6 weeks in - First Pink Lather!
Shave report for today as I'm in 6 weeks of straight razor shaving:
6 nicks, 2 weepers, one nice little slice and a puncture wound. By far, the most blood-letting done compared to all my other sessions combined!
I now know the difference between a Shave-Ready razor and one that isn't, and the feedback one receives from a "shave-test" after honing. :dropjaw:
I recently received my Norton series of stones (220/1k, 4k/8k) and Naniwa 12k and CrOx. I used the CrOx to refresh my pro-honed Ralf Aust yesterday and had a decent shave with it although I had used cream instead of soap, and remembered I probably should have went with the more standard process when checking out how the CrOx refresh took. (I usually use shave soap, so shaving with a newly refreshed razor and the cream I'm not used to wasn't the best idea).
So, last night, I spent some time with the stones on two eBay razors (Dovo and Boker). I went back to set the bevel three times on the Dovo, and then felt pretty good and got a solid bevel (to my untrained eye) on the first shot with the Boker. I took them through the 12k stone, and then finished with the CrOx on them this morning and decided to shave test them.
The feedback from the razors was great. The Dovo sharpening job sucks. The Boker is better, sharp, but pretty sure it was diamond cutting sandpaper across the edge and not a straight razor. Finished the shave with the Ralf Aust gliding over my face like butter.
I probably used the other two razors a bit too much for the shave test, but I had moments where they felt decent, and others that they didn't. So, I kept going to see how the edge actually was. Definitely will go back to the hones for a bit to see what I can clean up. I wanted to post this in the beginner section though for a few reasons:
1) Importance of a shave-ready razor. Shaving without one sucks and is an experiment in blood-letting.
2) Importance of a shave-ready razor. Learn to straight razor shave when the blade might be the problem is not the way to learn. Eliminate all other variables, and just get used to the blade FIRST!
3) Importance of a shave-ready razor. So if you decide to hone, or refresh a razor . . . you know what you are going for!
4) Honing is not easy - it's not something that you can just watch Lynn's video's and duplicate his results. It's something that you'll need to learn and practice through.
5) Honing is easy - it's something that you can just watch Lynn's videos and give it a try. Then . . . apparently, go back and rewatch the videos and try to figure out what the feel is that is different and the feedback you get from the stone.
6) The shave test is important (albeit as a beginner, perhaps a bit uncomfortable!).
So, while not a resounding success, I will count this experiment as a valuable learning tool and in any case, it was fun that the Boker actually did shave some this morning and I took that one from butter-knife dull to "shave-possible". :)
