Thread: First Post, First Shave, Lots of Questions.

Greeting, LionFishSlayer.

Please can you tell us about your pre-shave routine as well? Alot of variables that can go along to the making of a poor shave. To my eyes, says the edge needs some hone-loving. I am admittedly a newbie myself.

Welcome,

Siguy

The pic means next to nothing,,,

do a shave test like I linked you in you above,

All the other tests mean nothing to a shaver, the TNT TPT AHT HHT all those are designed to tell the person honing the razor something, same as looking at the razor under magnification only shows a shaver MAJOR flaws it means nothing else..

If the razor cannot perform a "Shave Test" then most likely it needs honing or your skills do


Now for all the posts telling you what tests to perform

Well that's my problem. I did do a shave test, or rather tried to shave but failed miserably. How do I know if it's me or the razor?

The picture as gssixgun said will only reveal major flaws. If it was honed on a synthetic, there seem to be a lot of scratches on the bevel but that may indicate a natural stone was used. I would speak to the person that honed it and see what they say. Theres a lot of user error early on. Im not saying this is the case though.

watch the Vid, try harder, and if you fail twice then I would say razor, BTW what kind/brand of razor is it ????


I merged your two threads together so all your answers stay in one place the honing section is for "How to Hone" questions

Thanks

OK, I will give it another shot after my face recovers.. Its a Geneva cutlery from new york.

That is an Excellent brand, so you should be good there, take a pic of there overall razor too, that tells us quite a bit and we all like Razor Porn anyway

Funny story, I tend to go all out with everything I do so.. Whilst I was waiting on my "shave ready" razor to come in I was scouring antique stores for more razors.. Ended up with six! I will post pics of all later but let me know what you think. Genco Masterbarber, Robert Klaas Crane Brand, Clifford HDWE barbers Pride (w/box), and a J.R. Torrey (w/box) in addition to the Geneva and a no name.

There are both necessary and sufficient conditions for a good shave. One necessary condition is a shave ready razor. Unfortunately, a shave ready razor is not a sufficient condition. That means that in the hands of someone who is new to straight razor shaving a shave ready razor is not enough to guarantee a good shave. The first few shaves are usually lousy no matter how good the razor's edge is. I started with a Dovo Shavette which uses replaceable double edge razor blades. There was no question about shave-readiness of the razor. However, my first five shaves were horrible. My next ten were better, and things improved from there.

For me, it took at least 30 shaves before I was anything close to competent. I wasn't getting really good shaves until perhaps six months later. I think it just takes time and patience. I didn't expect immediate good results, and I didn't get them. I'm almost three years down the straight road now, and my shaves are near perfect, rarely take more than 7-10 minutes. I can do a really fast shave in five minutes or less. Give yourself some time with this new way of shaving because it WILL pay off. It won't happen right away, but the patience required and the great results you will eventually get are definitely worth it. Just don't expect too much too soon. If it was that easy, everybody would be doing it (and few are).

Didja get a good feeling about stropping that razor along the way by any chance? I managed some pretty raggedy stropping for a while and it probably didn't make my razor shave any better...