Thread: The Noob Chronicle - My Straight Razor Experience

I got some new goodies in the mail today:

24mm Snakewood Super Badger from this ebay store: http://stores.ebay.ca/PC-Woodcraft-a...id=p4340.l2563

I'll try it out and give a report in one of my future shave writeups.


I also got one of these, though I'll have to take proper photos at home as I don't want to unpack it completely here at the office.

Originally Posted by jdto

Thanks. I have found this experience thoroughly enjoyable so far and sharing it is fun. If the RazoRock (the Artisan one, right?) is as good as Proraso with less crap in it, then I'll definitely add it to my list of things to try. Thanks for the tip...and for adding to my shopping list...I think.

That's what it's all about Jack.

PS; ANy of the RazoRock soaps/creme are fantastic. The soap bar (limited edition) is excellent with great almond soap. it is the equivalent of the Boellis one (which sells for $50 or so). The other soaps are mostly tallow based too. You will love them (I hope). I need to get me some more (lavender and maybe 3rd eye). The RazoRock AS wax is amazing. HIGHLY recommended too. Try it, you won't regret it. Pretty cheap too.

Originally Posted by jdto

I got some new goodies in the mail today:

24mm Snakewood Super Badger from this ebay store: http://stores.ebay.ca/PC-Woodcraft-and-Pens?_trksid=p4340.l2563

I'll try it out and give a report in one of my future shave writeups.

I also got one of these, though I'll have to take proper photos at home as I don't want to unpack it completely here at the office.

Ahhhhh...You're on a nice buying binge, eh Jack ? Nice goodies buddy. Eagerly waiting to hear how you like these

The Straight Road - Part 15: Überlather
Another day, another couple of packages arrived to my office. I have quite enjoyed my little acquisition spree, though I think, after today, I am very unlikely to be ordering anything else major, though I guess you've probably heard that before. With several more goodies already on the way, it'll soon be time to settle down and concentrate on enjoying it all and becoming a better shaver.

My shave today: Back in Black

The Anticipation
I got new stuff today, so it follows I would use it during my shave, right? But I didn't. When I got home from taking SWMBO Jr. to one of her seemingly innumerable dance classes, I needed a shower and a shave to unwind. SWMBO was in a better mood, having had the evening off, so she took over with Jr while I carted myself off to the bathroom to unpack my new goodies. I decided, before starting my routine, that I would have a lathering practice session, so I lined up all my brushes and started to lather them up in my scuttle. First, I went with my brand new custom Snakewood Silvertip Super with Proraso White, then I followed on down the line to the Omega 10005. I went through the rotation once, repeating the FS brush, as well as the new one, a few times to help speed the breaking in process. The only one brush that didn't get any love was the old Wilkinson Sword brush, but I've never even used it. Maybe some day...

Here's a shot of the lineup:

After all that lathering, including breaking out my sample of DR Harris Marlborough in a new crystal bowl I rescued from the garbage, it was a furious half hour of lathering. You can bet I was psyched up to shave after that! The only downer was, when I unpacked my brand new 3" Black Latigo strop, freshly arrived from Fendrihan, I discovered two creases in the leather. I've been told this might be fixable, though it will never be quite 100%. I contacted the store and I am hopeful for a resolution. If not, I'll have to find a way to make it work.

The Prep
I put the kettle on to boil and checked out my new strop. I figured I'd test it to see if the wrinkles caused by the creases were noticeable. Unfortunately, I could feel them with both my hands, and also the razor as I stropped. I went for 25 passes on the webbing, about 25 on the latigo to ascertain I was, indeed, feeling these wrinkles, then I switched to my Premium IV for another 25. After that, I retrieved the very hot water from the stove and filled my scuttle, dunked the brush in the reservoir and jumped into a hot shower. That done, I towelled off and shook the excess water from my brush, squeezed out the final portion of my T&H Grafton shaving cream sample and added a few drops of the glycerin I had picked up from the local pharmacy this afternoon. Then it was time for some Mitchell's Wool Fat.

The Überlather
This was fun. The FS brush is just a monster and it tends to start slowly as it just vacuums up all the product into the embrace of the knot. But with some coaxing, a good amount of water and some patience, it unleashed a bowl full of warm, creamy lather that was just a treat. I think I like this überlather thing! The brush literally covers half my face when I take it from the bowl to the cheek, so by the time I had swirled the lovely, warm lather around, it had covered my face from ear to chin, thick and cushiony, ready for the razor to do its thing.

The Shave
At first, I found the ERN to be a bit on the small side. All my other razors are 6/8", so this one is smaller and a bit more delicate-feeling in my hands. That said, it shaves really nicely. With the help of the luxurious lather, made from two of the finest shaving products around, the German-crafted steel simply glided across my skin, giving very audible feedback as it reduced my stubble to nothing. The first pass would have been almost sublime, except I dinged an ingrown on my neck, which bled a bit, but not so much as to require the styptic. The lather stayed lubricated and moist on my face for the whole pass, lending even more strength to my enjoyment of the überlather. The second pass had lather in abundance, which helped the razor glide effortlessly across the grain on my cheeks and neck. The moustache area gave me my first bite of the evening, with a small nick under my nose, but again, nothing serious and the styptic took care of it at the end of the shave. Even the trouble zones of chin and jawline came out pretty well, though I probably could have touched up the right jaw a bit better. Overall, smooth, relatively quick and easy shave.

The Post
With no rush and nothing to bother me, I took my time cleaning up both myself and the bathroom. I started by rinsing the remnants of the wonderful lather off my face with lukewarm water, then applied the alum block. After that, I rinsed with cold water and then cleaned my brush, taking special care to get all the lather out. I dried it on a towel and set it on its stand, ready for the next time duty calls. Next up was the Life Brand Witch Hazel, which I splashed on and left for a minute, while I rinsed, wiped and dried the scuttle. The black finish on this scuttle sure looks nice, but it shows the soap residue really easily, which is both good and bad, I suppose. Laying that aside, I applied the wonderful T&H Grafton Aftershave Balm, after which it was time for stropping. Thirty passes on the webbing, followed by 50 on the Premium IV's bridle leather, and my ERN was ready to return to its resting place on the stand to air out. I finished off by rinsing and putting away all my brushes, which I had let sit for a while with the lather in them, then headed to the living room to pour myself a Woodford Reserve.

The Verdict
I am happy. I am really starting to enjoy my shaves and the überlather really did make a big difference in my lather. I am starting to feel the differences in how my razors shave and how I need to hold them and move them, though I still think it will be a long time before I master just one of them, let alone all of them. I am also quite pleased with the FS Richmond brush, though a bit concerned with the number of hairs it seems to shed, as we are now up over 100 hairs dropped since I got it. Hopefully it will settle down, as it really is a luxurious brush and I would hate for it to get thinned out. I did end up with a small amount of razorburn on my neck, just below the chin, which I think is due to me trying a combination XTG/ATG stroke there. I'll have to take it easier next time.

What does that Eagles song say? Take it easy?

I'm not trying to loosen my load, but I am definitely running down The Straight Road.

I'll have to see what happens about my strop. It was quite a disappointment to see those wrinkles, but hopefully either the store makes it right or I can figure out how to fix it, since it wasn't cheap. I have a few more razors on the way, mainly stuff I got for low prices on Ebay that I want to try to fix up. Other than that, I am getting to the point where I don't want new stuff for my den, but rather just to enjoy what I've got. As always, I'll keep you posted to new twists and turns along the way.

Thanks for reading!

Cheers,

Jack

The Straight Road - Interlude: Attack of the Hones
This afternoon was an exciting one for me, as I hit the Lee Valley website, browsing through the sharpening section in search of Norton combo hones. They have this great system where you can put everything in your cart online, go to the store and print it, hand it to someone behind the counter, who then comes out with all your stuff. Of course, while this is going on, you get to browse around the store looking at all the cool woodworking tools and supplies. My shopping list was a pretty good one, I think, for someone looking to get into honing and straight razor restoration.



Norton 220/1000 combo
Norton 4000/8000 combo
Norton Flattening Stone
Various grits of 3M Wet/Dry from 80 up to 2500
A 15x loup with LED light for checking edges (I think I found a small ding on my DOVO at the toe already )
A 3/8" thick plank of bocote wood. When I got this home, I found it looks pretty thick compared to my scales. I guess I'll be doing a lot of sanding to get them down to a reasonable size.

Some pics:
Unpacking


Nortons




The Loupe


Bocote Wood




I guess I'm going to have to lap these stones, so I'm off to figure that out in a while. I also need to squeeze a shave in tonight

A Small Update:

I've just finished lapping my Norton 1k. Wow that was quite the job, but I am satisfied I got it as flat as it's going to get with the equipment I have. I do notice there is a low spot on one of the corners, but even after another 20 minutes of lapping, it doesn't seem to be getting better. It's very small and I can be sure to avoid it by having that corner closest to me while honing. I am also going to give it another try tomorrow, because my arms are worn out from lapping for almost an hour!

I'm debating whether to skip my evening shave or not, because SWMBO will probably give me hell for keeping her up.

Also make sure the Norton lapping stone is flat, mine wasn't. Lap it with wet/dry sandpaper on a known flat surface (piece of glass, counter-top etc)

Fantastic read! As another newbie myself, it is encouraging to hear of others successes and difficulties worked through. Please keep it up.

The Straight Road - Part 16: Singing that Carbonsong
A night of learning to lap my hone, helping SWMBO Jr. with homework, cleaning the kitchen and a long day at work all conspired to make this a late one.

The Anticipation
Lapping the stone was a bit of a trying process. I think I might pick up a piece of glass on the weekend and lap the lapping stone, just to be sure it's 100% flat. Still, Maxi's lesson in lapping was one that was well-received and I think I made some progress. I am very grateful to him for all the support he's given me on this voyage, as some of the important things that I know about straight shaving have come from him. Anyway, I was tired, but I decided I'd rather be tired and clean-shaven, than tired and stubbly. So away I went...

The Prep
I put the kettle on, informed SWMBO that I was going to be shaving, so to just go to sleep if she was tired, then turned on the shower to let the water get hot, which can take a while in our building. Once the kettle started to bubble, I filled the scuttle, dunked my new custom Snakewood 24mm Silvertip Super Badger and jumped into the shower. I went for the Real Shaving Exfoliating Scrub, which I figured would help my skin and ease out the tips of any hairs that might be contemplating life as an ingrown. The razor sang its way through 25 passes on the webbing, a further 25 on the creased latigo, though these were shortened strokes as I tried to avoid the wrinkles, then a further 50 on the Premium IV.

While we're on the subject of the strops, I had great news from Fendrihan today, informing me that I will have a new strop leather sent to me by mail directly from the manufacturer to replace the creased one I got from the shop. I am very impressed by both the solution and the speed with which they resolved the issue. Points to them for that. Stropping done, I took up the crystal bowl I had appropriated for my DR Harris Marlborough sample and picked up the Snakewood. Time for some lather!

The Lather
I think, if things keep going the way they're going, I might be able to retire this section and just talk about the lather during the prep stages. That's how good it's been the past few days. Even with a new, not-yet-broken-in brush, I had just a phenomenal lather experience from the DR Harris. I also added a few drops of glycerin to the mix, which I think might be helping a great deal, along with a general improvement in my technique. Whatever the reason, I had hot, creamy and lubricating lather for the entire shave and then some. I actually think the Marlborough smells alright, though I need to use it a few more times for a thorough evaluation. My Grafton ASB pretty much erased all traces of Marlborough, so I can't make a final call on the scent just yet.

The Shave
Though it's far too early in my straight shaving career to be deciding something like this, the Le Canadien has all the potential to become my absolute favourite razor. I have yet to try a wedge or near-wedge, which apparently is a silent shaving experience, but so far I really like the "singing" of the hollow-ground razors, as they let me know what's happening on my face. And boy does this razor sing! It's a joy to use and the honing job Maxi gave it is just superb. It felt even better today than the first time I shaved with it after he honed it. The spike point, which had taught me a lesson in my last shave, presented me with no issues this time. Lesson learned, I'd say! Respect that point and it will reward you, with precise strokes around the nose, easy shaving around the mouth without danger to the lips and nice precision on the sideburn area, I can see why this shape of razor is a popular one. My first pass was easy stuff, the thick, rich lather accumulating at an unprecedented (for me) rate on the blade. The razor just glided, singing its song, over my face, reducing my stubble to a nice smooth shave in two passes. The XTG pass was just as easy as the WTG, while the touch-ups under the chin were the best I've had up to now. The only issue was a neck ingrown, which bled a bit on the first pass, but calmed down by the end of the shave.

The Post
My regular routine of warm, alum, cold, witch hazel. After the alum I cleaned the brush and scuttle, while after the WH, I cleaned and stropped the steel. Setting everything in its place for the night, I headed out to finish my glass of Valpolicella and, of course, recount my adventures to my brethren at SRP.

The Verdict
I feel like I'm making progress. This shave was just too much fun. This razor set me back a pretty penny, but right now I am not regretting a cent of it. The wow factor is still there in a big way. My only area of concern is still the neck area just below the chin, where my combo XTG/ATG stroke is still causing a bit of burn. But other than that, sailing is pretty smooth at the moment. I've shaved 5 days straight for the first time in my life and my skin is doing alright. I wonder how long I can keep it up? I think, with the support and the knowledge in this great community, I can keep it up for a long time.

The Straight Road is most definitely not a lonely road.

I am ready for bed. A great night and I really learned a lot, both about lapping my hones and about my least-used razor. I am looking forward to the weekend, as I hope to make my first attempt at honing, pending the arrival of my second Thier-Issard and, of course, being able to get my hones lapped nice and flat.

Thanks for reading!

Cheers,

Jack

The Straight Road - Part 17 - On the Hunt
I've been on the hunt for some sort of soap dishes to house my samples. I have been trying a few different soaps, which allows me to then order the ones that I like and not over-commit to those that don't appeal. So far, I have committed to MWF in a big way, I am on the fence about DRH Marlborough and I have yet to try Arlington and the ever-popular Tabac. To remedy this, I popped into a dollar store in the vicinity of SWMBO Jr's dance studio while she was in dance rehearsal number 87 of the week and scored some small porcelain lidded bowls. They worked out quite nicely. So nicely, in fact, that on Saturday I just might head back to said dollar store and pick up the rest of the stock. For $1.29 a pop, you can't go wrong. I purchased three today and already managed to break the lid of one of them, so I figure four or five more will allow me to have a rotation of a full week of soaps. I also have my Proraso tubs, which were no-brainers for the cost.

I pulled out my Arlington and Tabac samples, which we looking for new homes, and pressed them into these two bowls. Now I can actually rotate my samples and compare soaps. It felt nice to score something new for my shave den after a bit of a crappy day. I also picked up a ceramic tile from a shop near SWMBO Jr's dance school, which I'm hoping will help in the lapping process of my new hones, which is certainly a big chore to get prepared for my first honing, which I hope will happen soon!

The Anticipation
I was grumpy. I'm not going to lie. I was very close to skipping my shave tonight or going with the DE. I have been thinking about adding the DE into my rotation again, since I still enjoy that variety of shave and I haven't had the chance to use my Merkur 38C since I started down The Straight Road. I pulled it out and was going to put a blade in it, but then decided to stick with my goal of shaving every day for a week with a straight. I'm glad I did.

The Prep
Hot water in scuttle, hot water on me. I boiled water, let it cool for a minute, the filled the scuttle. I soaked my custom Snakewood brush while I showered, then jumped out refreshed and ready for my shave. I had stropped my H&H, the steel of choice for this evening, prior to jumping in the shower, so it was ready and waiting. Twenty five each on the webbing and latigo, followed by fifty on the Premium IV's bridle. I had selected a new flavour from my T&H sampler this day: sandalwood.

The Lather
I've done überlather and soap with glycerin added the past couple of shaves and the lather has been glorious. I think, in the future, all my lathers are going to get a few drops of glycerin, because tonight's wasn't the greatest. I get better lathers from the soaps I've tried so far, so I'm not sure if that reflects on my ability to lather T&H creams, the latherability of creams in general, or some variation of my water. Whatever it may be, the T&H creams are not impressing me with their lather on their own. When combined in a super- or überlather, they perform admirably, lending their delicious scents to the mix, but on their own they seem to come up short. Speaking of scent, I wasn't overly wowed by the T&H Sandalwood. I realize they've got their formula, which also includes some other elements that aren't specifically sandalwood, but overall it's not my favourite, which is a disappointment. I have always liked sandalwood, so my quest for one that pleases me will continue. Suffice it to say that T&H Sandalwood Shave Cream did not make "the list".

The Shave
I've been a bit distracted, with work going nuts and SWMBO Jr. putting me through a rather demanding evening, so that deadly combo of tired and distracted carried itself into my shave. The first pass started well enough, with no issues on the cheeks and neck. But when I got to the moustache area, my concentration slipped and I ended up with a nick on the right side, up near the nose. It didn't hurt much, but it continued to bleed through the rest of the WTG pass, prompting me to pull the styptic out of the cabinet and put it on standby. I lathered up for the second pass, gliding the H&H XTG across my cheeks, enjoying the different sensation that razor gave from yesterday's shaver. The blood from the nick in the 'stache area came through the lather, but it eventually calmed down, requiring no styptic. I had enough lather, with some water refreshes, for two passes and touch-ups, so that was decent, at least.

The Post
Warm water rinse, then some alum. After that I cleaned up the scuttle and brush. The brush has shed about 10 hairs since I started using it, which is better than my Frank Shaving, which has dropped over 100, but I still wish they both would stop! With the scuttle and brush laid to rest, I rinsed with cold and splashed on the witch hazel. Then I let that dry while I put everything away and dried off the razor. I stropped 30 on the web, 30 on the latigo and 60 on the bridle, then set it on its stand for the evening. After that, I applied some of the T&H Sandalwood ASB, which I still didn't feel was very "sandalwoodsy". SWMBO seemed to like it, though, so it earned some points there. Not a total writeoff, though I am eager to try the sandalwood offerings of other manufacturers. I finished off with a few dabs of T&H Spanish Leather Cologne, which isn't bad, though I still think I prefer 1805. I'd better get through these other samples and get something on my Christmas list soon! It's just tough to choose.

The Verdict
It was a shave. Not the greatest, not the worst, but it was still hundreds of times better than shaving with a crappy piece of plastic and five blades. I was disappointed with the sandalwood, for which I had high hopes, and now I'm looking at a sandalwood shopping spree until I find one I like, as I'm determined to have one in my rotation. Same with the Spanish Leather...I thought I'd like it, but I'm still on the fence. The Trafalgar, 1805 and Grafton all seem like they beat out the Spanish, but time will tell. The H&H did its job, even though I let my mind wander. The little nip she gave me reminded me to respect my razor and stay the course.

Sometimes, staying the course is important, especially if you want to stay on The Straight Road.

I managed to get some hone-lapping done tonight, though to my dismay I chipped my Norton 1k at the edge. Thankfully, it looks like something that can be avoided while honing. I am still waiting on the fruits of my shopping spree over the past couple of weeks to arrive, so hopefully once that happens I'll have new toys, new goodies and new photos and stories to share.

Thanks for reading.

Cheers,

Jack

Hi Jack, i've been reading this with great interest as i am also new to the cut throat shaving world. its perhaps not good to know but comforting all the same that i'm not the only one who has issues with getting some good lather up.

best regards
steve