Hello all from Montreal!

Hello all!

You can call me Max. I'm from Montreal, Canada and have been shaving with a disposable-blade straight razor for half a year now. We can say that I am familiar with the process of face preparation for straight razor shaving.

Tired of those "not-sharp-enough-to-my-taste" blades, I just bought myself a Hart Steel 6/8, quarter ground, round point straight razor and a 2" linen-leather strop. The razor is supposed to be shave-ready, but results are not the same for everyone. Some got their perfect, other needed some further honing. Hopefully mine will be good because I don't have a hone yet.

I read articles around the web and I'm kind of looking for your, you people, acknowledgement on my understanding of my situation as a "end-user" as the wiki would describe me:

1. A good stropping is mandatory before shaving. From the various thread, I understand that roughly 20 pass on linen and then 40 on leather should be good. No paste required.

2. I also read that people are also stropping after the shave in order to clean the blade.

3. Considering the blade as ready-to-shave, in a few months from now, I should be able to touch up my blade with a very fine (10K+ grit) stone and have it "shave-ready" for a life time.

All comments, corrections and acknowledgements are more than welcome.

Thank you for reading!

Max.

Hello Max, and welcome to SRP.
Congrats on your Hart! On your questions,
1 - yes
2 - yes, and
3 - yes, the theory is correct. The blade may need a touch-up sooner than that, but if you do touch it up when it starts to degrade it will never go so bad it needs more extensive work.
Good ho have you with us, and have fun.

Welcome aboard Max.
Pretty much as Str8fencer has already stated but you could consider pastes or crox instead of the touch up hone (or as well as). I find that I can keep my edge in good shape with 30/60 linen/leather before the shave and 15/30 afterwards. Then usually between 10 and 15 shaves I do 15 laps on a crox pasted strop followed by double the usual pre shave stropping. As always there are other options and you really need to find what suits you.
Glad to have you with us, enjoy!

Welcome.
I see you did your homework, good job.

It's always great to have a new straight razor shaver on this site, alternate points of view are always a great help!!
And from reading your post it seems you have things well in hand and should by that shorten the learning curve we all have gone through and are going through, it's an ongoing proccess. Take your time, light even strokes of the blade on face and don't try to do to much to fast, go with grain for starters and lots of face prep is better than less to get the close BBS holy grail of shaving.

And again, Welcome Aboard!!

tinkers of SRP
Sorry about the large type, I get excited about this stuff at times!!

Thank you everyone for the warm welcome.

Your comments raised more question:

1 - I've read that I could expect "months" before having to hone my blade. From your comments this is not true. What is you milage before having to use a Finishing hone?

Also

2 - should I ever expect to have to use 4k and 8k hone?

Thanks!

Max

Right on! Another Canuck!

At the beginning of your shaving, it's quite possible that you will get less shaves from your blade. Simply, your technique with the new razor may take some adjusting....it also may not. A finishing hone or barbers hone is often used for touch-ups, to bring your steel back to shave ready. After a bunch of touch-ups it may well need a bit more ooommmph. This is when you'd drop to the 8K or maybe even the 4K. A little bit of honing and you'll be back up to shave ready.

Good to have you here.

Allright!

Thank you all for your time. Much appreciated.

I think I understand the philosophy. Hopefully, I'll get good with time!

Regards

Max

Bonjour Max, and welcome to SRP from a fellow Canadian in Edmonton!

Yes, you will definitely get good with time. You are already off to a great start by realizing that this IS a philosophy, a way of life..... haha, and some just call it shaving!

Have fun,

Ryan

Bonsoir Max. Welcome to SRP. Pleased to have you aboard!

I trust that your stay here will be both enjoyable and informative.

HAHA !!

Another Montrealer !! :rock:

Anglo ? Franco ? "Pure-laine" ?

East-end?, West-end ?

Or a bit off the Island ? North-shore, South-shore ?


For your second set of questions:

1 - I'm alternating between 2 razors now, and I haven't touched a hone in about 3-4 months now. I've refreshed them on a pasted balsa strop once or twice each, and they feel just as good as they did when they came off the hone. But this depends on your razor. The 2 I'm using now keep a fantastic edge. The first razor I owned needed to go back to the hone much earlier than that. I have no clue how long the edge of a Hart can last.

2 - You should be well set with a Norton 4k-8k. One of my friends (who isn't on SRP) has been using that hone for years and never had a problem (he only needs to use the 8k). To keep you razor in shaving condition, you don't need a big expensive set-up. I've been using a chinese natural stone exclusively for touch ups for a while now (although I haven't used it in a few months), and it's all I need to keep my razors going.


Welcome to SRP Max !!

OK!

I received my razor! I like it!

In the box were:
- The razor
- The leather pouch (very nice)
- A (jewellery like) black case
- The Allen key
- 2" linen/leather strop (bought separately)

So first time ever stropping. I think it went well!

First time shaving with a real straight razor: no cut or burn!

Ok I have to admit that I only did one WTG pass but it was way smoother than my disposable blade straight razor.

I can't really comment on the quality of the "ready-to-shaveness" but like I said it was smoother than Merkur disposable blades. I don't think I'll have to hone for now.

http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/715/hartsteel.jpg

Thanks!

Salut Glenn,

Je pense pas me qualifier de pure-laine (grand-mère exotique, mais c'est tout)!

Definitely francophone, but I mostly work in english. Born in Laval, I now (since university) live and work on the island. Town of Saint-Laurent.

Thanks for the tips!

Ciao

You just experience what I find is what makes the good old straights so fun to use: They're SMOOOOOOOTH. I'm not getting closer shaves than when I used cartridges or DE razors, I was getting pretty darn close shaves with those methods. But I get FAR more smooth & comfortable shaves using a solid straight razor.

Où travailles-tu à Ville St-Laurent? Quelle université as-tu fréquenté ?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Glenn24

Où travailles-tu à Ville St-Laurent? Quelle université as-tu fréquenté ?

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Je travail pour ABB. Je suis gradué de l'École Polytechnique de Montréal.

Et toi?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MBeaudry

Je travail pour ABB. Je suis gradué de l'École Polytechnique de Montréal.

Et toi?

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I work for L-3 Communications up in Mirabel. Their biggest contract is 3rd line maintenance on the CF-18. I went to ETS, studied mechanical engineering.

B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L!!! Lovely peice of work, yes the envy bugs has hit me!

Small world! I'm a mechanical engineer as well!

L-3 comm. looks like a nice company!

Thanks!

The minimalist modern look got me hooked as soon as I saw it!

Welcome to SRP!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Glenn24

You just experience what I find is what makes the good old straights so fun to use: They're SMOOOOOOOTH. I'm not getting closer shaves than when I used cartridges or DE razors, I was getting pretty darn close shaves with those methods. But I get FAR more smooth & comfortable shaves using a solid straight razor.

Où travailles-tu à Ville St-Laurent? Quelle université as-tu fréquenté ?

---

hey hey, I live in ville saint laurent also !
if ever you want to have a meet and do some " show and tell " it would be cool :hmmm:

sadly... I've shown my razor to a couple of friends ... they all think it was a waste of money.

my father said i will get bored of this really quickly ... bla bla bla

no one seems to understand lol

soo c'est ça :P

Salut,

My father saying the same. But then again, I guess they are right if they used to shave with a straight razor before. Shaving is, at times, quite inconvenient and while not necessarily boring, once used with whatever method, still have to do it!?! I guess, we just hope to learn tricks, become proficient with this shaving method and save some money over time?

yes... save a lot of money. those stupid mach 3 cartridges are a rip off. and the straight razor, while a little expensive at first, becomes easier on the wallet lol

Welcome to SRP!

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