Thread: First Real Shave

I'm the guy from "makes no sense" who is honing his Col Conk Solingen.

Progress: Yesterday and today, I shaved my cheeks against the grain and they were as closely shaved as my Mach 3 Turbo can do. Very close. I just cleaned up my chin, mustache and neck with the Mach 3 but went to work with everything from the jawline up on my cheeks shaved with my str8.

Unfortunately, it was not comfortable--it just plain hurt. And I have red marks, and it is still sore tonight.

When I shaved with a completely str8 motion there was no cutting. When I shaved with the scything motion or moving sideways a little bit (so a diagonal swath) it cut beard--but lots of irritation.

So, even though it is shaving, I am still convinced that the edge could be better.

Once I get it cutting hair, it seems like it oughtta be able to do that without removing the epidermis, so I will keep honing and stropping.

Thinking aloud, here is my theory:

1. I bet that the edge is sharp enough in some places, but not yet uniformly sharp. So, when I move sideways or scytheways, the sharp places eventually get to the hair and the dull places are still hurting my face.

2. I am probably close, but not close enough to strop it out yet. When I strop, one side of the razor sounds different than the other. Once side gives a high-pitched very light scraping sound, the other side is almost silent. The silent side slides more easily too. I would bet they are at least supposed to sound the same, and I think the high-pitched noisy side is honed correctly, and the other side needs some work....correct me if I'm wrong.

3. In my next honing pass, I am going to back off even more on the pressure so that I am barely pressing down on the blade.

I'll let you know how things go. This is slow because after two days, I now have to stop and let my face heal before trying again.

Well keep at it, but be careful. Scything and ATG with a improperly honed edge is bad news.

I suggest you hone the side that is not drawing a few (up to ten strokes) times to get it even with the opposing side and perhaps then even do some circular honing to get it back to a good even bevel and start over again.

A light touch is good but it does sound like you have an uneven bevel.

Good luck!