Hello all, stopping in to say hello, been lurking for a bit now, but may post a bit here and there.
Warning: I am not always succinct.
Wanted to get into straight razor shaving for awhile now - looking at some old emails, my wife tried picking up some items in time for our anniversary in the fall of 2006 but something was backordered, and she ended up getting me some goodies in the spring of '07.
Unfortunately, she didn't get everything I needed at the time, (like a shave ready razor for one, a strop for two...) and between a new job (apprenticeship), moving, onset of kids, a nice big ding in the blade within a year as well when it fell, and so on, the shaving just never happened.
I've had some sort of fur on my face with a clippered off to stubble approach for the rest for several years, but the razor and brush in the stand and nice monogrammed mug all collecting dust have been bugging me. So sometime about a month ago (maybe a bit longer) I figured it was time to correct that (also, Dad and the Christmas Amazon gift card may have helped).
Started trying to look up some knowledge - hmmm, *did not* find SRP right off, however. So, some mistakes have been made, which are pretty clear, but dogged perseverance appears to be finally triumphing :D
Started off with some hones and a strop. Got the King 250/1000, the 800/4000, the King Nagura and the Chicago 127 strop. Of the hones, the 250/1000 is narrow, the 250 side feels like concrete, and it's just not pleasant. The 1000 has a nice feel, as does the 800 on the other stone. The strop I took some 320 sandpaper to and rubbed in some neatsfoot oil a few times, and in all honesty I really like it (don't know much, but hey!).
Managed to get the chip ground away it seemed like, and started trying to get a decent edge on the razor. OH YEAH - the razor. A Dovo Stainless, with Olivewood handle (41 5875). With the 4000, it got to...ehhhh. Tried some shaves but it certainly seemed to be missing the wow factor.
Added a few more things, some were better than others :p Bought a really cheap strop pair plus some of the crox...the woodcraft stuff...yeah, so that 6 year old thread I hadn't seen yet might've warned me off...um whoops. That strop makes the 127 look REALLY good though! Sanded it down and ran some oil into it anyway, then smoothed out the back side as well before applying green stuff like cake frosting. :gaah:
Also picked up the Japanese version of the Shapton ceramic 8K, because it was cheaper, and the DMT8C. Both of them, I likey. Finally flattened out my other hones, noticed the big fat frown in my blade as well, and generally did some more horrible things to it. Just think of bad newbie honing tricks gone wrong and you should have the idea. Had tried shaving after getting the 8K (well, already knew from the arm hair test) and it was a no-go.
So, today, I went back to the beginning, AGAIN - oh wait. Also, had a cheap 40/60 light up jeweler's loupe arrive today. Looking at the blade, had a slight frown again :( and mostly on one side, an odd bevel arrangement. Rather than multiple bevels stacked up, it was like one faded in midway down the blade and took over.
Anyway, threw on tape, went down to DMT, worked at it. Worked at it some more. AND SOME MORE. Then the 800...then some quality time with the 1000. And a bit more sweet cuddling time with the 1000. Was making my arms look diseased with the patches missing at this point. Off to the 4000 for a long romantic visit with some music playing while I let the kids run free and drive the wife crazy. Finally it was time to spend a bit of time at the 8K Shapton.
After that, I scraped scraped brushed brushed sanded sanded the el cheapo strop (with the pseudo crox on it) and gave it a little bit of time on there because I've been resigned to buying something shave ready at this point anyway. Then a good appreciative stretch on the linen, followed by a nice deep tissue massage, err good times on the 127.
Took a nice hot shower, got some soap lathered up, and time to see the truth of the matter:
HOLY, ERR, STUFF
IT WORKED
Still have yet to do a complete shave, but I consider this my first shave with anything even remotely shave ready. (Did cheeks, jawline - have a regular moustache/goatee - and some of the neck, face was wtg/atg.)
So I guess I'll stick with this thing! :cool: