Thread: London Calling!

Hello Leon and welcome to SRP.
You certainly picked the right man for honing.
Enjoy your time here on the forum and have fun.

Pete <:-}

Originally Posted by petercp4e

Hello Leon and welcome to SRP.
You certainly picked the right man for honing.
Enjoy your time here on the forum and have fun.

Pete <:-}

Thanks very much, Pete.

Welcome.

Originally Posted by celestino

Welcome.

Thanks, Celestino

Welcome aboard. Shaving with a straight is one thing. Honing a razor and maintaining the edge is another. I can’t emphasize enough how important proper stroping is. You absolutely must be proficient in stropping your razor. You can send it away to be honed but ya gotta strop. Lynn Abrams YouTube videos on Shaving, stropping, and honing are very good. Lots of knowledgeable folks on the forum and always willing to help.

Originally Posted by Legman

Welcome aboard. Shaving with a straight is one thing. Honing a razor and maintaining the edge is another. I can’t emphasize enough how important proper stroping is. You absolutely must be proficient in stropping your razor. You can send it away to be honed but ya gotta strop. Lynn Abrams YouTube videos on Shaving, stropping, and honing are very good. Lots of knowledgeable folks on the forum and always willing to help.

Thanks, Legman.
Yes; Lynn Abrams' videos have been very instructive. It's taken a few weeks but I've finally developed some good muscle memory for rolling the tang between thumb and forefinger and (touch wood) am no longer nicking up my strop on the flip.
I started with a latigo strop but just this past weekend picked up a russian leather which I much prefer the draw on.
Slowly, slowly...

Update #2

I've now had a chance to shave with my newly honed razor and wanted to post a few thanks and thoughts:

Firstly, a huge thank you goes to Celticcrusader: I posted my razor to him on Monday; on Tuesday he called me to say he had received it and explained his honing process; on Wednesday I had it back in my hands. Amazing service and kindness from a real gent.

Celtriccrusader promised me that the edge he had put on it was like 'night and day' to the one he'd received; he wasn't wrong!

Doing a HHT, I only had to show the blade to a hair for it to split.

Of course, what really matters is the shave itself and the experience was superlative. With an edge so keen I needed so little pressure I could barely feel it move across my cheeks: 2 1/2 days growth simply melted away.

They say one is more likely to cut one's self with a dull knife than a sharp one and I assume the same goes for razors. Two passes, clean as you like. No weepers, no irritation.

Honestly, I couldn't be happier with the razor.

Thanks everyone!

Hello Leon, welcome aboard.

Very welcome Leon!
Exciting transition aye?! This is a great place, I know you will enjoy it.
As far down the rabbit hole as you wish to go this place will take you!
Cheers

Hi YoWan, hi MikeT

Thanks for welcomes.

I don't have much to contribute around these parts, but I'm enjoying reading everyone's posts.
My shaves are continuing to improve as I:

1. Loosened the death-grip and learnt it's all in the wrist (lessons for life, really);
2. Learnt my preferred way of holding the razor for an ear-to-nose XTG pass is with the toe pointing down;
3. Learnt puffing my cheeks is far more important than it was for DE shaving;
4. Learnt I need a slicker lather than I do for DE shaving.

I swapped my latigo strop for a russian leather one thinking I preferred a much faster draw. I do, but it put me back almost to square one. For now, the only thing I really feel comfortable stropping on is polywebbing but I'm a pretty patient guy and know it will all come good one day.
Till then, I think CelticCrusader will be seeing my razor a few more times.