Thread: First Experience

So all my equipment arrived on Saturday and I got started on Sunday with my new hobby (it would have been saturday but I had an appointment for a professional shave...with disasterous resultshttp://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthr...7037#post47037).

My initial investment consisted in:

Norton 4k/8k hone
4/4 Pasted strop (3, 1, .5, .25)
Hanging strop (seconds strop, no linen)
1 Shave ready Griffon razor (from Joe Chandler)
2 Non Shave ready razors to learn honing

This morning I got a lesson in honing from Randy. Randy was great and patiently taught me how to hone my razor on the Norton and what tests to run to see when to progress through the honing. We stayed together while I honed one of the two razors taking it from the 4k all the way to the pasted strop. Randy made sure to instill in me to test the blade often for a 'basis of comparison'. That was a great experience. I now understand how difficult honing can be and look forward to mastering it. I won't be shave testing my blade til tomorrow or the next day (depending how much time I can get away with in the morning) but I expect the blade will need some more work before its shave ready to the point I want it. In any case, I had fun and now I kind of know how to proceed with the next razor.

Today I also had my first stropping and shaving with the shave ready Griffon. After learning to hone from Randy, the stropping wasn't too difficult. Although I did nick the leather near the ends a little bit. Hopefully I was actually preparing the blade for the shave instead of dulling it, but I'm sure that will come with time. I did some extra prep work today in anticipation and got to business. After about 40 laps on the strop why I soaked my heated brush, I lathered up some Taylor's rose and put it on then stropped another 20.

The shave was not perfect, but it was pretty good and irritation free. I can see that with some practice and with proper sharpening I'll be able to get really nice shaves. The neck was obviously pretty hard to get at, but overall I had a great experience.

Thanks Randy, Tony, and Joe. Also everyone who has given info on here for helping me along.

Cheers,

John

John,

Congratulations on your first shave.
I too have nicked the ends of my
strop a few times. As times goes
on the nicks will cease.

I used an emory board to remove
the nicks on my strop.


Terry

Hey John! Working with you today was a pleasure. Be sure to let me know after you try that razor and we can discuss what the next steps are to bring the razor to the level of sharpness that you need. I think you are aware that getting a razor honed to "Perfection" on the first session with the hones is usually not possible. It will take 2-3 sessions but sessions 2&3 will be minor compared to the first time.

Stay in touch!

Hey Randy,

I haven't had a chance to test shave the razor yet (had to move a friend). I'll be in touch in the next couple of days to let you know how it goes.

Cheers.