Shaving with something other than a razor

Years ago, before I ever got into str8 razor shaving, I decided to see if I could sharpen my pocket knife (Kershaw 1550, with the 1095 carbon steel blade) to the point you could shave with it; I didn't have any special razor honing gear at the time; I was just a 17 Boy Scout Camp Counselor who was bored one weekend. I used a diamond stone (unknown grit), what I guess is a paddle strop made with suede leather glued to a board, and some aluminum oxide powder. I shaved with it once, and only once. Worst. Shave. Ever. My face was so raw, but it took the hair off. I think I just used water for lube; it was awful. I don't think I'll ever try that again, but how many people do you know who've shaved with their pocket knife?

Anyhow, I was wondering if anyone else was brave (or foolish) enough to try shaving with something other than a razor and what your results were.

Of course. Thats how I got started out. I am a big fan of sharpening knives on japanese water stones. I decided at one point to find out how sharp I could get one of my knives. I figured if it was sharp enough to shave with, well thats pretty hard to beat. It took some effort and a gentle hand but I did it. The shave was not bad at all.

I think this is in the realm of yes you could get many knives to work but why would you want to do it?

I think Bruno tried (sucessfully?) to shave with an ax that he sharpened. If you want to spend the time I guess you could get a lot of camping, cooking and farming implements to cut hair. You are clearly in the "because I can" area now.:)

There's plenty YouTube footage showing guys shaving with kitchen knives and even axes.

Many years ago I shaved (successfully) with a 2" chisel for a bet. One of the stupider things on my CV.

it would be nice to shave with a dagger
just because you can

i recently had a little girl come up to me at the park and give me the nicest sea shell with a fairly straight side about an inch and a half long.. for some reason.. i keep looking at it and thinking i should sharpen it up and see if i could shave with it..

however.. i'm a feather ac guy and have never honed a real straight in my life.. my only sharpening experience is with professional cooking knives.. i'm still tempted to try though..

My friend Jimmy shaves with his serrated Spyderco knife.

Still waiting for the "Shaving with a spoon" video to appear...:p (followed by the even more adventurous "Eating with shaving spoon" video! :dropjaw:)

All the best,
Michael.

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Originally Posted by Greginator

I was wondering if anyone else was brave (or foolish) enough to try shaving with something other than a razor and what your results were.

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I don't think this counts as "other than a razor," but it would certainly be included under Letterman's "Stupid Human Tricks" category.

More than 20 years ago, curious to see what a "straight razor" might feel like against my skin, I snipped the guard off of a single blade disposable razor. As I mentioned in my introductory post, I will leave the results of my stupidity to your imagination. *sigh*
Namaste,
Morty -_-

Have you seen this video, the man shaves with obsidian rock:

YouTube - shaving with stone razors

That's awesome! I've been told, though haven't verified it personally, that an obsidian blade can be made with an edge as fine as a single molecule. I don't know if that's completely true, but I can say that they are ridiculous sharp. I haven't tried to shave my face with one, but I have shaved a little bit of arm hair off to test an obsidian edge, and it produced less resistance than my (at the time) Mach 3.

Surgeons used to use obsidian as scalpel blades as well, its silly sharp!

If you ever go up a volcano, they wont let you go up in normal shoes if there is any obsidian out there as it will go right through the shoe and open your foot up in a flash. They'll typically give you sturdy boots with metal plating in the bottom and even then, you simply wont believe how quickly the soles get sliced up.

Great video. Interestingly, it appears that the stone doesn't lift the lather off the face. I wonder why that is.

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Originally Posted by Greginator

That's awesome! I've been told, though haven't verified it personally, that an obsidian blade can be made with an edge as fine as a single molecule. I don't know if that's completely true, but I can say that they are ridiculous sharp. I haven't tried to shave my face with one, but I have shaved a little bit of arm hair off to test an obsidian edge, and it produced less resistance than my (at the time) Mach 3.

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Yes. Obsidian can be sharpened down to a molecule. It's commonly used in scalpels as said already. It's a pretty wicket material :D

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Originally Posted by vthomlinson

i recently had a little girl come up to me at the park and give me the nicest sea shell with a fairly straight side about an inch and a half long.. for some reason.. i keep looking at it and thinking i should sharpen it up and see if i could shave with it..

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I seem to recall reading somewhere that the earliest recorded usage of razors was stones and sharpened sea shells... Might be worth an experiment..


I, personally, was a KnifeKnut before razors attacked me and my wallet... And I hated my Gillette Fusion... I already had a Spyderco Triangle Sharpmaker which put ridiculously smooth edges on a knife when you used all the rods (rough, fine and ultrafine) and all their angles (point of the triangle, then the face of the side of the triangle)... It actually shaved me much better than the Gillette... So, I used that until my father remarked how it reminded him of his straight razor. I googled Straight Razor, found this place, and the rest is history.

Fun Fact. If you ever get a knife sharp enough to shave with, do that in a public restroom... The first guy in my dorm who saw that ran to the RA screaming... I think he thought I was trying to kill myself :tameshigiri:

Cheers.
Jeremy

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Originally Posted by ehammers

Great video. Interestingly, it appears that the stone doesn't lift the lather off the face. I wonder why that is.

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I wondered about that too.

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Originally Posted by FTG

Still waiting for the "Shaving with a spoon" video to appear...:p (followed by the even more adventurous "Eating with shaving spoon" video! :dropjaw:)

All the best,
Michael.

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It's not shaving, but I have heard that when Sir Wear Dunlop, an Australian army doctor used a sharpened spoon as a scalpel. This was when he was a POW in a Japanese prison camp during WWII.

I shaved the sides of my face & the neck area with a broadhead while waiting for my first straight in the mail.

It wasn't very comfortable but it did a decent job considering.