Thread: First shave with a straight! (Warning: Tons of text)

Well, I had my first shave with a straight today. But let's start at the beginning, shall we?
A little more than a week ago I convinced my dad to let me use his e-bay account to buy a junker straight (Just so I could practice my honing and stropping. Well, once I got a hone and a strop, that is :-D). I've had the straight razor itch for a while, so I really wanted one, even if it wasn't a very good one. Heck, even if I couldn't shave with it.
I almost got some good straights (I saw some names from the "Good" list from the FAQ, so I tried to pounce on them.). They were all in the 10-15 dollar range, so I really wanted them. Well, I got sniped time after time. I was pretty discouraged, so I set my sights a little lower since there were no good razors up with ending times in the next 24 hours (And I'm impatient, which will come into play later. It's a bit of a recurring theme in my life :-D). I ended up getting a razor that I've never heard of, and it came out to about 10 dollars (Including shipping). It's made by a company called "Progress". I'm assuming that's the company, anyway. It has a picture of a buck on it as well, underneath the word "Progress". The buck has the word "Razor" on its body.

Anyway, I got the razor in the mail a couple days ago. It wasn't in the best condition. The metal was all tarnished, and there was a small spot of rust on the blade, which the seller forgot to mention (Though it was nowhere near the actual cutting edge, so it didn't really make any difference.). I was able to get all of the tarnish and rust off of the blade with a dremel polishing wheel, jewelers rouge and a light touch. I didn't bother trying to get the shank and tang cleaned up, as it was a bit awkward, since I couldn't figure out how to remove the metal from the scaled. And the shank and tang don't really *need* to be clean

I ended up trying my hand at honing. I dont really have the preferred tools, but I was too impatient to wait until I could get them. I ended up using my Spyderco Sharpmaker. It comes with 2 sets of stones (Not sure about the grit, but one is fairly fine, and the other is ridiculously fine. To the point of feeling completely smooth). I didn't think I could get a shaving edge on it with this, but I wanted to try anyway (I'm curious like that.). I followed the honing pattern in the permanent archives. After a bit of work, I actually put a nice edge on it! I tried shaving arm hair, and it melted through like butter! I tried the hanging hair test, and lo and behold, I was able to cut a hanging hair! So, the next logical step for me was to try shaving with it.

I did the usual hot towel treatment and lathered up with Burma shave soap, applied with my cheapo (Noticing a trend yet? Yep, I'm broke! I mean, umm, on a budget ) boar hair brush. I was pretty scared, but excited at the same time. I made my first strokes, and wiped the cream from the blade, absolutely ecstatic to see little bits of hair mixed in with the cream. It took me a while, but I made 2 passes of my entire face. I initially intended to just shave the "easy" parts of my face with the straight, and finish up with a DE, but I couldn't stop myself and ended up shaving entirely with the straight.

All in all, it was a great experience. I have no razor burn, and just a single nick (A little half inch one. Not deep or anything.), which was due to me stopping for a second (I realize now why everyone says to keep the blade moving :-D). My styptic pencil made short work of that, though. It's not the closest shave I've ever had, but it's actually closer than I expected (Especially since I only made 2 passes).

I'm definitely going to get a better straight once I have a bit more cash to throw around, but I think this will scratch my straight razor itch just fine for now :-D

Also, if anyone has any info about "Progress" razors, I'd love to hear it. Google doesn't seem to be much help this time.

Way to go - just one nick!

Cheers
Ivo

way to go well done.
I'm still waiting on my first straight and its great to hear that just maybe I'll enjoy my first shave