Thread: Newbie questions

yes, don't assume things like this. you can ask them though - may be they are.

Modul8r, that really has to suck in the worst way. A chip on your first shave? At least you have had your first major disaster.

FWIW I do not rinse my blade while shaving, just wipe it clean on a piece of toilet roll. There area quite a few posts on building lather. In my inexperience, I would say that soap quality is key to good lather. After that, it is what you like in your soap. My kit is very basic by the high standards here: boar bristle brush & $3 rice bowl. It does give me excellent lather & can only improve.

Briefly: Soak your brush in hot water while you are showering, preferably in a small bowl or mug in the sink. Take brush & bowl out of sink & drip about a teaspoon full of water on to the surface of the soap. Squeeze & shake the remaining water out of the brush, then dump the water from the soap into the bowl. Load the brush with soap using swirling, stabbing & twisting motions. When loaded, the brush's bristles will separate slightly when brushed against the side of the bowl. Then use the bowl to turn the soap into thick creamy lather, before applying it to your physog. You can leave the bowl in the sink to keep it warm for subsequent passes. It may sound "dry", but more water can be added at any point. If you add too much, you end up with thin suds, not thick lather. Thanks to ggsixgun, who developed this idea

Welcome to the forums & much better shaves

Spike

Originally Posted by Spike J

Modul8r, that really has to suck in the worst way. A chip on your first shave? At least you have had your first major disaster.

Spike, could be even worse - chip before the first shave.... that might have been me at one time...

Just saw this thread that Glen ggsixgun blessed us with & thought I should share....
http://straightrazorpalace.com/shavi...berlather.html

Originally Posted by gugi

yes, don't assume things like this. you can ask them though - may be they are.

Their sign doesn't say straight razors so that's enough for me to be doubtful that they aren't familiar with straight razors, much less specialized like a honemeister would be. With that being said, can anyone give me suggestions on who to contact to (hopefully) get it honed again? I only saw two ads in the classifieds section and the one I contacted didn't reply. Again, thanks for all the replies!

P.S. I'll try to remember to take a picture when I get home. I'd like some feedback on "how bad" the chip is.

Edit/bump - pictures uploaded.

My questions related to the pictures:

1. The obvious question. Does this look like a major or minor chip?
2. Are the brown stains normal for a carbon steel blade? I presume so, and that's what makes stainless, well, stainless, but want to make sure. When I first saw this razor I thought it looked like it's been sitting in a damp warehouse rusting or something.

Thanks,

-mod

Hey everyone,

I wanted to give you a quick update on how things have been going.

I ended up getting that chip fixed by the local knife sharpening place I mentioned. Even though I was hesitant at first, he assured me that they had experience with straight razors, so five bucks and a few minutes later, it was fixed, at least it appeared that way. I tried shaving again and the blade did not seem as sharp so I ended up shipping it to Glen/gssixgun here on the forum and he said the chip was fixed but the blade had a "wowie" in it (which I also observed after getting it "fixed" but didn't think much of it). Anyway, Glen did a great job fixing it and it was nice working with him so I'd definitely recommend his services.

Back to shaving, I tried again but still ran into the same roadblocks of not whipping up a good lather (it dries very quickly) and thus not getting a good shave (the blade makes a high pitched noise and doesn't smoothly cut the whiskers). So last night I decided to use the regular canned gel like shaving cream I've been using with my disposables to see if that would make a difference and boy did it. I got the best shave of my life and it was very re-assuring that I made the right choice in getting into straight razor shaving. I ended up shaving in all kinds of directions - with the grain, across it and even against it at some points and only knicked myself on my neck a little when I was going against the grain when I shouldn't have (I needed more lather and should have gone across first, I think).

The main point I'd like to make, coming out of this experience, is that, personally, I would recommend for all straight razor newbies to continue using the shaving cream/gel/whatever they're used to using at first. In addition to having a shave ready straight razor and in addition to doing more prep work than you're used to (real hot towel, hot water). I'm still struggling a little bit in the sense that I have to re-apply the cream more often than I was with my disposables, and keep the blade wet with hot water, but when everything's right, that blade cuts so smooth and with very little irritation. I also personally recommend shaving like Lynn does in his DVD - small, gentle strokes. And have patience! I was in the bathroom for close to an hour. I also kind of borrowed the idea of brushing the soap on the face in a circular method and adapted it to the shaving cream I've been using. I spent more time and effort rubbing in the cream than I did with disposables and I think that helped.

I plan to keep up this method until I get more comfortable with it, then work on getting a better lather with my Col. Conk glycerine-based soap and eventually phase out my shaving cream.

So, in summary, based on "what worked for me", I say use your existing shaving cream/gel/whatever at first.

Thanks for all of the help and support thus far, and I hope my feedback is helpful to at least someone.

-mod

Thank you for the recommendation, glad I could help out....
One thing I would like to emphasize here for the other new guys is that Knife sharpening and Razor sharpening are two different things, heck I am really not all that great at sharpening knives

Hey everyone,

My current roadblock has to do with stropping. I know how to do it, based on watching Lynn's DVD and doing other research online, but the specific problem I'm running into is related to my hanging strop. I'm having a hard time determining what to attach it to and getting it taught so it's flat and straight when I strop. I'm thinking of mounting a screw hook to the cabinet area under the bathroom sink but I'm concerned that it would be weak, and I want to be sure it's stable because I wouldn't want it to break while I'm stropping and possibly damage the strop or worse, for the razor to fall. The way I understand it, you should make the strop very taught. Right now, even though I'm pulling tight, I can tell that it's not tight enough because the blade isn't even up against the leather, if that makes sense. (There's a noticeable "gap" in the middle area where the blade doesn't touch the leather). For what it's worth, the linen side seems to be more flat and even. I'm pulling the strop at an upwards angle. I'm wondering if I should have got a paddle style strop to begin with, since they're already flat.

Oh, I also wanted to know what the recommended way to wipe down the blade is, right after you shave? I've been using hot hot water and then just wiping it on a towel. I have to wipe it down pretty hard (lots of elbow grease, if you will) because there's lots of residue (shaving cream and whiskers) on the edge of the blade. Should I be wiping a certain way (along the blade vs. down the blade from the spine to the blade?). I just want to make sure I'm not damaging the blade (again), after already dinging it and getting it repaired. Besides this, things are continuing to improve. I'm getting more and more comfortable shaving in general (still using my old shaving gel for the time being) and figuring out what weird angles I need to use to tackle tough areas under my neck. Very few nicks these days and a noticeably closer shave than with my disposables. So, things are going well in that area. Just wanted some feedback on the strop question and the wiping down question.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, as always. Thanks.

Hiya folks,

I hope you don't mind me "bumping" this thread. I'm anxious to shave again when I get home this afternoon but I'd first like some feedback regarding my questions just above. Thanks in advance.

I don't think anyone will mind you bumping the thread. Asking and answering questions is a big part of what we're all here for. (In my case, still much more asking than answering. ) While I don't have good answers to your questions, I'm finding the questions and the answers you're getting helpful. I wanted to thank you for pointing me to DIY Life--looks like an interesting and useful site. (Not so much the crocheted wedding cake featured today, but in general. )

~Rich