Thread: First Shave Observations

Gents,

I won a shave ready razor off of eBay a while back from Bob Keyes. I tried shaving with it a few times before I had a strop, which I think kinda dulled the blade. Today, I received a 4 sided paddle strop with diamond pasted sides from Tony Miller. Stropped a few times and tried it out. Still pretty rough and tended to grab my beard. I decided to try to use the 0.25 micron paste. Made 30 passes and stropped 30 passes. MY GOSH, the difference. It must have really made a difference because I tried it after that and it really was quite a bit sharper. I gave myself my first couple of nicks with a straight razor. Nothing too serious.

The thing that I was amazed at was how uncoordinated and unnatural the movements of shaving and stropped were. I watched the videos and read the manuals and it seemed so easy. When I was actually doing it however, I felt like I was learning to write again or something. I guess that's what practice is for.....

lol, yup, feel like yer tryin to learn how to ride a bike again it get easier tho....
and congrats for no major cuts

-micah

Shafs,

The best advise that I can give you on stroping
is to go slow. Make sure that the blade lays flat
on the strop and do not lift the spine.

Speed means nothing when stroping a razor.
As time goes on you will definately get better
and your speed will pick up. Until that day
arrives though, chill out and enjoy the learning
experience.

I wish you luck and welcome to the forum and
the highly addictive world of straight shaving.


Terry