Ok...so I'm an idiot.

I came to own some fairly rough vintage straights that belonged to a friend's grandfather. They were old and rough.

Someone tried unsuccessfully to repair this one resulting in a frown near the heal. http://img.tapatalk.com/a6934890-b60d-3497.jpg

I have never used a straight before but I'm a pretty good knife sharpener...and a poor listener. So I ignored 99% of what I have read here and set out to do the unthinkable.

I got out my hones and ground the recurve out of the blade and stepped through the progression and finished on my palm (no bare leather strops yet...all mine are loaded with diamonds).

To make matters worse this razor has a decent point on it, but who am I to listen to sound advice from veterans?

I headed to the bathroom and washed and lathered up after a few hot towels. I made my first pass on my right cheek and all seemed good...until I saw my neck bleeding about 6 inches away from where I made my first pass. WTH? I have no idea how that happened, but I kept going.

In the end I have 5 or 6 small nicks on my neck and some very mild burn. But a nice shave with a blade that probably was not honed quite well enough...but it shaved pretty good:D

I gotta admit it went a lot better than expected. I enjoyed it, but next time I thing I'll slow down a bit;)

Pics of the damage can be posted on the Cut of the Day thread! I'm glad you didn't decapitate yourself.
Seriously, when the real Senior Members speak -- and I'm not one of them -- it's best to listen.

Honestly, the damage was not bad enough to share there. Just a few minor nicks that are close to healed 12 hours later.

In truth I did listen and learned a bunch here, but I did typical trial by fire of diving in head first and learning the hard way. I find that the hard way teaches more permanently than simply reading sage advice:D

My gear showed up today (a professionally honed straight, some soap, a brush, and a few strops). Now I will be able to learn how a truly shave ready razor performs....and I have perspective to draw from;)

It's funny, I really didn't expect to feel do much pride from this process. But I do...

I have finally convinced one of my friends at work so join our sordid little world of wet shaving. I loaned him a few blades to try out and must have repeated the mantra 'go SLOWLY... take your time...' a hundred times. :) So far it seems to be working as he is still cut-free. Hopefully that will continue as blade meets chin for the first time one of these days!

Jumping into things with both feet has its merit in a lot of situations. But I hae me doots that this is one of them. :)

Anyway, great to hear the damage wasn't too serious!

Well, you should be a happy shaver right now if your gear arrived! Pics of razors are always welcome here (hint hint!).
As an old teammate used to say, "Less than 10 stitches doesn't count."
See you in the trenches, buddy! :tu

It is amazing...the more I learn, the more I realize that I didn't even know about what I did not know...and still don't.

Good thing I have about half of a lifetime to figure some of it out;)

I think that's true for most of us. It certainly is in my case.

How's your "pro honed" razor compare to the one you honed yourself ? I'm just curious , because back when I started , I shaved with self honed razors for 2 months , before I got my first pro honed razor (honed by Bob Keyes) . I didn't notice any big difference until I got to my chin . The razor Bob honed , went through my chin whiskers almost effortlessly . Whereas , the razors I honed didn't do anywhere near as well . I had to fight my way through my chin stubble , and when I was done , my chin was usually a blotchy red mess . I thought the problem was my technique , because I was a noob . I'm sure , poor technique was part of it , but the main reason was because my razors weren't quite as sharp as they could have been .

I just received my pro honed razor today so I'll have to get back to you on comparison.

I like to think I'm pretty good at sharpening knives and such, but I'm pretty grounded about accepting that my razor honing might not be up to the level of a pro;)

I have shaved my face with knives before...and I can tell you that my straight razor did a much better job:)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dave5225

How's your "pro honed" razor compare to the one you honed yourself ?

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I shaved last night. So now I can answer.

Honestly, I cannot tell a huge difference. It probably has everything to do with my straight shaving abilities...I think I have much to learn.

I think you're pretty darn good with your hones . Even though I had over 30 years experience honing my various knives , chisels , and plane irons , it still took me some trial and error before I could get my straight razor sharp enough to actually shave my face . I don't remember how many tries it took , but it wasn't the first , second , or third . I think you're off to a great start !

Thanks. I like to think I'm alright with hones. I sharpen most of my blades to satisfy HHTs. I love edges;)

Still...much to learn.

Sounds like your doing pretty well. So, it's a good time to start considering your stropping. It's another issue, something that takes practice and knowledge. It is also the common act, besides shaving, that is inherent in both razors.

I decided to hone/repair another razor today (from the lot of 3 I got). This time I selected the Imperial extra hollow.

I really took my time and the results looked quite good, so I decided to test it out with a shave.

I am happy to report that this was my best result yet (third shave with a straight). I think I am figuring some things out...but I still have a long way to go. I managed to get no nicks but did get careless and cut my neck pretty good. I think I am really getting the hang of shaving the cheeks and my jaw line...but I struggle with my neck. Good thing I have a lot of time to figure it out.

In other news I wanted to tighten the action of the razor and set out to peen the pin slightly to accomplish this. On the first attempt, it got much better, but (and because I am an idiot) I decided to try and tighten it further and ended up cracking both scales. GRRRRR!

I was going to make some new scales, but I am pretty sure I will opt to find an accomplished restorer to make some nice scales for this blade.

Here is a shot of my handy work on this piece. I really like this razor...wish I had not ruined the scales. http://img.tapatalk.com/a6934814-811b-8a04.jpg

I also have an old razor with loose scales that shaves great.I put up with the loose scales cause I'm afraid they'll fall apart if I try anything.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by unit

In other news I wanted to tighten the action of the razor and set out to peen the pin slightly to accomplish this. On the first attempt, it got much better, but (and because I am an idiot) I decided to try and tighten it further and ended up cracking both scales. GRRRRR!

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You mean like this ?
Attachment 102364
This happened about 3 months ago . Thin bone scales , that I took off a razor with a hopeless blade , and put on a good blade . I just wanted to make it a little bit tighter :gaah: . You would think I would know better , by now .
I've found , that if I file the top of the pin down some , it helps it mushroom out easier . I didn't bother doing that on this razor because I didn't think it was necessary . Luckily I had a set of Dovo red bone scales that fit the blade pretty good .

Dave --
I hate to see such nice scales as those in your pic meet an unfortunate demise :cry:

Sorry if this is out of line to ask...can any of you recommend an approved SRP vendor that can make some reasonably priced G-10 scales and install them for me? I tried searching, but my search-fu is lacking. Thanks.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by unit

Sorry if this is out of line to ask...can any of you recommend an approved SRP vendor that can make some reasonably priced G-10 scales and install them for me? I tried searching, but my search-fu is lacking. Thanks.

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Unit --
PM sent.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mapleleafalumnus

Dave --
I hate to see such nice scales as those in your pic meet an unfortunate demise :cry:

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It was a blessing in disguise . I had the red bone Dovo scales on a W&B Bow blade , that was so badly warped , I'd (wisely) given up on trying to hone it straight , a few years ago . I put them on the blade , and they worked out really well . Here's a pic .
Attachment 102369
Gotta go mow the lawn now .

Dave--nice save! I've never seen especially thin bone scales; you sure yours weren't ivory? I've been using some old ivory scales (one side arrived broken) as wedges in other rescales. They stink to sand, but look nice.

Unit--your broken scale looks like gutta percha, the same brittle rubber that clarinet and sax mouthpieces are made of. No big loss. If you rub it on your sleeve and it smells like rubber, there you are. It's not fancy stuff, and it's easy to break. Keep 'em around for future practice--drill new holes and try peening new pins onto them.

Best wishes

Quote:

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Originally Posted by roughkype

Dave--nice save! I've never seen especially thin bone scales; you sure yours weren't ivory? I've been using some old ivory scales (one side arrived broken) as wedges in other rescales. They stink to sand, but look nice.

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Thanks ! The scales are thin like ivory scales are , but they are bone . I have a couple of ivory scaled razors , so I can tell the difference . I like your idea to make wedges out of them .:tu

Quote:

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Originally Posted by unit

Sorry if this is out of line to ask...can any of you recommend an approved SRP vendor that can make some reasonably priced G-10 scales and install them for me? I tried searching, but my search-fu is lacking. Thanks.

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The classifieds is always a good first resort for help:
Member Services - Straight Razor Place Classifieds

OK, so today I took another shot at it (shaving). It went much better today and (in case anyone is interested) I think I am developing enough of a sense for this that I can now feel the difference between my honed blades and the one that was professionally honed (I believe you guys refer to it as "mellow"?)...it could be in my head, but anyway, the results were nice.

Thanks to all that contribute to this site (and my learning)!

Glad to hear it!

Of course we're interested! Trust your feelings... there's nothing inside of your head except what your senses put there. Except desire, imagination, optimism... nothing wrong with any of those, either. If your shave felt better it felt better. At some point, when you're more confident about your honing and feel like really playing with edges, you can try stropping on diamond paste then shaving, and see if you think that feels different. I bet you'll tell a difference there, and will want to backtrack to hones or some CrOx to gentle that edge back.

Best wishes and happy shaving.