finally the quest begins!

well, after 2 weeks of waiting for everything to arrive, its finally all here! it was an exciting day for sure as the anticipation had been killing me.


http://straightrazorpalace.com/image...e/shaving1.JPG


new Setup: Nancy boy cream, QED grapefruit and peppermint soap, Thayer's Rose witch hazel, Tony's best 3" strop, Savile Row 208, 12000grit chinese whetstone, Norton 4k/8k, and 5/8 Soligen round point by A. Paulitis.

i have a big interview in the morning so i couldn't really do a proper 1st shave but i did give my cheeks a go. it went well, no cuts or nicks at all. the shave was fair but im sure the learning will be slow and methodical. i can't wait to have another go at it tomarrow night after the interview!

also, i had robert williams (papabull) hone my razor as i bought it at a flea market. thank you again robert. a question about its sharpness. when i was doing my cheeks, the top of my face and near my ears went very smooth but when i got down towards my jaw line the tugging/pulling on the hair was evident. how much pulling is normal and i strop'd it 30 linen / 30 leather before i shaved. was that enough stropping OR did i actually dull the blade while doing it?

i also bought 2 ebay specials for under 5$ to practice on my new hones and to practice restoring an old razor. wow, talk about long work hand sanding those babies! but they turned out very very shiney. the sharpening is slow to learn. i couldn't get them to pop hairs off my arm and they definitely didn't pass HHT. they did shave my arm but it was no where near the ease of the razor Robert honed for me which shaved my arm quickly. ill keep at it and learn as i go. its the reason i bought the junkers. also, since i didn't have a piece of glass to flatten the new hones do you think that could be a big problem? i looked all over NYC for some and everyone told me to travel to places that didn't carry any. so im still on the lookout for a glass piece to flatten up my hones.

thanks and i had a good night trying it out. its exciting to finally have everything come together to really begin this adventure.

~Jared

Jared,

Nice setup. You'll love that brush, and it works very well with Nancy Boy. I have them both. Please note that the Nancy Boy shaving cream was designed to be used brushless, so you may find you need to use just a bit extra to work up a good lather, but it definitely can be done. As far as the pulling, check the direction of growth of your beard. It may be that you are shaving against the grain in those "pulling' areas. Not something that is recommended on the first pass.

RT

Jared,
Congratulations and welcome aboard. I've never run across a new Norton that needed to be trued. However, the Chineese stone will likely be well served by a bit of lapping. Be careful with it, mine has had some imperfections in the stone that were revealed with lapping. These had to be sanded out before the sone could be used otherwise the flaws in the stone would have ruined anything honed on the stone. As you are lapping the stone, just run your fingers over it, you will feel any flaws in the stone that come to the surface.
Ed

Man...thats WAY better than my first set up! I hope you like SR shaving because you have already invested the $$$

Damn Jared! You are spoiled for your first setup :) very nice gear indeed.
Welcome aboard as well... I'm sure you'll soon find that even with the sweet stuff you got, it's never enough!:D

Jared,

Nice looking shaving gear. I'm confident
that you will be shaving like a pro in no
time at all.


Terry

If I were you I'd be real excited. I guess you are 'cause you came to tell us about it. It sure looks like you're in good shape for some awesome shaves. Well done my man.

X

welcome home, I hope you enjoy your new found hobby,Nice set up, I did it the hard way when I first started,If I had found this site first as you obviously have I would have done exactly the same
Kind regards Peter

Nice start, Jared. You might want to check out places that carry kitchen gear. I got a glass cutting board (yikes!) at a local place that comfortably holds a sheet of wet/dry sand paper for those lapping needs.



Wayne

Looks like you're loaded for bear Jared. Really nice choices on your gear.