input!

By coincidence I have just had my almost weekly shave. No sniggering please, at least it saves me time...

I am getting very slowly better. However, I do feel I am struggling with the areas around the mouth. Upper lip just below the nose, just under the lower lip, and the lower chin area are all difficult.

I suspect these difficulties might have been encountered before by learners. Are there any existing pages on these areas?

That's a nice razor!

Just a word of advice about keeping it clean. If and when you feel the need to polish the blade, son't go anywhere near that gold with any kind of metal polish. Odds are it will disappear in a flash!

The good news about those tricky parts of the shave is that you are not at all alone. Some guys who have been straight shaving for years still run into troubles with them. I'm sure there is loads of info on just those areas if you take a look around both the forum and the wiki. I'll see what I can find and post links here.

My advice for the moment:

1) around the mouth: I almost always have to go back and get a few stray whiskers lurking right at the corner of my mouth after finishing my last pass. I suppose I could do a better job of stretching that bit of skin while shaving, but that's a good habit I never quite developed. I find that stretching that bit from the inside with my tongue works best. But as everyone's face is built differently, that may or may not work for you.

2) upper lip: do not worry at all about going against the grain (i.e. south to north towards your nose). Bad things can happen doing that if you're not careful. :) This is also known as the fool's pass or even the suicide pass. Don't worry, you're not likely to do yourself in with it, but the odds of a significant cut can be pretty high. I've been straight shaving for around 5 years now and I have done that pass about five times. In my book, it just isn't worth it. So stick with the north-south (nose down) stroke, and if you're feeling comfortable, add in an across the grain pass (east-west or west-east)

3) lower chin: another tricky one. If you are doing an against-the-grain pass there, keep your touch light, and lower the razor's angle a bit. I.e. if you normally have it raised two spine widths, drop it down to one and see if that helps. I find XTG (i.e. east-west) strokes are the most effective in that area for me. But again, depending on face shape and the direction your beard grows, that may or may not hold true for you as well.

So take comfort in the fact we've all been there, and most of us have had exactly the same difficulties with those areas. They are tricky ones.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by midnightrambler

I wonder if a singer is the right razor for me considering my tough beard?

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If your technique is correct, ie spine kept low to the skin, the grind is irrelevant.