Thoughts from an exginner
I've been lurking around here for a few weeks, but think it's now time to step out of into the light. I'm an "exginner" (don't look it up, it's my creation), yes, an experienced and a beginner concerning straight razors. And I think I could contribute to the community.
I live in Berlin, Germany, so please, have mercy on my english. This may become a longer unorganized post, sorry for that too... OK, let's start
How it all began
It has not been easy, when I started with straight razors about twenty years ago. There was no father or grandfather who could tell me how to do it and we had no internet, no Youtube, no community like this. Getting a straight wasn't easy too, even in a city like Berlin.
So I spoke to my hairdresser Toni. He had several vintage straights in his display. No one came for a shave anymore - men did not do "wellness" in the 80s, but he was an old scool guy and helped me with the basics. I had a brush from my grandfather (still have it) and Tony organized a new DOVO Bismarck and a two sided strop (plain/green). He told me how to strop and that, when he himself learned to shave with straights, his teacher made im practice with a balloon, before he was allowed to try on a real face. I received no real training, but at least a thorough introduction between two appointments and if I had questions, I could ask someone.
Equipped with that, I started shaving with a straight razor. I can't remember if I ripped balloons first or if I was keen enough to start with my true face. But I read many threads where beginners were either scared to death or almost killed themselves on their first attempts and I think the idea of training on a balloon first is not a bad idea at all.
I then got a beautiful DOVO as a birthday present. It has stainless steel scales fully plated with real mother of pearl. With these two knives I shaved for the next years. Tony later gave me one of his old "Ben Hur", which however has a very flat blade, probably basicly meant for trimming.
My wife then started to prefer a "three day beard" on me So I changed to a three/four day routine and one day we bought an electrical trimmer. This way it could always be "day three" in terms of beard growth and that was basicly the end of the shaving with straights.
For some time used to be a bit painfull when I shaved with the straight (I use no pre-, middle-, after-, whatevershave), the face was quite irritated and when wearing shirts with tie - especially in the summer - my neck was red all over. Additionally I was working like a horse (actually, still do) and every saved minute counted. So the electric trimmer was welcome for several reasons.
All the years I held the "mother of pearl" close to the sink, ready for usage and the strop hanging available. Sometimes I got back to it, but the confidence - like with a first timer - was not there. Additionally the strop hung on the heating close to the shower and over the years got dry and convoluted. So I did not dare to use it.
March 2013 - Straights reloaded
Wife is history, but some of the routine remained. Time still is the most valuable good, but should I not spend some of it on me? The razor, still on the left side of the sink, for something like twenty years now. Love it, like it, every morning. Yes! But this time for real. Strop: needs replacement. Brush: fine. Soap: empty.
We're in 2013 now. This is internet time - re-learn! How should a straight shave feel? Is it gentle? Is it harsh? Is my knife sharp? Is it dull? How to sharpen my blades? ...
So I got a new strop, Taylor of Bonds Street soap for the empty bowl and a brand new DOVO. That should be my reference and show me the state of my razors and see what is possible .... another lesson learned! What was that? a brand new DOVO-superduper knife basicly rips my skin off while my twenty year old love treats me like a king? Can't even shave hair from my arms - WTF!!
Sidekick: - The problem with teaching others is, that certain skills have become so much second nature, that we take them for granted and do not even realize them being special skills. Hence we basicly start teaching beyond the basics. There is a honing video on youtube where gssixgun is watching and teaching another guy, who is on the stones for the first time. This guy struggles on things like taping the spine and gssixgun lively realizes that the problems actually do start way beyond the correct angle or pressure. Being an exginner I realize those things and might be of help. -
How sharp is sharp?
New razors come with usage information and a sticker saying: "this is a very very sharp and sensitive edge. Do never ever dare to ...".
None of them says: "congratulation You're holding a piece of high quality steel in Your hand. Now go and get the edge Yourself".
I now know that's the way it is, and I know why. But, if You just have the idea of starting with straights, get Yourself a razor from a normal shop (not like Lynn's, who delivers only honed razors) and begin with what they gave You, it will definitely become a bad experience.
There are no more fathers and grandfathers that transfer their knowledge to son or grandson. Instead, we all have start into the blue. There is a big generation gap and the knowledge is basicly lost. Great potential or even responsibility for the producers, but they don't see it and sleep. Lucky those, who find a forum like this one.
So I had a brand new dull piece of high quality metal, my "mother of pearl" in questionable state and I found the Bismarck and the "Ben Hur" somewhere stowed away. But, what was that? Shame on me, the Bismarck completely rusted. Broccoli all over the edge - holy shh...! I must have forgotten it or I treated it with cream that obviously did not do what I thought it would. The "Ben Hur" also got some, but none on the edge.
Were they as sharp as possible or where they actually dull? Lynn, Gssixgun and the other guys have so many blades done, they touch one, they know it.
But for us earthlings it is hard to tell. Reading around, You will find several methods to test sharpness. Some of them are destructive, thus not usable.
Basicly two tests remain. The thumb (or three finger) test and the shave test. And, yes the hair test, which is disputable.
Thumb test: I've had several years of shaving experience, but I would have never ever dared to put my thumb directly on the edge and probably even move it along the edge. ... I do it now, all the time, but today I am on another "zen"-level (see below). At that time, no way!
And even today I "read" different information depending on where I actually touch the blade and whether my thumb is dry or wet, cold or warm.
Additionally, a good sharp edge at first feels less sharp than a bad sharp edge (= saw blade like). The bad one is more agressive, immediately willing to bite, the good one behaves and, moving the thumb just a tiny fraction of an inch along the edge, the good one politely asks for permission to enter the flesh.
Shave test: OK, "the blade is sharp when it gives You a comfortable shave". Fine. But how do I know whether any of my, let's say 2000 shaves, fell into the category "comfortable"? Today I know. None of them was, because I now had comfortable shaves. I now have a different reference, I have a better idea what is possible. a few months ago I would have said "that seems to be the way it is". So the shave test is only as good as Your reference. By the way. How many shaves a day can You do?
Barbers seem to come up in the U.S. Maybe it's a good idea to actually get a professional shave at least once to have a benchmark.
Hair test: None of my razors passed the hair test. Hair on my arm is also thin and tends to duck away. Was that a problem of the blade, a problem of the angle between hair and blade, a problem of the hair used, a problem of the way I held the hair, a problem of the hair's state (wet, fatty, dry...)?
All of these tests are good when You have the expertise and reference to interpret the information they return. A newbee can only test the current state, do something, test again and see if it got better or worse.
I wanted to understand, see what is actually going on, get objective information. So I ended up buying a microscope. A microscope is frustrating, but it allows to actually see the sharpness as well as the quality of the edge (also here a bit of learning is necessary).
I now use thumb test, microscope and "standing hair test" side by side. I've learned what the edge feels when it looks like 'this'.
The "standing hair test" is another stupid invention from me. Hair is like policemen. Everywhere, but never around when You need them. So I was pulling hair with little or no success until I realized that there is always hair on the head standing free and I started to simply move the blade over my head in a distance of something like 2". With a good blade, the hair not only goes "kr-kr-kr-kr-kr" but also gives feedback via more or less pulling. For me a great method that I can use without mirror.
My first honing project
Today I can say, honing my first razor was the best thing that happened to my "straight razor shaving career". Not because I ended up with a sharper razor, but because it gave me more confidence and understanding than years of stropping and shaving. I literally spend a night and parts of the next day with it (her?), talking and listening to each other.
I had read all the sources on honing, watched all the videos and was completely confused. The first step is the hardest one to take. How to choose the right stone(s).
Most of my blades where DOVOs and I had the idea that, if anyone knows how to bring them back to life, it would be the manufacturer. They would know what is best for their blades. Boy, was I wrong.
I wrote an e-Mail to DOVO - You know, one of these nice ones, how much I love their products, the whole story etc. - and received an answer on the very same day. Wish they never answered it - that would allow me to keep up the illusion. Worst customer experience in my whole life. Standard text-answer no.13, not a single word referring to my request, value of information close to none. But offering a sharpening service for 19,90 € plus shipping - No, You will never get my razors!
From what I read, Naniwas and Norton seemed to be good, affordable and widely used. I went for the Naniwas as I could get them over here. Started with two combos (800/5000 and 3000/10000) and later added an 8000 and a 12000.
The idea was to sharpen the "mother of pearl" while having the new one as a reference and for usage. As the "mother of pearl" now was the only usable one, that strategy failed. On the other hand I did not dare to put the new one on the stones. I can't speak for others, but for me putting the blade onto a stone for the very first time was a huge step. Seing others doing it is one thing, doing it yourself another.
So I talked to the Bismarck. There was literally nothing we could loose. Current state was scrap metal. So Bismarck and I agreed on giving it a try.
Got rid of the rust using fine wet-sand paper and started with my first x-strokes. I had seen Lynn's videos about honing in circles, but it took me quite a while to see how much or little each stone actually takes off. And I was very very careful. Doing a few strokes, checking with the magnifying glass (no microscope then), strokes, checking....
There was a lot of metal that needed to be removed. The problem with rust is not what is on top, it's the corrosion that goes into the metal. On the edge these parts simply become holes when material is taken away building up the edge.
I am standing at the kitchen table when honing and sometimes acted like a big pendulum, a living honing mashine.
Breadknifing would have been the right thing to do, but that was my first hone-job and Bismarck and I agreed on taking it easy. However after a few hours I put fine sand paper on the stone and honed on that one. Surprisingly that worked.
That night, when the blade was trustfully dull, I started using the thumb test and started learning to read it. With the hours the edge came back. When the sun appeared and birds woke up, I realized that tiredness and sharp edges don't go along well, and went to bed. Later I finished the job and in the afternoon we had our first shave together.
Meanwhile I have acquired and honed several other razors and I do it in combination with the microscope. Still a beginner, getting better each time, and more and more knowing what job can be accomplished by which stone. Honing a razor still takes me much longer than Lynn, gssixgun and the others. The number of strokes does not work for me. I barely use pressure and I am more precise when I use two hands. But I can see that I'm doing good and the outcome is way beyond my expectations. If anyone is interested, I can post some of the microscoping pictures in other posts. It's quite interesting to see.
Correct me, if I am wrong, but from what I experienced, I would now state, that the most important thing on honing is setting the primary edge on the bevel setter - the 800 or 1000 grit stone and not the final strokes on the finishing stone whichever grit that might be. I may have honed just about 12 razors, but on some of them I spent up to six hours. Most of the time lost trying to do a job with a stone that should have been done by another stone.
If the primary edge is not set properly with the 800 or 1000 grit stone, there is almost no way of doing that job with a 3000 grit stone - it can be done, but literally takes hours. The primary edge is the foundation and sometimes it takes guts to go back and get it right.
For me I found that, even when the blade feels sharp, until I am not able to shave hair from my arm on an 800 level, the edge is not properly there and there is no sense in going to the next higher grit.
A few words on Stropping
When You start skiing, they teach You to lean forward and turn Your upper shoulder into the valley. It's as simple as that and the only way to get grip on the edges. Still, I bet, the most spoken sentence in the mountains all over the world is "Bergschulter zum Tal!" (turn upper shoulder towards the valley!).
Why? Because that movement is completely against our nature.
What can You do about it? Practice deliberately, practice deliberately, practice deliberately. And when You've done that, practice deliberately.
It's the same with stropping:
"Hold the strop taught but not tight, hold the razor, preferably with two fingers, controlled and not too loose but so, that You can flip it like this... Now put the razor on the leather with the spine first and use basicly no pressure. Now move upwards with an x-stroke motion (but no presssure and hold the strop taught - taught, neither loose nor tight), flip the blade, move it over. While flipping start the x-stroke towards You, before the blade touches the leather (to prevent cutting). Now flip back and reapeat. Like this"... 'zip'-'zip'-'zip'-'zip'....
"Yes, master. Will do master" - Forget it!! You are holding this tipsy little thing in Your hand that happens to be one of the sharpest but most sensitive things on earth. If it falls down, You'll either cut Your toe off or damage the blade to scrap metal, or both. If You move a fraction of an inch into the wrong direction, You'll cut the leather and dull the blade. Too much pressure also might damage the edge and holding the strop too loose will also dull the blade. And did I say that pulling the strop too tight also is not good?
Accept it as it is: You will pull too tight. You will have marks on the fingers that hold the razor, You will put too much pressure on the blade and there will be no fluent and even movement. You will understand how to flip the blade, but You'll have no clue how to tell Your fingers to do it without loosing the razor or performing funny motions with the wrist. - Practice slowly and deliberately, practice slowly and deliberately....
There is a good thread "stroptober" in this forum with several good posts and videos and I think, even for an advanced, who is doing it more or less automatically it is a good thing to pick up ideas from others and practise slow and deliberately from time to time.
You do need a real razor with the scales always trying to flip here or there to practice stropping. You can't use a blift or butter knife for that.
Not everyone has an old and dull razor at hand but lately I had an idea that might be helpful: I had to put a new blade into a box cutter and before I dispose such a blade I put tape around the (still) sharp edge so that no one accidentally can be injured. I've never read this as a tip, but wouldn't it be a good idea to carefully put electrical tape around the edge of the razor (giving a little air over the edge) and practice with that "safe" razor. That could take a lot of stress and danger out of the matter and there'd be no danger cutting the leather.
There are lots of good sources around this place, youtube, etc. Use them! I had none of them and basicly had to learn my stropping by trial and error. However, somehow I must have gotten it right as my razors have never been sharpened or honed and still gave me a quite a good shave after years of usage - or what I at that time thought would be a good straight razor shave.
Still, now for the new start, I watched and read them all and reestablished my stropping - yes. I have not done it for something like 15 years and was unfamiliar, with holding the blade and flipping, used too much pressure and slightly cut the new strop on the turning point (the idea of using tape came later). But in no time the "muscle memory" kicked in and I was back on track.
Puuhhh, OK, that's my "hello community". I wonder if anyone will read up to here. Hope it at least contains *some* valuable information.
