Thread: My Learning curve - so far....

Originally Posted by Euclid440

I showed him on a Canvas Strop… He grabbed the Nakayama hanging on the door knob… and I said, “No, no… let’s use this one here…”

I hope you meant Kanayama. I would not hang a Nakayama on a doorknob!

Just jumping in. My first str8 razor shave happened just a few months ago. Since then I have honed and stropped my razor to my taste (got the Norton 4/8k and a couple of hand-made leather strops for this). I guess that there is still a big path ahead, though.

Other shaving-related abilities are still undeveloped. I don't have a brush (still soap my face with my bare hands, with Gillette aerosol canned foam for "sensitive skin", as I was doing previously for disposable two or three-blade cartridges). I might try a brush and a better soap (or a home-made one, even better) in the future. Another one is shaving itself. I somehow shave my face almost in the same direction (upwards down). The videos I have watched show that more skilled users shave just the opposite near the neck, so there must be an advantage doing so.

I might even try to make a brand-less str8 razor. I make a knife every now and then. When? Well: That's a whole different issue ;-)

Originally Posted by Euclid440

He grabbed the Nakayama hanging on the door knob… and I said, “No, no… let’s use this one here…”

Yes, and part of the duties of a mentor is necessary and immediate intervention as needed ;p

I'm stropping with my home made leather on a board strop with nylon webbing on the back side. Plan on getting a nice strop some time, but I have the stuff to make my own hanging strop, so that will come first. For now, I am working on getting the stropping action mastered a bit further. I am more comfortable right now with something rigid - and something that will cost about 75 cents to repair if I damage it. So far I haven't done any damage to it, but man do I ever want to roll that blade the wrong way during the first lap or so!

slow and steady wins the race. 60 slow steady passes done with good technique, beat 200 quick sloppy laps. Oh, and there's a greater risk of rolling the edge.

All I've learned is that styptic pencils burn!

Haven't updated for a few days due to computer problems. I think I am making progress, but it is inconsistent. Sometimes good shaves, sometimes not so much, so I guess I am going through what most do. Trying to balance pressure and angle and direction. I am pretty confident of my blade sharpness at this point.

Maybe I am having an issue with estimating the angle. I know that the rule of thumb is two spine thicknesses is about 30 degrees, so I try to use that as a gage and start with a lower angle. But it seems like the lower angles up to about 30 degrees as best I estimate hang up with me - skipping and just not cutting well. As for pressure, I am sure that I apply a bit too much, but have trouble gaging that too. When I shaved last night I noticed that I got the butter knife on toast sound and nice cutting at what I would have gaged to be more than 30 degrees (at least it seemed- maybe approaching 40 degrees or so) and got a pretty smooth shave with one little nick (probably should even try to shave the area of the nick because it is about where I get nicked every time it has happened). Got a little razor burn, but not too bad. So, should I still be focusing on that lower angle, or should I rely on the audible feedback of the toast sound to determine that I am at a good angle?

Hope to have time to get together with one or more of the locals that I met at the meetup soon if my schedule will clear up a bit. In the meantime, any thoughts appreciated.

Send or take your razors to an experienced honer for evaluation and shave with a true shave ready edge. Sounds like you are compensating for a less than shave ready edge.

Stropping is usually an issue for new shavers, using too much pressure and not enough laps, so even if you get a good edge you can wipe it out with one stroke.

It is not just about sharp, it must be smooth, a good progression after a solid complete bevel set, is the key, topped off by good stropping.

So first make sure your edge is, shave ready and eliminate the largest possible problems.

I honed a razor for a new shaver the other day, that had been shaving with it for months. He said, he thought it was sharp…

Well I can't fully explain my experience of the other day, but I did an experiment tonight using three blades - the one that I used the other night, one that was sharpened but unused by Larry at Whipped Dog, and a shavette with a new blade. I paid more careful attention to the blade angle and trying to gage what was going on and found very little difference between the two straight razors and only the expected differences with the shavette. All were comparable and I got a pretty decent shave (I focused more on the experiment than getting to BBS) . The shavette was sharpest and I had more trouble with lower angles with it, but I guess I was pretty close to the 30 degree mark most of the shave with the two straights today. Perhaps my prep or lather or frame of mind weren't as effective before. OK, I guess I'll forge on, but I

am still interested in thoughts on how much you use the sound as feedback on when you are in the sweet spot. (Sorry about the split post)
Jerry