Thread: Opinions Welcome (and wanted!): Boker Edelweiss, Dovo All Stainless, Dovo Diamant

Originally Posted by roughkype

Hi Nathan,

Just one quick reply--yes serrations on a table knife will probably scratch a strop.

Also, don't strop your new blade before its first use. It will have been stropped.

+1 on both of the above, Nathan. "butter" knives aren't table knives. and remember, super super gentle downward pressure when stropping.

Hey, all.

Man, this reply is late. So, not but two (maybe one and a half) days later, I got my package from SRD. Dannng, fast!

As for RoughKype and dArtagnan: Sorry! You guys are spot on. That's the result of being raised and told that a table knife is a butter knife. I know exactly what butter knives are (officially), but yes, I was thinking of a table knife. I wasn't going to strop until I felt the blade get a little 'tuggy', as I know Lynn thoroughly honed and stropped it for me. I'm going to give my first shave session a go tonight and record the results. I feel as though I've watched enough youtube vids that it'll go somewhat smoothly. I only worry about my lower jaw/neck area. But we'll see, won't we?

Thanks for all the advice, info, comments, etc., everyone. Fantastic input from everyone.

-Nathan

OK, it's the next day. If we don't hear from you in... three more hours we're calling the authorities.

Hope it went well. Waiting to hear.

Hey, Roughkype.

Sorry about that. I just got finished shaving not too long ago. It was a great experience. Almost therapeutic. I love the process of making the shaving soap. The badger hair brush and 'soap' felt amazing in and of itself.

Few things. I probably should have trimmed my face down before I shaved. I usually sport a semi-beard. Maybe inch long give or take a 1/2. So I went at it straight with the, well, straight-razor. It felt like it was kind of tugging / sticking to my face a bit. But I am almost certain that it was because I didn't dilute the soap down with enough water in my mug. It was thick and kind of 'sticky'. Not aerated enough. So I diluted it down and the shave went smoother.

No cuts, no nicks, no irritation of any kind. Caveat: I hope this doesn't upset any 'purists', but I didn't give myself a full shave. I will be doing that tomorrow. However, I'm meeting with someone soon and I've worn a beard ever since I've known them. Waiting one more day can't hurt. But, what I did do is 'trim'. And honestly, I did the parts I felt would be most difficult:

I shaved everything up to and below my jawline. So I shaved my neck, behind my sideburns, my throat. These were the parts that were scaring me, but I managed to pull it off with no 'authorities' having to be called. My technique needs serious work, this I know. I often caught myself with a very peculiar grip. And what are your opinions on shaving 'against the grain'? I felt myself naturally doing it for my neck and lower throat. As I'm typing now, I feel a little bit of a burn / warmth at the throat area and cheeks. But I just applied aftershave.

Anyway, I've never had such a clean / clear / close shave on my neck and throat area. One or five hairs always escape me. And when I do get them, there is always stubble (uneven stubble for that matter) the multi-layered head safety razors just don't have the flexibility and mobility to contour to my jawline appropriately. So that was a definite plus.

So to sum up: It was a great experience. Can't wait to finish the job tomorrow. I have the right idea for making my soap next time. I will try to keep a better angle on the blade as well as a more consistent grip. I also used my right hand the entire shave. I know that's not ideal, but I wasn't comfortable going 'lefty' just yet.

I'll attach a pretty crap quality photo. But you'll get a better idea of what I shaved vs what I didn't.

Originally Posted by nathangra

I'll attach a pretty crap quality photo. But you'll get a better idea of what I shaved vs what I didn't.

There were some small dots / streaks on my blade when I was done. I only noticed it when I washed it with hot water and wiped it down with a very soft toilet paper (cottonelle or what have you). But when I used my fingers to run down the sides of the razor (not the blade!) I was able to wipe them off. Hm. Soap residue?

Originally Posted by nathangra

My technique needs serious work, this I know. I often caught myself with a very peculiar grip. And what are your opinions on shaving 'against the grain'? I felt myself naturally doing it for my neck and lower throat.

Good job, Nathan! Technique takes time f/ us all. I'm still learning and certainly will be f/ some time I'm sure. I, too, seem to come up w/ some awkward grips quite a bit as some spots are just so hard to address in all three passes. Much of my neck beard grows in a more east/west direction, so a lot of my ATG action is horizontal which is a pain due to the concave vertical profile of the neck. I just shaved my goatee off today so not having to detail that every shave should speed up my shave time in a big way. I just have to deal w/ detailing the perimeter of my 'stache f/ now.

What kind of soap are you trying? I've been playing around w/ Proraso soap, C.O. Bigelow/Proraso cream, & even bought a can of the C.O. B/P lather just in case I really need to rush sometime. I also have a very nice Cella almond soap which smells great, a very inexpensive Van der Hagen from Walgreen's, and a very old (like 25+ yrs) vintage cake of Yardley that still smells great and gives a super smooth shave.

I've also just started experimenting w/ making my own pre-shave oil. My first small 3 shave batch was roughly 1 part castor oil, 1 part quality extra virgin olive oil, 1 part grape seed oil, a couple drops of glycerin, and f/ smell a couple drops of sandalwood essence oil (2 bucks in the beauty department at WalMart). This seems to be working as well as my sample from AOS and is not as thick due, I think, to the use of the grape seed oil.

And try to get an alum block and some witch hazel if you don't already have them f/ your post-shave. F/ now I've been using Clubman's and Old Spice aftershave as both are easy to find locally, are inexpensive, and smell pretty damn good. My wife prefers the OS, but I may like the Clubman's by just a hair.

Best, and keep us posted.