Thread: ATG Blood Bath

Hi, today I wanted to shave as usual. I have a couple months experience and usually get off 3 passes + fix with little to none razor burn and some occasional nick. Today was a different story. I have in my collection an awesome Nate's Straight 11/16 1/4 hollow barbers notch. Shaved with it once before because until I feel I improved enough I'll be using my dovo and unknown name razor. I decided to use the NS for the second time like a special occasion. Stropped the smiling edge 100 times and here we go. I lately do a cold shave because I feel it's closer and less razor burn for me. Washed my face with some soap first and applied my lather. WTG went incredibly nice and smooth due to the weight of the blade I assume. XTG similar story. My hair under the jaw grows from right to left all the way (Lucky you if it grows other than horizontal ) I began with the left side clearing the cheek and to get it ATG under the jaw line I stretch it upwards by pulling up by the cheek. It works with the dovo prima 5/8 and it works with the unknown manufacturer 5/8 full hollow I restored and honed myself. But this time with this blade it was more painful than usual going up the stream. I think I couldn't stop myself from going again without the lather to fix it because it didn't feel right. I wiped the blade on the tissue and was shocked about the width of the blade covered in a thin line of blood. Had some spots in that area with the blood soaking slightly as well. Finished the other cheek ATG and bailed on the rest because of what happened. I found that more of my face was red from razor burn. Since I began it never was this bad. My face feels like I shaved it with 80 grit sandpaper (At least that spot painful as it is feels kind of BBS :P )

Does anyone have any suggestions to what might have caused this incident? The blade was heavier and I feel like I used little to none pressure on it. Is it too sharp? Could pulling too hard on the skin to stretch it have caused the issue? My other str8s I hone 12k then diamond 0.5 and 0.25 on the wool felt.

Maybe the blade is stiff because it's 1/4 hollow and it's less forgiving? I'm kind of confused right here. Would be a shame though because I have a nice restored George Wostenholm near wedge 6/8 coming in with blue Paua scales

Sorry about the big wall of text but if you see something else wrong I'd appreciate your input Thank You.

Tom

I have a theory:

That edge isn't honed right. If it is honed perfectly you can act like an idiot and not get an ounce of irritation- notice I didn't say not cut. You can cut yourself if your super careless with a perfect edge, but you can be a cowboy with a super smooth refined edge and not get irritation. I'm not there, and I didn't see you hone- but I'll put my money on this:

"Stropped the smiling edge 100 times and here we go."
"My other str8s I hone 12k then diamond 0.5 and 0.25 on the wool felt."

That's a lot of stropping. .25 and .5 micron diamonds are super small and sharp- they cut very deep for their size and my guess is you don't take ample precautions earlier with the stuff (it's kind of like handling lead paint- your finger pads, tools (razor) all need to be decontaminated before the next stage. a couple tiny diamonds get on your clean leather and it's game over. 100 strops with errant diamond particles can cause edge damage that'd make the bevel's edge look like a bandsaw. get new leathers, rehone and reattempt. only 5 passes tops on felt with that diamond stuff too by the way, in case you weren't already aware- it's like caulk, fine for painted board seams, but it's not a board replacement- little or none. The blades are about the same width so your technique shouldn't be 100% to blame- even a bad angle shouldn't tear your skin up- that edge is full of teeth. You can get new leathers- get a scope and look at the edge, or strop the hell out of a good shaving razor and see how it performs to test this.

Other theory would be that the water was too cold- goose pimpled flesh isn't smooth at the hair follicle- take a sharp edge over a bumpy surface and one of the two has got to give as far as the blood on your neck.-that could contribute- but it's the edge, as you said your whole face feels like that and you didn't cold water atg your whole face.

good luck

Sounds like too much pressure and angle, but if you're doing well with the other two razors in your rotation you may want to take a look at the edge, could be some rough spots on the blade. If you don't see anything under magnification try shaving again with it and paying better attention to pressure and angle.

There is no such thing as too sharp or over stropping. Unnecessarily using pastes and too much pressure, yes.

I am thinking back to the beginning and pressure, angle, lather, and stretching and holding were super important for me to pay attention too. The edge is also important and stropping with diamonds has never been in my routine, so i cannot help with that but the other comments about contamination and over using them sound plausible

The ones I touch with the diamond stuff seem to be fine as I mentioned. This one I never honed. It came honed from Nate Zowada I assume from the box. Last time actually I remember I think I shaved with it after a super hot shower and my beard was so soft that I didn't really have a good time with that shave razor burn... But maybe it could be something with the edge. This is the second time I had it rough with that razor but not to this level. Probably blamed it on the hot prep. When I finished honing my others I wipe them thoroughly after each step so I wouldn't think any diamonds got on my new paddle strop. Good point though on the diamond spray passes. I might be going a little overkill on them when I'm finishing but it still seemed OK when shaving.

Anyway the edge always was scary sharp and since it's a smiling and I'm freaked out about even trying to hone that beauty I stropped it 100 times as to keep the edge sharp as long as I could. My honing is still at the beginners luck phase (or maybe I'm a natural haha) as I'm still learning a lot so I'll probably mess around with the other vintage blades I'm cleaning and honing prior to even considering setting a new bevel on this one.

Depending how my face recovers I'll give it another shot next time and see what's going on. The angle for going ATG should be smaller than the rest right? Around 1-1.5 spine thickness from the face? It's heavier so maybe it's also the pressure problem because its harder to get a feel of it with some more mass to control

Yeah I would work on the cold and light pressure thing. Don't change up too much at once and you will nail the reason for the bloodshed down faster.

If it was 100 laps with diamond paste, that could be the problem. Go back to 12k and no diamond, shouldn't be needed. If it was 100 laps on plain leather, could be the edge not there or bad technique. Had many a bad shave starting out, most with a freshly honed razor. Some just smooth out after the 2nd or 3rd shave after lots of laps on plain leather, some went back to the hones. Part of the fun.

Originally Posted by Tomakao

The ones I touch with the diamond stuff seem to be fine as I mentioned. This one I never honed. It came honed from Nate Zowada I assume from the box. Last time actually I remember I think I shaved with it after a super hot shower and my beard was so soft that I didn't really have a good time with that shave razor burn... But maybe it could be something with the edge. This is the second time I had it rough with that razor but not to this level. Probably blamed it on the hot prep. When I finished honing my others I wipe them thoroughly after each step so I wouldn't think any diamonds got on my new paddle strop. Good point though on the diamond spray passes. I might be going a little overkill on them when I'm finishing but it still seemed OK when shaving.

Anyway the edge always was scary sharp and since it's a smiling and I'm freaked out about even trying to hone that beauty I stropped it 100 times as to keep the edge sharp as long as I could. My honing is still at the beginners luck phase (or maybe I'm a natural haha) as I'm still learning a lot so I'll probably mess around with the other vintage blades I'm cleaning and honing prior to even considering setting a new bevel on this one.

Depending how my face recovers I'll give it another shot next time and see what's going on. The angle for going ATG should be smaller than the rest right? Around 1-1.5 spine thickness from the face? It's heavier so maybe it's also the pressure problem because its harder to get a feel of it with some more mass to control

Makes things clearer. Shouldn't need to see the hone for 50+ shaves once you have your stropping down pact. Maybe put that razor away till you are more accustomed to stropping and shaving.

The fun of trying to get it just right is what keeps me going Never thought it would be easy but oh my is it satisfying! I have another strop that had a tough beginners time so maybe I'll strop on that one next time see how it goes. Unfortunately it has some wrinkles on the ends but some lather, hot water bottle and some neatsfoot oil seemed to kind of fix half of it. I got myself the exchangeable paddle strop specifically for honing and finishing but yeah... I used that leather for this one. Who knows maybe some diamonds got through. I hope not I'll inspect the edge during the day to see what's going on.