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?