Thread: The Noob Chronicle - My Straight Razor Experience

This thread is outstanding. I myself am in a similar position now to where you a few months ago. I have been wet shaving with a safety razor for a while now and I find myself more and more drawn to the straight razor. It is just too tempting to not try. I am pretty comfortable with my skin prep and lathering now and I get pretty comfortable shaves with my DE. I have been doing the same process you did by reading, reading, reading, watching videos, more reading, etc. I think this thread has inspired my confidence enough to finally take the plunge. Thank you for the great info

Originally Posted by Cochese2323

This thread is outstanding. I myself am in a similar position now to where you a few months ago. I have been wet shaving with a safety razor for a while now and I find myself more and more drawn to the straight razor. It is just too tempting to not try. I am pretty comfortable with my skin prep and lathering now and I get pretty comfortable shaves with my DE. I have been doing the same process you did by reading, reading, reading, watching videos, more reading, etc. I think this thread has inspired my confidence enough to finally take the plunge. Thank you for the great info

I am glad to hear it! You won't find a nicer bunch than in the straight shaving community, especially here at SRP. There are some strange people, some opinionated people, and a lot of crazy people, but overall a great community and a lot of fun. Enjoy yourself with the straight and take it slow. This is a whole new world vs. the DE, with all new and dangerous ADs. There is something immensely satisfying about this when it all comes together.

Yeah the learning curve with the DE was pretty easy. This is a whole different animal. It is just so cool and classy. Just can't imagine anything better than a nice brush, a lather bowl and a straight razor sitting on the bathroom counter. I had a little family get together for new years at my house and everyone was fascinated by the the DE and the whole idea of making your own lather. It is so hard to describe the feeling to someone unless you actually experience it yourself. I imagine the feeling of straight shaving is even better. After 15+ years of being suckered into cartridge razor marketing, I am so glad I found this great hobby. Now.....to find a suitable razor. Off to the classifieds.

As has been said already.. brilliant thread, Jack. I always find something to learn in your postings, (and of course, checking out the shaving gear porn!).

I'd be curious to hear what you think is giving you fits with the honing, since I'm approaching that point on the road. Do you think it's technique.. gear... time in grade.. a combination?

Cheers,
Scott

Originally Posted by 94Terp

As has been said already.. brilliant thread, Jack. I always find something to learn in your postings, (and of course, checking out the shaving gear porn!).

I'd be curious to hear what you think is giving you fits with the honing, since I'm approaching that point on the road. Do you think it's technique.. gear... time in grade.. a combination?

Cheers,
Scott

Thanks for the kind words, Scott, I appreciate it.

As for honing, I think it's a combination of two things: my lack of experience and the hard steel on the TI Le Canadien razor. For example, my W&B Bow Razor is back to shaving wonderfully off the Nortons, but the TI is giving me a nightmare. I'm putting it aside for a while and will revisit it later, maybe on the coticule.

Originally Posted by jdto

Thanks for the kind words, Scott, I appreciate it.

As for honing, I think it's a combination of two things: my lack of experience and the hard steel on the TI Le Canadien razor. For example, my W&B Bow Razor is back to shaving wonderfully off the Nortons, but the TI is giving me a nightmare. I'm putting it aside for a while and will revisit it later, maybe on the coticule.

It sounds to me , like your bevel needs more work . I would keep honing on the 4k until you feel a suction between the blade and the hone . Good luck with it , whatever you do .

The Straight Road - Part 64: The Return of the Bow
After several days of frustration with my TI Le Canadien Snakewood, I decided to change it up and shave with my W&B Bow Razor, also honed off the Nortons. This razor had last received a conservative pyramid, after feeling a little bit less than smooth on my last shave. Today was the first test since then.

The Anticipation
With several days of less-than-stellar shaves behind me, I was really looking forward to trying something different and, hopefully, something smoother. My Le Canadien in Snakewood is going to get shave-ready, but I don't know when or how, yet. That said, this razor is usually a wonderfully smooth little shaver, so I was ready to give it another whirl. Choosing my gear for the shave presented something of a challenge, but I finally settled on Trumper's Coconut Oil soap, Dominica Bay Rum and my Omega Pro 49. This week will have a tropical air about it, with Bay Rum and coconut mixing with a nice bottle of Kraken black spiced rum I bought.


The Prep
With SWMBO and SWMBO Jr. both out at dance class, I was able to take my time with a nice hot shower. Prior to that, I primed the soap with a few drops of water, filled the scuttle and deposited the brush in the soaking reservoir. Though this razor had been stropped after its honing, I decided to give it a good 50 on the 'roo, just to make sure it was ready to go. That out of the way, brush dripping and ready, it was time to get that Trumper's Coconut sample going.

The Lather
Amazing. This soap has a great scent and it lathers like a dream. Now that I am getting the hang of the lathering with a wet brush to start, it is really producing abundant and phenomenal lathers. I loaded the brush for quite a while, which gave me a great start on building in the bowl. I've taken to applying a bit more force on the brush while building my lathers, which has rewarded me with creamier lathers with less bubbles. Such a simple thing, but such a great result. I had enough lather for about 5 passes, though I only needed three, with minor touch-ups at the end. With today's performance, the scent and the ease of lathering, this soap has bulled its way into consideration for The Keeper list.

The Shave
The shave was very nice today. The smoothness of this blade, the keenness of the edge and the ease with which it mowed through my stubble made this one a winner. I think this blade could get even a touch smoother with a bit of a run on the finisher, which bodes very well for its shaving future. It's a pretty amazing thing to take a shaving tool, made over 120 years ago, take it to a shave-ready, then get a nice smooth comfortable shave. It really gives a great sense of satisfaction. The first pass was effortless, without any issues, while on the second pass I did try to get too fancy on my upper lip, which rewarded me with a very shallow slice. Luckily, it was shallow and didn't bleed. The third pass went very well, including the tricky area under my chin, so that was encouraging. There was a bit of tenderness, which is why I think that this blade has even more smoothness to give. In the end, my neck is a bit of a mess from the beating it took the other day, so I should probably give my ingrowns a few days to heal up. If I can resist shaving, that is.

The Verdict
After so many days of frustration, I was considering putting my kit up for sale and just settling down with a few well-honed blades and my touch-up hone. But that fit of madness is behind me. Today reminded me of all the great reasons I enjoy this hobby and why I keep at it. With more restorations getting closer to fruition, I know my honing will continue to improve, while this blade from today could also use the lightest of touch-ups.

I guess just being on The Straight Road could be seen as madness by some, but I think I'm right where I belong!

I managed to get some time in at the restoration this afternoon. A really nice 7/8 W&B Wedge is getting closer to being finished. The scales are in the finishing stage, with the first application of Tung Oil out of the way, but the blade is going to require a lot of time to polish up to where I want it to be. I suppose it's time to find a few movies to watch and get to sanding. My Llyn Melynllyn also took up a good hour of lapping time today, though it still needs more as the seller definitely did what could only be called a very rough flattening. Then there's my W&B 7/8 Bow Razor, which is a beauty. I think I might try to find someone with a tumbler, so it can be polished with minimal metal removal. The scales are already roughed out, but will require another trip to Maxi's shop to shape and prepare for sanding.

Maybe I'll have a few more razors to add to my rotation in the next few weeks!

Until next time, thanks for reading.

Cheers,

Jack

The Straight Road - Part 65: Tweaking and Tuning
After yesterday's pleasant three-pass shave, I probably should have held off until Monday night for my next one, especially since my skin still wasn't at 100% after the Thursday massacre. My neck has quite a few ingrowns that are irritated and could use the break. But for some reason, I can leave well enough alone. I pulled out the Norton 4k/8k and gave the Bow about 15 finishing strokes, hoping to refine the already decent edge it had. Whether this was beneficial or not is unclear, but it was what I did. I spent several rounds with the DMT 325 and my Llyn Melynllyn today, in doses of about 15 minutes each time. I am up to about two hours of lapping time and the end is in sight. There are still some rough spots around the edges and on the corners, which I could probably leave alone if I weren't just the slightest bit anal. I also spent some time sanding my W&B wedge, this time dropping the grit right down to 150 in hopes of making some progress on the pitting on the blade. Once again, progress was made, but cut short after about 30 minutes because, in a moment of carelessness, I put a nice little slice in my index finger. It's not shaving sharp, but it's still sharp! Somewhere in between all this activity, I headed into the bathroom for a shave.

The Anticipation
Basking in the glow of last night's success, I decided to head back to the shave for an encore. I've had pretty good luck with this razor and, after engaging in shaving-related activity all day, it only seemed fitting that I would have another go with it. That, plus I wanted to get cleaned up before dinner, since this is the week leading up to my 8th wedding anniversary, thereby impressing SWMBO with my cleanliness and smooth face.

The Prep
After a busy day that consisted of morning housework, lunch at my grandmother's, afternoon skating and then razor restoration work, I was about ready for a nice hot shower, so that's what I did. I finished up with Real Shaving Creamy Face wash, determined to soften my stubble as much as possible. While it's not that abundant, the individual whiskers are still tough enough to give a razor trouble. The Omega Pro 49 had spent the duration of the quick shower soaking in a small dish of hot water, while I had also dribbled a few drops onto the small sample of Trumper's Coconut soap in its dish. With the razor already stropped, it was time to hit the soap.

The Lather
I'm starting to get into a nice groove with my lather of late. Face or scuttle, boar or badger, things have been working fairly well in the past few weeks, despite a couple of wobbly moments with the MWF. Today was a great day to test the wet brush load on a face-lather. I decided to shake a bit of the water out before loading, as usually it gets a bit messy on a face lather. Then I went to work, swirling for a good 45 seconds on the puck and then working the lather into my face. There was some initial madness as the heavily loaded brush let go some of its cargo, but after that it produced a wonderful lather, thick and slick, though perhaps a touch too hydrated for my tastes. I definitely will have to adjust the initial water load when face lathering, but in the end, I got it sorted out and had enough for three passes with some left over in the brush. Trumper's Coconut is really nice, definitely cementing its place as a top contender for me with its performance and scent.

The Shave
My face was still a bit tender, so the shave wasn't as comfortable as it might have been. I also wonder if I didn't go too far with my touch-ups on the blade. Either way, by the third pass I was feeling a touch of burn on the jawline and neck, as well as a bit of irritation on my cheeks. Still, the shave itself went reasonably well and I can't complain too loudly, as I ended up smooth and nick-free. Still, more comfort would have been nice. I think I'll skip Monday and wait until Tuesday for my next one.

The Post
Post-shave cleanup after face-lathering is really easy, as there is only the brush to rinse. That out of the way, I really went to town on the cold water, helping soothe my face. I know I said I would test some shaves without alum, but I decided that tonight it would be a good idea to apply it, given the burn I was feeling. While it did sting, it wasn't as bad as I'd expected. The witch hazel helped, but then the Dominica Bay Rum stepped in, reminding me what sting is all about. Once the fires had subsided a bit, I applied Trumper's Fragrance Free, helping to moisturize and soothe a bit more. That done, it was dinner time!

The Verdict
Well, it was tough to judge the edge tonight, given the state of my skin, but I think that it could use a touch more smoothness. It had no trouble with the whiskers, but I don't think it's as smooth as it was yesterday. As JaNorton draws to a close, I've learned that these hones can certainly produce a nice-shaving edge, but the coticule edge I got on my 7/8 W&B Barber's Use is still the best one I've had in January. I suppose I was pushing it a bit and should let my skin have a break, so that also factors into the equation. February promises to be an interesting month of discovery, as I move through my samples and learn my coticule.

More learning and more exploring, dead ahead on The Straight Road!

My restorations are starting to catch my attention again after a bit of a lull in enthusiasm, so I'm hoping I can get my big blade sanded and polished to an acceptable level for use some time in the next week or so. The scales are coming along nicely, with a second application of Tung oil adding even more depth and lustre to the padauk today. I am excited to bring this big beast of a razor back to life! My bocote brush is also sitting there, staring at me with its bald head. I will have to figure out how to drill out that knot without destroying the handle, so hopefully I can get that figured out soon. Lots to do, lots to learn!

Thanks for reading!

Cheers,

Jack