Thread: Newbie Straight Razor Challenge: The Aftermath

Hello all!!! Just following up on the previous post a week back. SO after a few long summer days and nights of Wiki browsing, Forum searching and gaining an intimate relationship with my Dremel, they are finally done. You can be the judge of my handy work. Please note that my camera is starting to become a little outdated in digital photography land.-->

Finished Razors pictures from fashion photos on webshots

Both of them have been refinished, refreshed and re-pinned (thanks to Microfasteners, which are GREAT! and recommended in the forums). They are dead center in their scales, which have also been refreshed and redone. Part one of the challenge: CHECK! Using some nice whetstones and a barbers hone (and lots of practice) I was able to get them sharp enough to shave the back of my hand BBS. This part was hard at first, but with lots of info and reading with some instruction videos on Youtube from Lynn, turned out ok! So part 2: CHECK!

The finish was in sight, but now comes the hard (but fun!) part. I have been practicing and getting the angles just so for a successful shave thanks to many pictures and threads in the Wiki and forums. Being little hesitant of doing an entire shave with right out of the gate, I decided to settle on a partial shave. Yesterday I used an electric (I hear the boo's and hisses now ) to shave both flat areas of my cheeks, so today I had a nice one day growth there. This would be the final testing ground. Stropped up and lather up, I went to work. The finished product turned out to be not too shabby. It was a nice close shave after one pass WTG and one pass ATG. Only one tiny nick, due to a little too much pressure. Through on some after-shave. Interestingly enough, the rest of my shave that I did with my Mach 3 (again more hisses and boos ) burned more then the part I did with the straight!!! I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship.

Again thank you so much to everyone that gave advice and input to help guide me along. I think I will heed some of it and get a professionally sharpened razor and continue learning with that. This has been an eye opening and whisker dropping experience. I cannot wait to continue shaving this way and hopefully pass this art-form onto the next generation. Cheers

Congratulations and welcome to SRP. I too hope that this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship, it sounds like you are on the right track. If ya need anything just ask.

It sounds like you have had a good first experience, fantastic. Remember to take your time and pay attention to what you are doing. My first good nick came because ADD kicked in just for a second. Keep reading the posts and wiki. Can't wait to hear about your first ah ha moment.

Keep up the good work.