Thread: Celebrate with me gentlemen!!

I feel the need to do backflips and handstands, and I have all of you to thank for this. I have realized success!! About two weeks ago, I bought a Genco Red Cross on e-bay (cheap, but in need of work). Given some reading on this site, I started learning to hone using the Arkansas stones that I've owned for years. I got comfortable with the technique, but as Randy suggested, these stones cut SLOW. I set the whole thing aside while waiting for my Norton 4/8K to arrive. In the meanwhile, I purchased a 'vintage' strop on e-bay--it wasn't a total waste of money, I was able to salvage the brass swivel . I also ordered some leather and stropping pastes from Keith at HandAmerica--awsome seller by the way. I also picked up a 60-100x scope at RadioShack. The Norton was delivered this past Wednesday.

Anyway, this weekend my wife and daughter went to visit relatives and I sat down first thing this morning to work on the razor. Taking a close look at the blade, I found that it had a couple of nicks between 1/4 and 1/2 of the bevel deep, so I set to honing. After removing the nicks (yes, it took a little over an hour), the door bell rang and here was the postman with my HandAmerica order..talk about timing. Well, I finished honing on the 4/8K, examined the edge and it was pretty uniform all of the way across, all scratch marks parallel to each other and no evidence of a wire edge. I preped a couple of pieces of unfinished leather, one with 1.8 micron 'black diamond' paste and the other with 0.5 micron chromium oxide. 50 laps on each, and the edge looked downright polished under 100x. Popped a hanging hair at three places from each side of the blade!!! Can you feel the excitement here?!

So, I finally am ready to place a straight to my face this evening. But before I do--just in case I end up cutting my throat and never have the opportunity to log back on to this forum--I wanted to thank all of you for the information, advise, and support you provide to newbies such as myself. I'll let you know how the first shave goes. Wish me luck. Ed

Excellent! Congratulations on your success!

I'm looking forward to reading about how it shaves

I'm sure it'll be a great learning experience. I just hope there isn't any blood with the lesson.

X

Congrats .... sounds like the plan is falling into place .... let us know the results!

AWESOME...! Break open the keg!

good job, but ed, don't wait to post how the shave went

sam

Nice job Ed. I look forward to reading how the shave goes.

Please give us all the details of your shave routine and how it turned out.



Wayne, who envies anyone who hones well the first time

Well, given my honing success, I popped a couple of Guiness' yesterday afternoon, so thought twice about my first straight razor shave with a buzz on that evening. I decided descretion was in order, so I put it off until this morning. As I mentioned earlier, my wife and daughter are out of town this weekend, so as you might expect...following shower and initial lathering, while I was stropping, the phone rang. After a 20 minute conversation (don't ask, not answering the phone was NOT an option), I got to start my prep all over again.

I must say the shave was about what I expected (not as good as I had hoped, but then again, not as bad as I'd feared). The razor seemed to perform pretty well. The technique on the other hand, is in serious need of development. I gave the entire face a once over; drew blood from three nicks, none any worse than I've given myself with an M3, all stopped immediately with a quick dab of the styptic. My cheeks and jawline were as smooth as with my M3, mustashe area-ok, under mouth and neck really needed work. I finished up with a second pass with the M3--not wanting to push my luck too soon. My biggest concern going in was shaving over 3 moles, surprisingly, no real problem. Granted, I was inordinately careful shaving over them, but I did not excise even one.

I'll keep y'all informed as I progress and give you a comparison of my honing results compared with a razor that David is sending me this week.

The adventure continues,
Ed

Greetings Ed,

Sounds like the first shave was a success! I look forward to your progress reports!