Thread: Hello

Hello everyone. My name is Michael and I thought I'd take a minute to introduce myself - though some of you may recognize me from elsewhere. I've been wetshaving for as long as I can remember, but only discovered "the good stuff" in late 2006. For years before that, I used an old bristle brush, Williams soap and an M3.

Lately, I've been using an assortment of DE razors and blades along with the usual collection of brushes, soaps and creams. I had purchased a few straights from some local antique shops, but was positive I would cut my ear off or something. So they sat around collecting dust. Frustrated with the quality of shaves I was getting with my DEs, a couple of weeks ago, I decided to take the plunge.

So far, it's been two passes with the straight (a 5/8 Cook, Everett & Pennell "Pearl"), finishing with a DE or Mach 3. After the first two passes, I'm "presentable", but most definitely not BBS. Blood loss has been minimal though, much to my surprise!

There appears to be a great deal to learn about the care and feeding of a straight. I honed it with assorted grits (600-2000) of wet-dry sandpaper on plate glass and I strop with an old belt. The sandpaper routine works on my chisels and drawknives so I thought I'd try it with a razor. Passes the HHT, so I figure that's not horrible.

I hope I can pick up a few pointers here, while avoiding any trips to the ER! Thanks for having me!

I'm not an expert on the mechanics of honing, but you'll want a finer grit to get a keener edge. The standard here is the 4k/8k Norton stone and even still many people go to another, finer, stone to finish. It sounds like you're getting pretty good results already, so you can get better results yet.

Thanks. I keep telling OTHER people whenever I see sales on Norton stones, but somehow haven't gotten one for myself. Maybe that's why I haven't lost too much blood yet!

A quick and easy way to improve your razors edge would be to use abrasive pasted paddle strops. 3.0, 1.0, 0.5 micron, in that order, should noticeably improve your shave for a minimum of money. It will also allow you to maintain your razors edge for a long time.

Hope this helps,

Welcome to SRP!!

One thing I hope we can all learn early in life is that there's always room for improvement. You clearly have embraced that principle. Enjoy!

X

Hi Michael. Welcome to SRP. Good to have you here

James.

Welcome Aboard! Sounds like you're starting out pretty well!

I agree with the others on the honing. Most use the 4000/8000, then finish up on a finishing stone or pasted strop equivalent to 12-16k! Then they go to the strop before shaving. Definitely check the Honing Forum...there's a ton of good info and pictorials there.

Good luck!

Welcome to SRP! Nice to see you over here too, Micha... *cough* Fergie

Hey Fergie ! Nice to see you !