Thread: Beginners, The 1k shave . . .

Would a Surgical black or translucent Ark be considered cheating? They are rated at 1200 grit. :P Well first iteration was 120 laps on denim, 60 on nubuck, 60 on shell. Not sure what your standards will be, but I may have gone over and above actually. I'm already worried about the shave. I might just do a little part of my face with this one... lol. The blade feels grabby, but cuts hairs waayyy above skin level. Guess we'll see.

Not sure if it matters but: Solingen Full Hollow, Norton 1k, denim, cowhide, shell. Then again, maybe Gssixgun already pointed out what we are determined to learn the hard way.

Oops, things are changing faster than I can post. I better reign it in til you got the standards set. lol

Well, we will run this experiment for 2 weeks, you may need recovery days.
As suggested you will be allowed:
800-1500 grit stone
1 household material (newspaper, balsa, construction paper, ect) max 50 strokes
1 linen strop max 50 strokes
1 leather strop max 80 strokes
and a dulled razor of course...
Nothing else until your third attempt, then its a free for all.

Tonight I did the following
-clean stone of grit and slurry (norton 1k)
-dulled razor (wolstenhom imperial 5/8) with three edge passes on the side on the 1k
-tape razor
-20 circle set firm pressure
-6 sets of 5 x stroke (Glen uses sets of 5, works for me)
-check, more work at toe and heel
-retape razor
-clean stone
-6 sets of 5 x low pressure
-3 sets of 5 x No pressure- perfect strokes.
-40 strokes on construction paper
-40 strokes on linen
-40 strokes on my really long strop (equal to 60 maybe)

It is sobering to see what a 1k is capable of. By no means was that a smooth shave, but 2 pass damn near bbs with very little burn, and Im sure my edges were worse when I started with a straight.

Looking forward to hearing others results!

I forgot to mention, I drew 7 weepers

Sorry Maxi, I hope my 50 50 80 works for you, I set that as a maximum.

No problem....just need to know the details so that I can get to it....

I have a few on the bench, so I'll either be honing tomorrow or Thursday. I'll post as soon as I can.

The funny thing is that I actually shaved that way until I found this site So I know for a fact it can be done. As for the comfort, well...

I'll try it once. Just my 1k Chosera and linen and leather. Then, just to satisfy my curiosity, I'll do one on the Chosera and Crox/diamond on felt.

Well although my first one exceeded the boundaries of stropping, I did shave with it anyhow. It was 120 denim, 60 nubuck, 60 shell. It took about 200 laps on the N1k to bring the edge back after dulling on the side of an Arkansas with just one stroke. Haven't managed to find success with circles yet.
Judgement: Alot of my razors need more time on the 1k. I've probably logged days of finishing razors without a good bevel set. Anyhow, it was a two pass shave, and I could shave this way just fine if I had to. No razor burn, one weeper. Now I'll drop the stropping down into acceptable territory and see what that yields. It does kinda make me wonder why I spend so much time trying to "finish" a razor. I can't imagine this edge really needs much more to make it perfectly comfortable. This exercise is highly valuable to me. Thanks for starting the thread. We gonna do a 4k next? This could be exceptionally enlightening.

I'm in. I have a 1k King waterstone, and a Joseph Rodgers I've been polishing, and which currently doesn't cut arm hair. Probably won't have time to do the honing until Sunday, will post results afterwards. I'll try newspaper, denim then leather for stropping, 50-50-80 as suggested.

I don't promise to complete the shave if it burns/tugs/hurts, mind.

Originally Posted by regularjoe

Well although my first one exceeded the boundaries of stropping, I did shave with it anyhow. It was 120 denim, 60 nubuck, 60 shell. It took about 200 laps on the N1k to bring the edge back after dulling on the side of an Arkansas with just one stroke. Haven't managed to find success with circles yet.
Judgement: Alot of my razors need more time on the 1k. I've probably logged days of finishing razors without a good bevel set. Anyhow, it was a two pass shave, and I could shave this way just fine if I had to. No razor burn, one weeper. Now I'll drop the stropping down into acceptable territory and see what that yields. It does kinda make me wonder why I spend so much time trying to "finish" a razor. I can't imagine this edge really needs much more to make it perfectly comfortable. This exercise is highly valuable to me. Thanks for starting the thread. We gonna do a 4k next? This could be exceptionally enlightening.

Thank you for your honesty, Its posts like this that will pull real beginner honers on board for this experiment. I think doing 4K after is an excellent idea, and im excited to find out how smooth of an edge it will deliver.

There has to be more of us struggling with their edges, dont be shy to post. This is not a competition.

I got a little something different planned for tonight.... Will post my results later.