Thread: Scary First Time Straight Shave

Finished cleaning up my Shumate 135 earlier today and took it through the stones (1k, 4k & 8k) this evening.
30 laps on the linen, 50 laps on each side of the leather and studied the edge with a 16x loupe. A couple of pits
remain in the edge, but overall it looks good and smooth. Curiousity got the better of me and I couldn't wait
until morning for the test shave. Hot towel prep. Vintage Colgate lather applied with a Van der Hagen boar brush.
Couple of small nicks, need to figure how to trim around the van dyke. All in all, scary..., but what a thrill!


Not a BBS shave by no means. In fact, the left side of my neck is still furry, hahaha!

Now, you just work on improving one element at a time. A slow, wonderful journey ahead.

Congrats. Now just take it slow and easy from here. Don't get over confident when things start to really come together either. Enjoy the journey.

Bob

Ok Marine. Your journey has begun. If the edge of your razor is uneven I'd suggest going back to your 1 K and reset the bevel. Go lightly here as you move across the stone and check your edge under a strong light. Don't need a loupe to do this. Make sure that there are no shiny parts on the edge. If there are, go back to the 1 K hone and gently polish them out. Then do pyramids on the 4/8 hone to polish out the stryations of the 1 K.
Good luck and Semper Fi!

Are you learning to hone, whilst learning to straight shave? If so, I'd learn to shave first and save the honing for later.

Originally Posted by Wayne1963

Are you learning to hone, whilst learning to straight shave? If so, I'd learn to shave first and save the honing for later.

I've been learning a lot the past few months and I'm grateful to every member of SRP for what I've learned.
I thought about buying a shave ready SR online, but was enamored with the thought of finding a SR in the
wild and bringing it back to service with my own hands. I now have 3 SR's ready to send off for honing, but
something about this Shumate's 135 said "I'm the one". Light as a feather, round point, 11/16, hollow ground,
this is my "beginner" I've been looking for. I took it to my new Norton stones and paid very close attention to
each lap, all the time thinking about what I've read about here on the forum and the videos I've watched.
Am I flat to the stone? Is my pressure to heavy? What does the edge look like, fresh metal, pits gone? I was
focused. I studied the edge and was happy with it. For the HHT, I used my chest hairs holding the blade about
a half inch off the skin, very little grab as the hairs caught the edge and popped off. What a lovely "tinking"
sound it made. I knew my "beginner" was ready and so was I, to begin this part of my journey.

I know you are, not sure that's a good blade to learn how to hone lots of pitting on the bevel.

Looks like you need to spend some time on your bevel setter to get those pits out. Pitting on the side of the bevel, though not ideal, can be acceptable and won't affect the quality of the shave. It's the very edge that needs to be straight and free of defects.

Took the pits out using the Norton 1K. Also traded out the scratches going up to 4K and 8K. It shaves, but
not sure if good enough. I was hoping to win a bid on the bay for another Shumate 135, don't think that's
going to happen. Time to send one off for honing.

Originally Posted by Panama60

Took the pits out using the Norton 1K. Also traded out the scratches going up to 4K and 8K. It shaves, but
not sure if good enough. I was hoping to win a bid on the bay for another Shumate 135, don't think that's
going to happen. Time to send one off for honing.

Good job Rog. The stryations look a little deep for the 8k Norton IMHO. I'd suggest 4 sets of circles of 20, 10, 5 and 3 with just the weight of the blade. Almost zero pressure. Just enough to keep blade flat on the hone.
But the most important thing for me to say to you today is to thank you for your service to this great country. Men like you is what makes America great!