Thread: hello from Sydney

Hello Andrew and welcome to SRP.
Enjoy your time here on the forum.

Pete <:-}

Welcome Andrew. Great bunch of fellas on here. Enjoy your time at SRP.

Hi and welcome aboard

Gents for the very kind welcome. Unfortunately I haven't yet worked out how to post photos to the thread from this device. But I can explain how I got to where I am.

My razors started with a Dovo 5/8 then a 6/8. Then I acquired a Henckels Friodur Inox 6/8 with a slight frown. I honed away for a few years on an unremarkable Synthetic 800 and 3k Naniwa. For finishing I first tried a Belgian Blue, then a small Coticule. After a while I tried a Jnat (Wakasa, which is around 4.5 in hardness) with the 3 Asano slurry stones (Botan, Koma, Mejiro) Results were mixed and inconsistent so I left the jnat alone for a long time. With the coticule I tried unicot and dilicot methods and worked out that I could get a decent edge by apply more layers of tape throughout the progression. My shaving skills improved slowly but I
never had achieved anything remarkably close. Just a decent shave so that I could present myself to the world without cutting my face up. It must have been a hassle as I started using disposables again 🤔. Would just use a straight when I ran out. I'm bald and shave my head too. Then I found out that if I used a straight on my head I could save a bit of time. I just tidied things up with the disposable. So it was like this for a few years, an intermittent straight shaver with developing skills.

Then I understood something about the bevel! It's just the surface that lead up to the edge, you don't need to worry about micro bevels or extra layers of tape. You just need to ensure it is flat, hence the importance of the tap and wobble! It was so simple. I wish someone had explained that before.

So the three German razors went back to the stones for a tap and wobble and a good bevel setting on the coarser stones. Then the Coticule was employed in bevel setting (only) with lots of slurry and the Jnat re-emerged from its hibernation in the kitchen cupboard for finishing. Fantastic result!

Disposable razors now gathering dust or perhaps stolen by my wife or daughter for shaving legs.

It took a while but I got there and now I have renewed interest in straights. Just bought some Japanese ones and considering selling the German ones. Not sure if I want a rotation of razors or just one or two higher quality ones. Regardless I'm interested in fixing up the German ones, the Henckels Friodur still frowns and one of the dovos has a cracked scale.