Thread: First shave

Open the mail and my puma restoration job and the chas F schmidt from classifieds was in there. Went down to walmart and bought their $7 shaving kit since my ebay one isn't here yet.

First I sanded the majority of pitting out of the puma, rebeveled it and honed it to 4k. It passes the HHT (sort of, takes about 1/4 of the blade to cut... whereas the Chas does it almost the moment it touches the edge), and is shavable, but not even close to as sharp as the Chas (I did use it to catch spots below my ears/jaw I had missed after shaving though).

Then I lathered up and shaved with the Chas.


My mustache and chin are hard to shave. The chin I can improve through practice since the problem was getting it flat, but damn, putting a razor at my mustache was like trying drill through stainless steel. You approach the hair, touch the hair, and the razor just stops. Eventually I managed to get it done by just nibbling at it a tiny bit at a time but it's not much better than a safety shave, if any at all. I tried to ATG it, but it was not happening. I kind of suspect it was that the lather was absolute crap... as either I suck at making lather or that cheapass soap is just horrible. Luckily I've got better soaps incoming, so I'll know soon.

I will be buying a filly strop sooner than I expected, as my zeepk POS arrived with several nicks in the razor-thin smooth layer of the leather, and was peeling up like some cheap pleather from the 70's... though it swears it's geniune leather on the strop. Ironically, the cloth side, which I was told was absolute trash, actually doesn't feel half bad. I'd return it, but the damn thing was $10, and it'd cost me that much just to mail it back to them. I rubbed some strop lotion into it and we'll see. It's only the top 2" that are affected, but it's a short strop to begin with.

Also, I can't shave left handed... at all... I can't even figure out how to position my left arm so I can shave AND see in the mirror at the same time. I look like some crazy Hindu diety trying.

Oh and no pics... camera wasn't here yet and I didn't feel like waiting...


Also, I had like a cm long beard when I shaved, first pass was quite a bit more difficult than second... is it generally considered a bad idea to let it get that long or was I just not angling the razor right?

Ya mine is peeling where i nicked it. looks like pleather. But as I siguest to you is what i am doing, going to once i get my 3" lagito strop from fendrihan.com I will be putting a .5 micron paste on the leather after i repair it and on the cloth side will be putting some thies hizard paste, which i think is .25 micron.

here is the links to them

Dovo Strop Paste Set of Two

above is for leather side.

Thiers Issard Razor Sharpening Paste

above is like a 10,000 grit polish for the fabric side of strop.

Is repairing leather on a strop viable? I would think that it would not remain smooth enough to strop a razor.

http://www.personal.psu.edu/its5014/...ture%20009.jpg
http://www.personal.psu.edu/its5014/...ture%20010.jpg
http://www.personal.psu.edu/its5014/...ture%20011.jpg
http://www.personal.psu.edu/its5014/...ture%20012.jpg
http://www.personal.psu.edu/its5014/...ture%20013.jpg

You can so long as its not a Gash right into the whole leather, if its just nicks then you can.

heres a link:

http://straightrazorpalace.com/strop...storation.html

after you glue the nicks, use a flat round surface to smooth out the strop like the edge of a beer bottle or spray paint can.

Hah, that thread makes me rethink even calling my strop damaged. It's about 5 patches of missing top layer, between 0.5mm and 2mm big. Cant even find them without looking for them now.

Second shave, left hand worked much better... Lather is clearly a problem. I'd hit spots on my jawline where the razor just didn't move, relather and it'd slide right along... then stop again, relather, etc, etc etc.

ATG still proving difficult. Probably need to strop the razor properly. Still getting the hang of stropping and pretty sure I did it no favors in my attempt this morning.

Neck got some burning, but no worse than safety razor... my neck ALWAYS got really bad razor burn.

Fourth Shave...

Finally felt my puma was sharp enough to use it for a shave. Tested it on a sideburn, then used my chas F on the other sideburn. Puma was definitely smoother... Shaving my 2weeks beard the first attempt must have done a number on the Chas, as this 4k Bear + plain strop Puma was by far the smoothest, fastest, and easiest shave so far. I tried a bit of ATG in the places I was having trouble before... (mustache, chin), seemed easy enough. No time to do a full BBS as I have an exam to get to, but I'm thrilled with how this puma shaves. Can't wait till I have a finishing stone here to try after that.

The real shocker was my neck. Lather, swipe 3 times, relather, swipe 3x XTG and it's done. No hesitation at all.

Im working the lather a lot more, but it's still feeling more like suds and less like a lather. Any tips?