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01-04-2011, 04:05 AM #1
Thanks! Looking for two spine widths from the skin seems easier than trying to guess an angle. My wife thinks I'm crazy, but I will undoubtably be her stud whenI figure this out.
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01-04-2011, 04:44 AM #2
There are pics of some razor maker's instructions (Torrey,Boker & Kropp IIRC) floating around & they all use near identical wording. "Lay the razor virtually as flat as possible"
The worst thing that can happen is it doesn't shave close. You then adjust upwards a tad & find the sweet spot.“The white gleam of swords, not the black ink of books, clears doubts and uncertainties and bleak outlooks.”
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01-04-2011, 11:28 AM #3
Stropping
Thanks onimaru, will try that. I stropped this morning and seemed to lose a little edge. Was trying to be careful to keep blade flat, and only turning on the spine, but my razor now fails the hair test. The strop is from vintage blades, new, and they said no break-in needed. My question is, do I need to send the blade off for honing again?
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01-04-2011, 07:19 PM #4
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01-04-2011, 10:33 PM #5
With stropping, 90% of newbs strop too heavily & roll the edge by lifting the spine the other 10% strop too lightly & roll the edge by lifting the spine Those statistics are purely fictional
If you can't restore the razor to its former glory by stropping it may well need a hone or maybe simply 'correct stropping' but see how it shaves first.
Stropping is one of the most difficult things to learn because of its kinaesthetic nature yet most of the instruction you get is visual & aural. In the past guys have posted videos of themselves stropping for critique. You could consider that or see if someone local could show you the ropes.“The white gleam of swords, not the black ink of books, clears doubts and uncertainties and bleak outlooks.”
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01-04-2011, 10:55 PM #6
I have vivid and very painful memories of my first straight shave. I thought it would be 1,2,3 easy as pie. Boy was I wrong.
If you've done your homework and researched all the facets of shaving on this site and you think you have everything down knowledge wise it's just a matter of gaining experience and putting into practice what you know and have read. That just takes time which varies from person to person.
If things don't improve over the short term then you need to start examining just what you are doing.No matter how many men you kill you can't kill your successor-Emperor Nero
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01-05-2011, 02:39 PM #7
- Join Date
- Apr 2009
- Location
- Falls Church, Virginia
- Posts
- 1,101
Thanked: 190Your story takes us all back to when we started. I had a red face, weepers, and my hand was nervously shaking the whole time. Doing it all over again, I would just start with small sections, using small repeating strokes and building off of that with each successive shave. Use whatever razor works for you now to finish up the job.
I sounds like you have every thing else working for you, so you will just continue moving up the learning curve and someday, voila! - a BBS shave that you will rave about on SRP!
Keep the faith and don't give up.
Pabster
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01-05-2011, 03:11 PM #8
Try to imagine what angle the blades on your safety razors hit your face and mimic that.
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01-06-2011, 06:55 PM #9
- Join Date
- Aug 2010
- Location
- Between Owensboro and Bowling Green KY
- Posts
- 236
Thanked: 31You will get it. Just hang in there. My TWO good shaves so far, of seven, showed me that the blade gets sharper and smoother when ur doing something rite.
"The needs of the many out way the needs of the few or the one." Only if the 'few' or the 'one' are/is offering themselves (thru freewill) for the sacrifice. And not thru force from the 'many'.