Thread: Shave #10 with straight

The new razors are hit and miss, more miss seems the experience of those that hone for others. It’s nice to hear when someone gets lucky. It’s also nice to hear that you are catching on. It is not rocket science but it does require paying attention and practise. Happy shaves!

Congratulations..!!!

Sounds like your picking up on things pretty quickly.

Getting your muscle memory down, will take some time.

Mapping your face, and proper skin stretching, goes a long way, in this game. Take your time, learn what grip your most comfortable with, even if its your own. Most will say, its best to learn to shave with both hands. Where there's guys like me, that only shave with our dominant hand, and adapt our own grip, to what's comfortable to us.

A small tip...keep your angle low, and only enough pressure, to shave the lather. Should take care of those weepers.

Shave on..!!

Sounds like your already shaving better than me.

Aftah 100 shaves...then report back. By then....muscle memory is in its infant stage and starting to develope...and one has a wee bit of confidence.

The force is strong in this one...

You are getting it! BBS is not something I worry about. Nobody notices anyway! I go a single WTG pass and I am quite satisfied with my shaves. The Bismarck and the BL are both nice razors so you picked a couple of good ones. Make sure you always stretch the skin properly, and keep the shave angle nice and shallow. Soon, cuts will be a rare occurrence and your face will feel great after shaving. Do you have a styptic pencil? That's pretty old school but it still works great to stop bleeding and disinfect small cuts.

The next thing you will probably want to learn is how to maintain your nice sharp edges. Me, I use a progression of three balsa strops. I glue 1/4" thick balsa to 3/4" x 3" x 12" cast acrylic plate from TAP Plastics. Three acrylic plates, three pieces of balsa. 3M spray adhesive works fine. Spray it on kind of medium heavy to acrylic and balsa, let it dry to just tacky, then stick them together, flip them balsa down onto a flat surface, and pile some weight on the back of the acrylic for a few hours. This stabilizes the balsa which otherwise would warp and swell and shrink. Then I lap the balsa on a whole sheet of sandpaper glued flat and tight onto a flat surface, first 220 grit then 400 grit. No need to go any finer. A toothbrush or a bronze bristle gun cleaning brush is good for clearing the sandpaper when it loads up. Once it is lapped, I wipe it down carefully with a clean tshirt, and apply diamond paste, starting with the finest and ending with the coarsest. You must always be very careful to not contaminate a finer balsa with a coarser abrasive! A little paranoia here is beneficial. .5u, (half micron) .25u, and .1u is the normal progression. About a half a pinto bean size bit for the initial treatment is more than enough. You do not want a coating. The idea is to rub it into the grain of the balsa. So just dot it around, smear it and rub it in with your fingers, then wipe the balsa down so there is no excess. Wipe the finest first. This will take your edge from 12k or 1u level into the star trek zone. Feedback is not very reliable with this medium so just go about 50 laps on each, maybe 100 or more on the .5u if the edge is not fresh off the stone or film. Wipe the blade carefully and wash hands between stages.

Sounds like a lot of work, huh? That is just because you have to begin by bridging the huge jump between the typical 12k finishing stone to 200k diamond. Once you got your phaser sharp edge, you can maintain it by going 40 or 50 laps after every shave on ONLY the .1u balsa, then stropping on your regular clean leather strop before the next shave. Done right, you will soon forget what a dull edge feels like. The .5u and .25u can give you a harsh feeling edge. The .1u gets it extremely sharp but still buttery smooth shaving, as long as you keep your angle down so the spine is nearly dragging on the face, and you stretch diligently.

On the balsa, even though it is technically honing, think stropping, because you always lead with the spine. I like to add a pull stroke every 5 or 10 laps, and lately I am liking what I get when I finish with very short X strokes. Pressure needs to be very light, and in fact I recommend holding the balsa vertically, end up, so the entire weight of the razor does not bear on the balsa. Always hold it in hand, and keep the contact very light. This, and the fact that the diamond is deeply embedded in the balsa and not rolling around on the surface, gives a very nice scratch pattern, much finer than you would expect from diamond paste.

The balsa usually needs a refresh after about 30 uses. I use about two BB's worth of paste. If it is too much that is okay, the tshirt rub gets it off. After a half dozen or so refreshes, the balsa might be so loaded up with swarf that it needs lapping again. Start with 120 or 150 grit because this time the sandpaper will load up quickly and heavily.

Some guys use CrOx on balsa, or on leather or cloth. The result is nowhere near that of properly set up diamond on balsa but it is better than nothing. You can also get yourself a nice finishing stone like a Naniwa 12k, or an acrylic plate just like what I described above, and some 1u lapping film. These media are usually used when the edge seems to be getting dull, which might be after a couple dozen shaves or might be after 50, 60, or even more shaves, depending on various factors. Some guys on this forum have gone over 100 shaves. Your stropping will make a lot of difference so really try to get your stropping game together.

Originally Posted by CrescentCityRazors

The force is strong in this one...

You are getting it! BBS is not something I worry about. Nobody notices anyway! I go a single WTG pass and I am quite satisfied with my shaves. The Bismarck and the BL are both nice razors so you picked a couple of good ones. Make sure you always stretch the skin properly, and keep the shave angle nice and shallow. Soon, cuts will be a rare occurrence and your face will feel great after shaving. Do you have a styptic pencil? That's pretty old school but it still works great to stop bleeding and disinfect small cuts.

The next thing you will probably want to learn is how to maintain your nice sharp edges. Me, I use a progression of three balsa strops. I glue 1/4" thick balsa to 3/4" x 3" x 12" cast acrylic plate from TAP Plastics. Three acrylic plates, three pieces of balsa. 3M spray adhesive works fine. Spray it on kind of medium heavy to acrylic and balsa, let it dry to just tacky, then stick them together, flip them balsa down onto a flat surface, and pile some weight on the back of the acrylic for a few hours. This stabilizes the balsa which otherwise would warp and swell and shrink. Then I lap the balsa on a whole sheet of sandpaper glued flat and tight onto a flat surface, first 220 grit then 400 grit. No need to go any finer. A toothbrush or a bronze bristle gun cleaning brush is good for clearing the sandpaper when it loads up. Once it is lapped, I wipe it down carefully with a clean tshirt, and apply diamond paste, starting with the finest and ending with the coarsest. You must always be very careful to not contaminate a finer balsa with a coarser abrasive! A little paranoia here is beneficial. .5u, (half micron) .25u, and .1u is the normal progression. About a half a pinto bean size bit for the initial treatment is more than enough. You do not want a coating. The idea is to rub it into the grain of the balsa. So just dot it around, smear it and rub it in with your fingers, then wipe the balsa down so there is no excess. Wipe the finest first. This will take your edge from 12k or 1u level into the star trek zone. Feedback is not very reliable with this medium so just go about 50 laps on each, maybe 100 or more on the .5u if the edge is not fresh off the stone or film. Wipe the blade carefully and wash hands between stages.

Sounds like a lot of work, huh? That is just because you have to begin by bridging the huge jump between the typical 12k finishing stone to 200k diamond. Once you got your phaser sharp edge, you can maintain it by going 40 or 50 laps after every shave on ONLY the .1u balsa, then stropping on your regular clean leather strop before the next shave. Done right, you will soon forget what a dull edge feels like. The .5u and .25u can give you a harsh feeling edge. The .1u gets it extremely sharp but still buttery smooth shaving, as long as you keep your angle down so the spine is nearly dragging on the face, and you stretch diligently.

On the balsa, even though it is technically honing, think stropping, because you always lead with the spine. I like to add a pull stroke every 5 or 10 laps, and lately I am liking what I get when I finish with very short X strokes. Pressure needs to be very light, and in fact I recommend holding the balsa vertically, end up, so the entire weight of the razor does not bear on the balsa. Always hold it in hand, and keep the contact very light. This, and the fact that the diamond is deeply embedded in the balsa and not rolling around on the surface, gives a very nice scratch pattern, much finer than you would expect from diamond paste.

The balsa usually needs a refresh after about 30 uses. I use about two BB's worth of paste. If it is too much that is okay, the tshirt rub gets it off. After a half dozen or so refreshes, the balsa might be so loaded up with swarf that it needs lapping again. Start with 120 or 150 grit because this time the sandpaper will load up quickly and heavily.

Some guys use CrOx on balsa, or on leather or cloth. The result is nowhere near that of properly set up diamond on balsa but it is better than nothing. You can also get yourself a nice finishing stone like a Naniwa 12k, or an acrylic plate just like what I described above, and some 1u lapping film. These media are usually used when the edge seems to be getting dull, which might be after a couple dozen shaves or might be after 50, 60, or even more shaves, depending on various factors. Some guys on this forum have gone over 100 shaves. Your stropping will make a lot of difference so really try to get your stropping game together.

Wow, thanks. I think I can handle that. I reread that X2 and think I understand what you are saying.

Is the cast acrylic plate to keep the balsa wood from warping and twisting?

I did just buy an old barbers hone and a
3" X 8" STANDARD ILR Razor Hone 12-15k.
This hobbie/necessity gets expensive fast. I should have a rope to get out of the rabbit hole.

Originally Posted by jkrezdorn

Wow, thanks. I think I can handle that. I reread that X2 and think I understand what you are saying.

Is the cast acrylic plate to keep the balsa wood from warping and twisting?

I did just buy an old barbers hone and a
3" X 8" STANDARD ILR Razor Hone 12-15k.
This hobbie/necessity gets expensive fast. I should have a rope to get out of the rabbit hole.

Yes, to stabilize the balsa, which otherwise would warp and swell. But also to make it easier to hold without your fingertips being in the path of the razor. Holding the balsa in hand is a key element for success with this method. Or THE Method, as I call it.

Film is a lot cheaper than rocks. But the most expensive way to do this thing is to skip back and forth and buy a little of everything. I know plenty of guys who have a selection of coticules, a selection of thuris, Charnleys, Cnats, Jnats, Arkies, a big pile of various slurry stones, a full set each of Shaptons and Naniwas, all the Nortons, a Bear Moo setup, Sharp Pebbles, Kings, no-names, barber hones, and various types of films. Because why? Couldn't stick with just one method. Always chasing the dragon. So instead of $50 worth of honing stuff they end up with $5k worth of honing stuff. So if I were you I would right now start figuring out how you want to spend the rest of your life but hopefully not the rest of your money on honing. Then stick with that program. The pasted balsa works well as a post finish and a maintainer over pretty much any honing method except maybe trying to finish on 8k Nortons or barber hones, in which case you would need to add a fourth balsa to fill the gap. Maybe 1u diamond paste.