Quote Originally Posted by groovyd View Post
New Dovo Inox razor arrived today and I carefully stropped it 20 times, knicking the strop by accidentally stropping in the wrong direction about a half centimeter which took a slice out of the strop ;( Tried the hair test on my forearm finding it very difficult to cut the hairs. Not sure if my sloppy strop work may have dulled Lynn's hone.

Hot shower. Soaped up the silver tip brush that came with the kit with the 'sandalwood' soap also from the kit. This soap is a blue glycerin-like cake moulded into the plastic container it came in. Not what I was expecting and wondering if I should try removing it from the container and milling it into my grandpa's old spice cup. Being very close to the rim of the container wasn't able to really whip it up much.
So you got a container of soap that was filled to the brim. Did you load the new silvertip on the soap and then add water and whip up in a separate lathering bowl?

Quote Originally Posted by groovyd View Post
Went on smooth and smelled of wet dog.
Did you wash the silvertip before using? 'Cuz sandalwood SRD soap isn't supposed to smell like that! I got a Chinese-manufactured Tweezerman badger brush (proud to be a Tweezer.. man...) that was so cheap... it wasn't washed in the process. The first puck I used it on... was imbued with the delightful "aroma" of badger for the rest of its life! Nothing like liqeuor of badger for making new friends (of the canine variety).

Quote Originally Posted by groovyd View Post
Left hand left side sideburns only in short strokes just like the dvd I was sent. Found it hard to see over my hand through the mirror to where I was beginning my stroke (perhaps too high as I normally cut my sides to straight across where the hair growth starts to curve down around the ear), perhaps higher then most.

Was difficult for me to keep a 30 degree angle and I found myself angling more toward 15 degrees most of the time possibly worried about the blade being pointed too much toward my face. There was some effort in the actual cutting probably due to my improper angle but it went alright with no nicks on either side, switching hands in between.

got a bit ****y I guess and re-lathered up for a cross grain pass on the burns and nicked myself at the start of the cut on one side pretty good. Put the pen to it and it stopped which put my mind at rest. Was feeling really good about it and tried the neck on the comfortable left hand right neck side (i'm a lefty) and it was easy, no problem but when switching to try the same on my bad hand side it just didn't feel right and so I stopped and finished with my mach 46 blader which also felt abnormally un-lubricated using this soap.
I doubt you used the brush and the soap correctly. I shaved with SRD's West Indies Bay, and an American straight razor and had a perfectly good shave. Felt lubricated throughout the last pass.

Quote Originally Posted by groovyd View Post
Not sure if this is normal for this SRD sandalwood soap but it didn't really feel very lubricative, in fact my skin was very dry after. Also as I said the cuts didn't seem smooth or easy. They felt like there was little lubrication in the soap and it was just the blade and my wet skin. I lathered up really well for quite a bit so not sure what to make of it.

So in the end I guess it was mostly a success. Had I not gotten too ballsy I might have finished without incident but it was fun.
This lather you produced, if it was like making whipped cream what would you say the peaks were like? Soft peaks? Medium peaks? Hard (stiff) peaks? Did you load the brush for a long time? Was it a pasty, difficult to swish about loading? Or did you use plenty of water? Did you face lather? Bowl lather?