Thread: The Noob Chronicle - My Straight Razor Experience

Jack,

Thank you for the very informative posts in this thread. Being a noob as well, you hit all the key points with issue, and potential solutions. The pictures you supply is great as well. I love how you are including all aspects of the Straight Road (Anticipation, Prep, Lather, Fixing Nicked Strops, Honing in the future, etc). Keep it going, I look forward to reading your posts everyday (or when they occur). Have a good one.

Cody

Thank you for the kind words, Cody! I am enjoying myself and learning a lot, so I figured I would share, as maybe my trials and tribulations could help someone else who is venturing into this world after me. It is also helpful for me to chronicle what I'm doing, as I have occasionally gone back and checked my previous writings to see what I've done and how.

Anyway, speaking of which...

The Straight Road - Interlude: SGAD (Shaving Gear Acquisition Disorder)
I'm sure that many of the new wet shavers who arrive at the various online shaving communities start out with their own challenges. Amongst those challenges, I would have to think that learning the acronyms and abbreviations commonly used by the online wet shaving communities is one of the first. Since I started down this path, I've learned that my wife is SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed), Straight Razor Place is SRP, BBS is Baby Butt Smooth, DFS is a Damn Fine Shave, HHT is a Hanging Hair Test and many others. Some of the most commonly referred acronyms to are the various ADs. If you take a liking to shaving brushes, you might be afflicted with BAD -- and not the Michael Jackson kind. On the other hand, if straight razors are what you've got to have in abundance, then the diagnosis is most likely SRAD. Then you've got SSAD, SCAD, SAD, RAD, HAD and really almost anything that you want to put in front of the AD to indicate you are an avid collector and/or acquirer of such items.

In my case, I am pretty sure I don't have a clearly defined AD for any one type of shaving equipment. In short, I want it all! I have come to accept and admit that I am possibly suffering from SGAD, or Shaving Gear Acquisition Disorder. I have now acquired a good number of brushes, a scuttle, several straight razors and a large number of different creams, soaps, aftershaves and colognes, not to mention all of my razor honing and restoration gear. I sometimes think of myself as the city guy from the movies who shows up at the ranch all decked out in jeans, fringed chaps, boots with spurs, checked shirt, a ten gallon had and absolutely no idea which end of the horse is which. Usually he ends up looking like the east end of a westbound horse. Thankfully, SRP (there's one of your acronyms again) has been both welcoming and encouraging, rather than pointing and laughing at my fringed chaps. For that I am truly grateful and it is what has made this site my wet-shaving home on the internet.

SGAD In Action
Anyway, I'm sure you're all wondering where this is going. Well, I have made some pretty solid acquisitions in the past month and today was another great day, a mini Christmas, if you will. I started out the day with three packages arriving simultaneously via mail. As noted in Part 20, they were a Chinese 12k, a TI 6/8" Le Canadien in Snakewood, an Ebay Crown & Sword for restoration and, a bit later in the day, a black badger knot from The Golden Nib, which I am planning to use for something in the near future. Of course, as my SGAD augments my collection of shaving gear, I need somewhere to put it, right? So this evening I also installed a couple of extra shelves in the bathroom, as a genuine shave den takes shape.

Here are some photos of today's new developments (the badger knot will be photographed later).

The Chinese 12k:


Le Canadien 6/8 Snakewood - this will be my first attempt at honing!




The New Den




A busy day, for sure! Anyway, I will have to work up the courage to take that beautiful razor to the hones at some point, but I think, for the time being, I am content to have put the Den together this evening. I also need to take a crack at lapping the Chinese, as well as a few more Den acquisitions scheduled to arrive tomorrow. Oh yes, then there's some restoration work to be done. Guess who's going to have a busy winter!

No time for hibernation on The Straight Road...

Thanks for reading!

Cheers,

Jack

Ahhhhh.....It's a grande feeling when a whole bunch of packages arrive in the mail.

You know what: In a day and age of instant gratification, or in some cases where "instant gratification" simply isn't "fast enough!", the online shopping in the razor world is the ticket!

1. You read a whole bunch of other peoples research and findings.
2. You look around the internet for hours, scouring online stores to find that extra 99 cent savings.
3. You think you've found it, click the Buy It Now button.
4. Then you find another page where it "just went on special".
5. You kick yourself, and then buy something else to compensate for your gloom (we are consumers after all)
6. Then you hurry up and wait....and think about your purchase....and wait some more, and think a bit more (rinse and repeat several times).
7. It comes in the mail.....and by this point you're so excited about whatever "it" is, that you are like a small child who just realized that Santa brings stuff "just for you" (raised eyebrows an and open mouth are part of this "look")
8. You use it, and you love it.
9. Delayed gratification......

Good times,

I've been following your thread since the first post, as that was about 2 days before I got my first Straight and found this site, and you are such an amazing storyteller.. It's enthralling to read about your experiences and it makes me keep a closer eye on what I'm doing also. anyways, just wanted to throw in that I've been using the AoS Sandalwood kit (oil,cream, and aftershave lotion) and love the smell of it.. it's pretty pricy, but it seems to do good things for me and smells nice.. the girlfriend definitely loves it..

Thanks for the tip, Melophat, as well as the kind words. I will probably eventually try the AOS Sandalwood, as you aren't the first to sing its praises. That said, I think I am going to place a moratorium on acquisitions for a while and concentrate on restoring and learning to hone.

And while we're on that subject...

The Straight Road - Part 21: Busy, Busy
Today was another eventful day on The Straight Road, as a couple more packages arrived in the mail, bearing an Ebay razor that I am going to restore and another from Fendrihan with my Tabac ASB and a Kent hair brush (which is pretty sweet). I haven't taken photos of the hair brush or the ASB, but I'm sure they'll appear in the near future. Today my focus was on the razor, a Manhattan Cutlery Co. "The Celebrated Hollow Ground" with Sheffield on the tang. It has obviously been rescaled with black micarta and has had some work done, but I want to shine it up further and then get it shave ready. The Ebay ad said it was shave ready, but I don't think it would cut butter in its current state! I have since learned that I probably overpaid for this razor and that it could stand to be fixed up even more, but it is a very nice razor and probably a quarter ground or near-wedge.

When I got home, after setting up SWMBO Jr. to watch some TV so I could have a few minutes of peace, I set about removing the scales. This turned out to be very easy, as it had been re-pinned with some mini hex bolts. Once I had it apart, I pulled out my envelope with the sheets of wet-dry I had acquired a few days back and cut some squares of each grit 150, 220, 320, 400, 600, 1000, 1500, 2000, 2500. I didn't bother to go with the 80, because I didn't think the blade needed a grit that low, though it was tough getting some of the scratches out.

In my excitement to get the restoration going, I neglected to take any "before" photos, though I did take some after only a minute or two of sanding, so I suppose they will have to do:

"Before"



After

So you can see I managed to remove most of the scratches along the spine. The other side of the razor was pretty much the same, so I didn't post pics. I want to try to preserve the blade stamp, so I am going to be very careful about sanding in that area, though I realize I have already lost some depth, I have also removed the ugly scratches, some patina and stains and some rust spots. I figured the 150 would be enough for today, then I would continue with the other grits over the next few days as time permits. No need to rush!

Once I had done the rounds with the 150 grit, it was time to attend to my household duties, so I took out the garbage and the recycling, cleaned up the kitchen, ate something while watching honing videos on YouTube (Lynn: your videos are great!) and then started to turn my mind to shaving.

The Anticipation
I had wanted today to be Tabac Day, as I just ordered several Tabac products from two different stores, but alas, I wasn't paying attention and had one of the shipments sent to my home, instead of the office, so Tabac Day was postponed. I really hope I like Tabac, as I have committed to the body wash, ASB, splash and the shaving cream, as well as a full-sized tub of soap. The ASB made me a bit nervous, as it did arrive today and I found it a bit strong. Oh well, if it doesn't work out, I guess I can probably find someone willing to take it off my hands. I will also, of course, await the judgement of SWMBO. Anyway, I went into this shave today not really knowing which products I was going to use. The razor and the brush were settled, as I wanted to give the Le Canadien and the Frank Shaving Richmond another whirl, but what else?

The Prep
While I cleaned up the kitchen, I put the kettle on to boil. When it was ready, I filled my Robert Becker scuttle and headed into the bathroom. I dunked the brush in the reservoir and hopped into the shower. I've been on a brush kick lately, which means I've picked up a natural bristle shower brush to go along with my new natural bristle Kent hair brush and my shaving brushes. The natural bristle bathing brushes are really nice and they are supposedly really good for your skin, helping to avoid thinning of the skin in old age and keeping your skin young and fresh. I don't know how much help it will be, but it's worth a shot. After seeing what has happened to my poor grandmother's skin, where the slightest scrape can open a tear in the fragile membrane, I'd say that preventing that is not a bad idea. So I scrubbed up, exfoliated with the Real Shaving scrub and then made my decision -- Real Shaving would be my shave tonight. I hopped out of the shower and towelled off, applied some Real Shaving Preshave Oil, then took up the brush.

The Lather
The Real Shaving shaving cream is very nice. I mean, I have tried a few T&H creams now and this stands up with those any day. It lathers very nicely, with the big 28mm FS Richmond slowly building an abundance of creamy, cushiony lather. The scent isn't my favourite, but it isn't bad, either. It's got a floral touch to it, but it smells fresh and clean and SWMBO really likes it, so that's always a plus. It lathered up very well, producing a firm lather with nice peaks that layered thickly onto my face. I really am enjoying the warm lather I am getting from my scuttle and I think it might have been one of the best acquisitions I have made thus far. I had lather for five passes, though I only did two, plus touch-ups.

The Shave
This one wasn't so good. I am beginning, after this shave and the previous one, to wonder if I haven't done something to the edge Maxi put on my TI, as this is the second shave I've had with it that wasn't 100% comfortable, although the first one was. I was doing some bevel-watching earlier, while I stropped, where I did 25 on the webbing, then looked at the edge in my x15 loupe, then did another 50 on the strop, then checked it again. I did notice the edge smoothed out, but I also noticed that the shiny edge of the razor seems wider in the some parts than in others, which might just be a characteristic of this blade. Hopefully, I can convince Maxi to let me buy him some beer and do another honing lesson in the near future, this time with me flying and him navigating. At that time, I'll get him to check my edge.

But enough about my further adventures in honing! The shave, apart from a bit of a scrapy feeling from the Le Canadien, wasn't a bad shave overall. The first two passes were pretty easy, though I did find the razor sort of catching in the soul patch area, instead of gliding. Probably some technique and pressure issues there, as well as that area just being a pain in the arse to shave in general. I got smooth and the burn has mostly died down, so things are pretty good with the shave.

The Movember Report
As promised, I will keep you up to date on the Movember progress with a special sub-section of my writeups. The 'stache area is always a tricky one, so you might think that not having to shave there would make life easier. It doesn't. Having to go around the area, especially for a noob like me, makes it even trickier. After all, my goal is to grow some semblance of a moustache this month, not a strange patchy growth of facial hair on my upper lip. Shaping and grooming this area is going to take a whole new set of skills. Once I learn them, I might just be tempted to keep the 'stache, depending on the effort required! At least until SWMBO gives me the "aren't you going to shave it?" routine. I did alright and I think I maintained the shape of it. Once it gets longer, it should be easier.

The Post
Rinse, alum, cold water, ASB. That was my post today. The Real Shaving ASB is another nice little product, holding its own with products that cost 10x as much. For any fellow noobs out there looking for the king of bang for buck, I'd say you can choose Real Shaving without batting an eye. Performs with the big boys, but at a little boy price. Anyway, it went on nicely after the scrapy shave I had today, so I was pleased with the soothing effect. I decided to try the T&H Freshman cologne today, but after having it on for a while, I don't think it's for me. I need a bit more wood and spice in my scents. This one, to me, almost seems like it would be better for SWMBO. All wrapped up, I poured myself two fingers of The Glenlivet, dropped in a single ice cube, then sat down to finish watching the honing video before posting my thoughts here.

The Verdict
I feel good. I started restoring razors today! I have put a hard stop on my SGAD, as well, as November is a month where some big bills are coming in, not to mention the month that follows requires a few small expenses...though of course I now know what to put on my Christmas lists!

The shave turned out ok, but it wasn't my most comfortable. I also find that shave oil is not my favourite product. First off, it makes stretching a lot more difficult, as my skin is more slippery, second, it makes a sort of gooey line on my razor near the blade, full of stubble. This means I have to wipe it off on my towel instead of just rinsing it clean away with a jet of water from the tap. The last thing I need is a sticky mess.

On The Straight Road, we all know there are enough chances to make a mess of things, without going out and looking for it.

And so, another shave under my belt and a new experience today with sanding the blade. I am very much enjoying my new hobby and quite enthused about where things are going. I have acquired quite a few Wade & Butcher razors and I'm thinking about doing something in the nature of a 7-day set in the future, once I've tried my hand at a few restorations and made some scales. I am also very excited about honing! Tonight was so busy, I didn't even have the chance to lap my new Chinese 12k, so you know that is still on the to-do list. Anyway, lots more good stuff to come!

Thanks for reading.

Cheers,

Jack

Honing first. Beer second.

The Straight Road - Part 22: Lessons Learned
This has been a fun week for me. I have received a multitude of highly-regarded shaving products after my flurry of SGAD of the past few weeks. Hones, razors, aftershaves, balms and soaps, not to mention good advice! Today was a day full of learning for me, some of which brought me great joy, while other lessons were hard ones.

The Anticipation
I had been quite eager, since yesterday evening, to try out my full lineup of Tabac products. After all, I enjoy the soap quite a bit, so I figured I'd take the plunge and go for the Full Monty: bath gel, shaving cream, aftershave splash and aftershave balm, as well as a full-sized tub of the soap. If the soap was already a keeper, then the rest must be, too, I figured. Today also marked the day I received two more of the razors that are the fruits of my somewhat insane Ebay adventures over the past few weeks. Two Wade & Butcher razors showed up today, one an Invincible and the other, just the blade, a Bow Razor. The Bow, unfortunately, is a frowner that will require some work to get back to a shaving edge. But that's for another day. I also had a bottle of the Proraso Sensitive (white) Aftershave Balm arrive today, so that completes two sets of Proraso, green and white.

Here are some shots of the goods from today's haul:





Unfortunately for me, the Tabac line has a scent which just isn't, beyond the soap, my cup of tea. Also, SWMBO curled her lip and turned her nose up at it, so it struck out twice. I think I will have to look into moving it on to another worthy member of our community who enjoys Tabac, because it is not for me.

Regardless, I gave it a good try and used the full lineup today. On top of that, I was concerned about my Le Canadien, thinking that I had done something to the edge. Maxi, being the classy individual that he is, immediately PMd me upon reading my plight to check into the status of the edge he put on my razor. We exchanged a few emails and then he gave me some of the best advice a noob can get: "Try decreasing your wtg angle a bit."

The Prep
The scuttle filled with hot water, the brush dunked, I hopped in the shower to try the Tabac body wash. It definitely has a distinct scent, but it's very strong. The soap has a nice smell, though I did find it a bit cloying, it is not overpowering in its scent. The rest of the line takes that fragrance and hits you with it. Right between the eyes. I decided to roll with it and lathered up the body wash, went through my shower, then hopped out to go through my lathering routine. My Le Canadien had seen the strop earlier, so I had no need to strop it again.

The Lather
I made a SuperTabac lather today, which did its job admirably. It took me a while to get it going, requiring I add quite a bit of water, but I ended up with a creamy, Tabac-smelling lather that carried out its anointed task with aplomb. One thing I will say about this line of products is, you can make no mistake about what you're using. When you use Tabac, you know it's Tabac. The lather it produced, between cream and soap, was probably enough for five passes and it was very enjoyable.

The Shave
Before I get into the shave, I want to give a piece of advice to the noobs of our community. When you see someone with under their name, listen to this person, as they know what they're talking about. Another tip is, you don't know. You think you know, but you don't. I thought, after 20 straight razor shaves, that I was starting to get my technique down, but the TI was feeling like it was scraping my face instead of gliding. Maxi provided me with a few simple words of wisdom that made tonight's shave about a hundred times better than yesterday's, not to mention redeeming the edge on my Le Canadien and showing me that I am still a noob with much to learn. Those words? "Try decreasing your wtg angle a bit". I did that, concentrating hard on decreasing my angle and pressure through all my passes. The result? A great shave. Very comfortable, even through double touch-ups and zero, that's right zero, razor burn. Beat that!

I went with the Le Canadien again precisely because I wanted to master it, which is also why I decided to give the Frank Shaving Richmond another day in the spotlight. It still needs to be broken in and it still has a bit of the badger funk about it, so more use can only improve it. Considering I have at least two more brushes inbound, I need to give each one its proper due.

The Movember Report
I did a better job of shaving around the 'stache area today, but the mo is still sort of lopsided from yesterday's hack job. Thankfully, that will even out in a week or so as it starts to grow in, also making it easier to navigate. The sharp point of the Le Canadien does help with Mo navigation.

The Post
Here's where Tabac went from "I'm not sure" to "not gonna work" for me. As always, it's good to interject with one of the wet shaving community's great acronyms, YMMV (your mileage may vary). I know there are shavers out there who will love this stuff and it will be right for them. I don't hate the scent, I just think it's not for me. I did my regular alum routine, followed by the Tabac splash, which pleasantly surprised me with its moisturizing properties. I find it moisturizes more than the Proraso Dopobarba splash, so that is a point in its favour. Then I cleaned up the scuttle and brush, the sink area and stowed my gear on the den shelf. After that came 25/50 on web and bridle leather, then the steel was laid to rest, as well. I applied the Tabac ASB, which is quite strong in its scent and also moisturizes nicely. I can't complain about the quality of these products, which is excellent, only that the scent isn't for me.

The Verdict
Live and learn. Two great lessons for me this evening. First, always check your technique before questioning the work of a honemeister and second, just because you like the soap, doesn't mean you'll like the full lineup. Even the soap isn't my favourite, as I prefer MWF and DR Harris Arlington, while the scent of the T&H soap is also very nice. I will think twice before committing to a full line of products without a test run, though of course samples are few and far between. The shave was great, with no razor burn and very few missed spots. The extra care I took to use less of an angle and an especially light touch paid off with one of my best shaves yet. The wealth of experience around this community is a real treasure and I'm glad I am here.

Hey, noobs! Listen to the vets, they've been down The Straight Road before.

Well, that was a fun evening. A good lesson and a tough one in the same night, not to mention a great shave! I still need to lap my Chinese 12k and also continue polishing my Manhattan & Co. blade, so I will be kept busy this evening.

Thanks for reading!

Cheers,

Jack

You are out of control.

I love it.

always check your technique before questioning the work of a honemeister

ah memories... I think you should have mentor underneath your name great advice, I would go as far as to say, essential for noobs.

I got good shaves with a honemeister razor - nothing special I thought - corrected my strop technique a tad and the shaves shot through the roof!

blaming the tools is always the first thing you go to

fantastic journal entry JD, regards Alex

Quite simply, I'm glad I could help.

The best part of straight razor shaving, is sharing knowledge and making it accessible and easier for other people......

At least once a week I PM gssixgun with a title in the PM like this "....and now for question 4196 ......."

We all need help, no matter where we are on "The Straight Road".