Rooney small style 1
Palmolive lather cream
Bismark strop
5/8 square point Helje
Harris face milk
Penhaligon Blenheim Bouquet
Took it easy on the shave this morning. The BB is a great smell for a dreary, rainy day.
Printable View
Rooney small style 1
Palmolive lather cream
Bismark strop
5/8 square point Helje
Harris face milk
Penhaligon Blenheim Bouquet
Took it easy on the shave this morning. The BB is a great smell for a dreary, rainy day.
sitting on floor
hot towel
6/8 Dorko
proraso pre shave
silvertip badger brush
Lemon Cedar Shaving cream
Witch hazel
Tough to do but it feels great to shave.:tu
Shower
50/50 badger boar brush
Czech almond "crema da barba"
6/8 wostenholm 1/4ground with horn scales
TAGMSC afstershave balm
"New Spice" cologne.
Simply great
Small rooney's finest style 1
Harris Arlington soap
5/8 square point
Harris face milk
C&S#88
1 1/2 passes this morning got the job done. Great shave.
Anthony Logistics Pre Shave Soap
All Soft Conditioner
Hot Towel
Classic Shaving Shave Soft
Rooney Silver Tip -small
Timor Hamburg Ring
Classic Shaving Alum Bloc
Thayers, Rose Witch Hazel
Trumpers Coral Skin Food
I got it bad
Rooney small style 1
Harris Arlington soap
Handamerican strop
5/8 square point
Harris face milk
Penhaligon Blenheim Bouquet
Just got my handamerican strop in, and gave it a spin this morning. Had a tough time getting a good draw, so after I finished shaving I conditioned it with the Fromm's conditioner.
Good shave.
Hot Shower
7/8 Wade and Butcher spike
Vulfix 374 silvertip
Tony Miller strop
Williams Mug Soap
Michelsens Bay Rum
First shave since Saturday.
For me, the Williams soap works very well.
Great lather that doesn't dry out.
Terry
For me the trick to using the Williams is building the lather in a different bowl from where I keep the soap, this lets me better control the water ratio. Williams seems to need more water than most soaps, but it does shave very well.
Terry, just put on your rollerblades and head over to Colleen's place. You should know by now that her soaps are pimp :cool:
Sitting on floor
Hot towel
15/16 Dorko
proraso pre shave
silvertip badger brush
C&E Nomad shaving cream
Pinaud Bay Rum.
Stiptic pencil!!!!
Drop your razor?Quote:
Originally Posted by RichZ
If I tried to rollerblade I would probably breakQuote:
Originally Posted by FiReSTaRT
my neck...:) I do have a round of Colleen's
Orange Patchouli. I really need to order some
Sandalwood. Her soaps are very good.
Terry
-C&E BB
-CH OP
-The Winner 9/16
-CH BR as
Today's shave's purpose was 2-fold:
1) To consciously implement the "reduction not elimination" doctrine
2) To re-test Colleen's Bay Rum aftershave
The results:
1) I got an excellent irritation-free shave from a razor that is somewhere in the middle of my rotation, quality-wise. The method really works.
2) The aftershave feels great on my skin and I still like the scent better than DBR.
Additional observations:
Gave myself a small nick, but that was lack of attention and it was so small that it didn't require the use of my dust-collector (styptic pencil).
...So I dashed out the door for an overnight with my new prizes in tow, (just unwrapped 10 minuts prior), and figured from the thumb test they were good nuff....my thumb lied!
Hot shower
Vetiver soap / Old Silvertip Travel brush
Newly aquired FWE Special 6/8
Newly aquired Blackman Strop #814
lots of steptic, many miniature lacerations, minor blood loss.
And, to show how stubborn (read stupid) I am, within arms reach was my matched set of Sheffield Plates, shave ready, that I travel with.
This was by far the worst shave I have ever had...although it didn't seem all that terrible till about 30 seconds after completion. This even beats the one I had in a hotel room when I was without a razor, but 'luckily' found a rusty bic single blade disposable in the top of the closet. ouch
I hope you got a blood test done after the hotel room episode :eek:
Hot shower
B&B Works Bio sth conditioner :rolleyes:
Burma shave boar brush (this thing is shedding lately :rant: )
Honeybee Chamomile soap - pretty mild
6/8 Puma 89 (honed by me) - close to shave-ready
Vit E oil
Trumpers alum block
ice cube
Lucky Tiger AS Toner
L'Occitane CADE AS
3 days of growth to shave! Puma is not where I need it yet. Some HHTs work but not as well as with my blades from Joe or Bill. Tried to build foam on face - didn't work too well; went back to bowl for second pass. Worked on the reduction method. 3 passes and some attention to special places for what didn't feel as a very smooth shave. Even used oil for the 3rd pass. One bleeder, one small nick. The bleeder resulted from some pressure trying to clean my chin with the 'dull' blade. Some red spots which disappeared about 1 hr after the shave. Not too bad, as the alum block felt ok. Still, I need to reach a level of zero redness.
Decent results for me, but the Puma needs to be sharper. Shave felt much smoother when I finished and applied the toner and AS.
Cheers
Ivo
Ivo, what are you honing that Puma with? In any case, it could also be your shaving technique. Try scything to get those tough whiskers outta there. I sometimes resort to it when I realize that the blade needs to go back to the hone after a while.
Anthony Logistics Pre Shave Soap
Hot Towel
Trufit & Hill Preshave Oil
Crabtree & Evelyn Large Super Badger
Home Made Strop - Hand American Red Latigo
G. Westenholm & Sons - 5/8 round point
Classic Shaving Alum Bloc
Thayers Rose Witch Hazel
Paraso After Shave Balm
Got a good shave, not great, This razor needs to be put back on the 4k/8k
Rooney small style 1
Harris Arlington soap
HandAmerican strop
7/8 square point Heljestrand
Harris face milk
Honed on pink translucent arkansas four shaves ago I think. Very smooth comfortable shave. Still no apparent deterioration in the stropped edge, and no noticeable in-shave deterioration either. So far it's holding up at least as well as a stainless edge. I'm planning on using it the rest of the week at least and see how long it goes before needing a quick refresh (carbon blades generally need about 5 laps on the barber hone after shave 3 or 4, stainless usually needs 10 after shave 4 or 5).
Ilija,Quote:
Originally Posted by FiReSTaRT
I did the aggressive sequence on a Norton 4k / 8k, then 30 passes on a Lithide hone and 60 (I know I can get by with 30 but I enjoy it) on a huge 3" strop from Tony Miller. It is fairly sharp, as I shaved most of the growth without problems. I have a bad scar from mountain biking on my chin, it's raised a few milimeters above the normal skin level, so the pressure got its edge. It's still a very small cut, 1mm or so but it bled worse than it looks. You can't even see it now.
I think I'll do the conservative process tonight.
Cheers
Ivo
Rooney small style 1
Harris Arlington soap
HandAmerican strop
7/8 square point Heljestrand
Harris face milk
Honed on pink translucent arkansas four shaves ago I think. Very smooth comfortable shave. Still no apparent deterioration in the stropped edge, and no noticeable in-shave deterioration either. So far it's holding up at least as well as a stainless edge. I'm planning on using it the rest of the week at least and see how long it goes before needing a quick refresh (carbon blades generally need about 5 laps on the barber hone after shave 3 or 4, stainless usually needs 10 after shave 4 or 5).
Michael,Quote:
Originally Posted by mparker762
Thanks for this, I noticed the same with only 3 - 4 shaves. I thought I had average beard, but I have seen performance deteriorate over 3 shaves. I have been hesitant to touch up the edge, because I thought I only need to do it after more shaves... Stropping does not seem to help that much, so I guess I'll just have to refresh edges more often. I am glad I got the Norton combo and the Lithide :D I will probably do some 8K laps and then finish up on the Lithide
Cheers
Ivo
I find this sort of last-bit-of-sharpness honing goes faster if I strop the razor first to get the fin aligned properly, otherwise the hone cuts it off and the first stroke the razor actually gets duller.
Ivo, if all else fails and you just can't get it sharp enough, try honing without the lithide, just the Norton. Before you resort to desperate measures, did you lap the lithide?
I will, Ilija - thanks for the tip. I think it needs very little to get it where I want it :)Quote:
Originally Posted by FiReSTaRT
I did lap the lithide for 10 or so minutes (lightly) on 600 wet/dry sandpaper, got suction + uniform color, eased the edges, so I think it's as good as can be.
Ivo
Different people get different life on an edge. I inherited my tough beard and my olive complexion from my mom's side of the family. I've jammed electric razors with my beard, which is a whole new definition of pain let me tell you. For newbies, the biggest cause of blade dulling is probably careless stropping, so I'd worry about that first. The second biggest cause for guys that hone their own is probably mild overhoning, which produces a weak edge. Make sure you've eliminated the causes you can change before blaming it on things you can't. I still worry that there's something wrong with my honing or stropping, but am comforted by the short lifespan I also get out of DE blades, electric razor blades, and cartridge razor blades.
Go ahead and strop your blade like you would for shaving, then give it five of the lightest laps you can manage on the lithide, and see if the edge comes back.
Oh yeah, and make sure you've lapped your lithide, norton's aren't the only hones that need it.
Today I shaved with the Tonsorial after another honing session. Instinctively, even though it gave me a decent shave last time, I KNEW it could do better. Well now I know why they called it the Tonsorial GEM and they sure weren't kidding. This morning's shave was super-smooth. The blade just glided over the hair and made it disappear. It just might usurp the bismarck as my #2 shaver and get very close to or even with the Taylor. The rest of the routine was the same.
That pink translucent is one heck of a stone. Before I bought my Norton 4k/8k I had purchased a Black Surgical. The fellow at - JP Farm (Ebay Store) recomended this stone to me.
The cost of the Norton was modest, compared to that pink translucent.
Mine's pretty small, only 4x3, but it's first quality and a convenient size for hand-holding. I can get bigger ones, and if this experiment works out I'm tempted to scare up an 8x3. They are pricey though and pretty rare, especially in the first quality grade.
Blacks and translucents aren't generally considered suitable for razors because their grit is so coarse and they are slow cutting, but there is a small but vocal contingent of woodworkers who claim that arkansas makes a stronger edge than the waterstones (there are a lot more guys out there honing their chisels and planes on nortons, shaptons, and coticules than there are straight razor guys sharpening razors on them). Since my beard is so coarse I figured I'd give it a try.
The woodworkers claim that the black works by producing a very fine wire edge which you then strop off leaving a sharp edge. This doesn't seem like a good idea on razors, but the pink translucent has a rep as a equally fine (or finer) grit hone as the black but that cuts at a reasonable speed so it doesn't make a wire edge very readily.
Luck Tiger Molle Brushless under
William's Shave Soap
Puma "High Class" 6/8
Dominica Bay Rum with Lime A/S
The Molle under the shave soap really promotes a nice smooth shave. Keeps the lather from drying and softens the skin. Great combo.
Scott
Hot Towel
Poraso Preshave
Tweezerman Badger Hair Brush
Home Made Strop (Hand American Black Leather)
Genco - Geneva Cutlery 5/8 Round Point
Classic Shaving Alum Bloc
Thayers Rose Witch Hazel
Nivea Sensitive Skin After Shave Balm
Good Shave, not the best, but good.
Same setup as yesterday, but I got a mediocre shave this morning, it's smooth but wasn't comfortable. I don't think the edge is going, I think its the stropping. I got a new handamerican strop a few days ago, and haven't been able to get a good draw on it yet, the fromm dressing helped some but not enough. After the shave I rubbed it down vigorously with mink oil and it looks like it might draw ok now, I'll see how it goes tomorrow.
Michael,Quote:
Originally Posted by mparker762
I did the same with my strop from Tony. I notice that mink oil does improve the draw significantly! I have to reapply once in a while...
No shave to report today.
Cheers
Ivo
My old bismark and illinois strops only ever needed the Fromm dressing, but this handamerican strop uses a very hard smooth leather. One other difference is that I used my old strops for years with my knives so they were well broken in by the time I put a razor to them. I love the handle on this strop, its a big steel loop with a leather pad on it for extra comfort while pulling.
Michael, I made 3 different strops from Hand American leather. A paddle, and 2 hangers. Two I made with Keith's Red Latigo which came with some kind of lubricant all ready on the leather, so I left it alone, no dressing. It has a decent draw.
The second I made of black leather which was very smooth and dry. I gave that a rub with Dovo Strop Paste (yellow). That helped, but the leather is stiff.
I'm just going to use them for awhile and let them break-in slowly. I figure as long as they are not hurting the edge, then the razor and the strop will work together. The razor being aligned by the strop and the strop being bronken in by the razor.
Hot Shower
Vetiver shave soap with old unknown badger brush
Newly arrived old Il. Razor Strop #835 from ebay
Dovo Special 5/8 carbon (1st pass)
R. Stehlo 5/8 rostfri (second pass)
Great shave, bad strop. I pulled the handle off the strop on the second stroke. I have enough dud strops now to make several 4 sided bar strops! BTW, the leather on this strop was VeRy this...are all #835s really thin?
Update: It wasn't dulling the razors, it just wasn't buffing the edge properly. I put some more conditioner on the strop, and worked it around in my hands for awhile to relax the leather and now it works great! My strop has one side in handamerican leather and the other in red latigo. I'm using the side with the handamerican leather, and it's drawing incredibly well, I'm only needing about 30 laps to get the edge aligned instead of the 40 on my old bismark. I stropped some of the razors I thought had been dulled, and their edge came completely back.
-------------------- obsolete --------------------
The mink oil improved the draw to normal levels, but it's still not stropping properly, it's dulling the razors. Looking at the strop, the razor is only rubbing on the edges of the strop, and flipping it over and stropping on the other side indicates it's only touching down the middle of that side. It's looking like the strop is slightly curled. I'm gonna rub it down with an empty wine bottle for 15-20 minutes and see if that straightens it out. If that doesn't work I'll soak it in water and wrap it around a carboy.
Unfortunately I've already pasted my old strop for use on my knives, so there's no going back :-(
-------------------- obsolete --------------------