Thread: New member, first shaves

Hello all,

First post here.

And, I would say my first shave, but really second. I tried it first with a sharp Case Sodbuster pocketknife and somewhat non-existent liquid hand soap lather... which surprisingly worked! No nicks, only a bit of razor burn from the 30 degree included bevel knife, and poor lather. (Why I did this, I don't have a clue, I had an eBay razor and hone waiting to be shipped...)

But now I do have a proper razor, and the hone is on its way. I bought a double grit "Winner" hone for $10 +5 shipping for my hone, and a somewhat beat up Griffon 60 "Carbo Magnetic" for my razor. I Paid $3.25 +2.58 shipping for it. It wasn't perfect, but I knew I could fix it up with an evening of fun work honing and cleaning it. It came in the mail yesterday afternoon, and I thought I would post some pictures of it.

It took thirty minutes to clean and polish it, I used some 2000 grit wet/dry to remove the rust, then Simichrome to polish it.
Then I set the bevel on the fine side of a dual grit Carborundum bench stone. Took thirty minutes to do so, but it was my first time doing so to a razor, so I took my time.

After that it was on to my just lapped soft Arkansas stone to sharpen and polish the edge further. Took ten minutes for that.

Then I poured more oil on the Arkansas and stuck a sheet of 2000 grit wet/dry to it, then further honed, took about ten minutes.
To get the final polish on the edge, I peeled off the wet/dry paper, and stuck on a clean sheet of plain paper and applied Simichrome to it, then honed. Took around five or ten minutes, and I changed the paper sheet out once, putting more polish on as needed.

I then stropped it on an old leather belt around twenty strokes. (A good strop is the next thing on the list, along with a shaving brush.)

So, an hour and a half or so, and my $6 razor was sharp, clean, and shining again, and I had fun doing it. The edge passed the "Hanging Hair" test easily after honing. Not bad for the first time I honed a straight! (I have honed quite a few axes, hatchets, knives, and other similar tools, though.)

It still isn't perfect, I need to make it some new scales or fix the ones that are on it eventually, as although they work to cover the edge and don't hit it, they are warped inward and one side is cracked at the pin from shrinking, but it'll be a thirty minute job, just need to find some wood to use for it I like.

It also has a three nicks, two are very small and on the point, about 0.008" in size. The second is visible in the pictures, and about 1/16" long and 1/64" deep. The reason I did not hone these out is that for now, the big one is not really on the portion of blade I will be using, and the two small ones should not cause problems right now, as long as I avoid the big one. (There is also one more 0.005" one 1/8" or so in front of the big one, if that makes a difference.)

I would also like some advise on how I should hone out the big nick. Keep the edge flat and hone it as normal, make it have a "smile", or something else? I also would like to know the idea behind taping the spine or "bread knifing", it seems that doing so would increase the angle of the bevel, is it just not enough to be an issue?

I picked up some Williams Mug Soap for $0.99 a puck at Kroger yesterday, too, and today I found a Van Der Hagen brush and soap at Walgreens. First shave went pretty well, only a couple very light nicks, and I got most of my face done. I then tried it again later, and did much better, all of my face shaved close, and no nicks. So far I like shaving this way a lot, and I will enjoy it much more as I get good at doing it. So far so good, though!

Thanks,
Chaz