Thread: First straight shave today.

Blix, one more big 'Grats. 'couldn't agree more about the quality of the Geneva brand (I have 5).

On honing setup. I have & use an LPB for all sharpening between bevel set and finishing. They're not the easiest rock to finish on. Maybe you'll do way better than I. After I get first HHT responses, I switch to a Dressante for finishing, but more often to a jnat. If you proceed w/ the LPB acquisition, you might consider a synthetic as backup - Nani 10 or 12. I'm considering also.

I presume you're spending (alot) of time on coticule.be. 'Should be time well spent. 'Great guys & highly skilled.

Originally Posted by pinklather

Blix, one more big 'Grats. 'couldn't agree more about the quality of the Geneva brand (I have 5).

On honing setup. I have & use an LPB for all sharpening between bevel set and finishing. They're not the easiest rock to finish on. Maybe you'll do way better than I. After I get first HHT responses, I switch to a Dressante for finishing, but more often to a jnat. If you proceed w/ the LPB acquisition, you might consider a synthetic as backup - Nani 10 or 12. I'm considering also.

I presume you're spending (alot) of time on coticule.be. 'Should be time well spent. 'Great guys & highly skilled.

Thank you, yeah I've spent quite some time on coticule.be and I talked to Bart and he recommend me a LPB among other layers. I have indeed a synthetic back-up plan, I will order a Shapton 16k as well
This is going to be fun.

Hi Phil, great to see you here! The website looks superb, bookmarked.(my wallet tried to stop me)

Thanks a lot for your help, I don't think I could have chosen a better first razor vendor than you
As for the Geneva honing itself, I'm soon to find out haha. I have a couple select cotis coming pr your advice, and some Shapton stones as well.
I'm attending a honing meetup on Wednesday, so I'll have a couple experienced guys help me learn the basics.
The Geneva is ready for a touch-up now after 6 shaves and some pretty questionable noob stropping the first couple days.

I have a few cool razors coming as well, a monstrous NOS 8/8 Friodur, and a couple old ones, a Heljestrand and a Gotta. This is going to be fun!

Congrats! Sounds like you are doing things right.

Package from Ardennes, off to the post office I go!

So Aredennes Coticule gave me a nice unexpected bonus, the stone was a natural combo with a BBW back, and I paid the standard select price, now that is nice! It's a 150x40mm La Petite Blanche

It was lapped and chamfered right out of the box, so I took one of my eBay 9/16" KeenKutters and went at it.
I followed the Unicot method per the instructions to make it simple.
And the results was a perfectly shaveable razor, I just shaved with it and it was exceptinally smooth. Not as sharp as the razor Birnardo did for me finished on a Escher, but the smoothness was off the charts!
No burn at all, when I rubbed the alum block over my face, I felt almost no sting at all.
I feel pretty proud getting a nice shave from my first self-honed razor!

I've been meaning to purchase from Aredennes for a while now, but wasn't sure on the quality, it's not easy getting a good select grade combo without any issues. Do you have any pics of the stone I could see?

Originally Posted by goodtann

I've been meaning to purchase from Aredennes for a while now, but wasn't sure on the quality, it's not easy getting a good select grade combo without any issues. Do you have any pics of the stone I could see?

The charger for my camera batteries have gone missing, but as soon as I find it I'll take some photos for you Phil.

Had my best straight shave so far today. I received a nice box from France, the Martin De Candre shaving soap and a hand soap I had ordered. In the package there also was a bonus shampoo and a small block of Fern scented soap. Wonderful stuff, strong natural scents.

Had a nice shower using the shampoo and palm oil milk soap, which both were excellent. Very little of the shampoo was needed, I will use it for a few days to see how it is, usually I have to use Head and Shoulders to keep my scalp from becoming dry and flaky.

The shaving soap is killer, a rich natural scent, and wips up loads of thick lather fast, and you can make it pretty wet and hydrated without getting thin. Very very nice.
My straight was a 9/16 Josiah Alleen & Sons, which is kind of a mystery, as I'm not able to get any of my other straights to match it for smoothness yet, it shaves close and sharp and just eats whiskers like nothing else.
The weird thing is that I honed it myself, the very first honing I did on my own. I just followed the "Unicot" method pr the instructions using my coticule. Must be some crazy beginners luck, not even the two Birnardo did for me feels anywhere as nice, and certainly not the other few razors I have honed after it.

But today was my first straight shave I didn't need to touch up with a DE, so it's a milestone!

Some porn:

Gotta 6/8:

By blix72 at 2011-06-30

Gilbert Brothers 6/8 Sheffield

By blix72 at 2011-06-30

Nice 5/8 KeenKutter

By blix72 at 2011-06-30

4/8 Heljestrand


By blix72 at 2011-06-30

My naturals:

By blix72 at 2011-06-30

Left to right
La Petite Blanche Coticule
Ozuku Asagi
La Grosse Blanche Coticule
"Chinese 12k"