It's Time...

Well, it's time. I have not introduced myself on the forum yet, but I've been sculking around, gorging on information... I got two razor from a friend for $20 (belong to his wife's grandfather) - a Boker "Radium" with original leatehr scales, and a Parkins & Marshall "XL-ALL" with broken scales. Both were caked with that lovely green buildup from years of use...

First step, break out the dremmel. I never thought of taking "before" pics until it was "after" :(, but they cleaned up well. Both had significant chips in the blades - but the all came out starting at 400 grit automotive sandpaper, ending at 2000 grit.

Second step - store the Boker (for now) and prep the other. I ordered replacements scales from Classic Shaving, but royally !#%^ed-up the pin by being a little too rushed. So, I decided to make custom scales. Used 1/8" aluminum (available for free at my place of work) and cut/filed/polished until they are darn near mirror - although being aluminum they get an annoying "patina" just by looking at them crooked.

Third step - honing. Yup, I'm honing my own razor for my first shave (I've read the advice otherwise, but I'm just that kind of guy). It took some work to get from 2000 grit to anythign decent using my Norton 4k/8k, but I got there eventually. There were many curse words and more than a few rolled edges, but I think I've got it now.

Step four - shave. The plan is to try the ole' slice and dice tomorrow. I'll just be doing cheeks/sideburns as per Lynn's advice. Wish me luck.

I'll try to post some pics of the scales if I ever get a chance (proud father of a 4 month-old, so time is a comodity at the moment). I'm looking forward to a happy future with straights and building some friendships on this site. Thank God and Lynn for this site!!

Cheers
Snosajs

Nice to see another Maritimer around! Take your time with the shave and don't get too discouraged if all doesn't work well first time out - it will get better!

Cheers,

Rick

Welcome aboard and good luck tomorrow!

Have you got any ideas for step 5, yet :)?

Step five - begin the process of feeding the RAD. The same guy I got the first 2 razors from has at least 3 more, so I'm leaning on him... I'm checking every antique shop I can wander into... Finally, I'm working on the less-than-enthusiastic wife to let me drop some decent cash on a new TI. Now, if only I had money...:cry:

Step six - Upgrade everything else. Current:
Synthetic brush - bleh
Locally hand-made olive oil based shave soap (but I want to try more, more I say)
Nivea Men's Sensitive Skin aftershave (I hate mass produced generic crap)
Dorko strop (all they had at Merle Norman, the ONLY place that has anything decent for shaving in this god-forsaken town)
Good ole' stiptic pencil, cuase I get about ten ingrown hairs every time I sahev that invairably bleed like geysers the next time I shave

Ambitious from the start, eh? Awesome!

X