Thread: Could've had personal training all this time...gee

Via my mom, I found out my uncle has been shaving with straights since he was a teen. He's only 7 years older than me, so it's not like he lived in a different time where he'd be more likely to be exposed to straights. He was an assistant butcher at 13 and always had lots of knives of various types, but I never knew he had a straight.
I told him I'm coming by to see his new house and for a shave.
The blade... I don't know what kind, literally no markings. Looked like a 4/8ish wedge that has hone wear to rival my worst ebays and what appears to be a yellow coticule. He doesn't know what the stone and blade are. The stone's gotta be a coticule though.
LOL. Had a straight razor shaver in the same house as me for a good chunk of my childhood and didn't know it.

He said he didn't use it in a while, and he took it to the coticule without slurry, and really didn't look to be using light pressure, he was kinda clanking it right against the stone as he flipped it. He used a belt to strop. Just a leather belt of his. Didn't use cream or soap, just water. I was pretty nervous, but damn it, it shaved good as any of my blades ever did. I was thoroughly impressed, and he wasn't really enthusiastic about any of it. He says he shaves with mach 3 now because it's a pain in the @$$ when he's tired as (eh, you know) and has to get to the shop, but now and then he uses the straight.

So here I am, educating myself for months online, trying, trying, till I get it.
And he's just doing it since he's a kid, telling me "it's just basic sh**, if you know knives and sh**"(which I would think not true at all) when I asked him where he learned to sharpen and strop it.
Cool and humbling as hell.

Just thought I'd post my shave experience for the day.(evening actually)

But Joe.. At least you got to meet us and enjoy the learning experience. You're a fortunate man

Yeah, and while he's always been naturally gifted with his hands I don't think I'd learn anything from him had I asked him to actually show me what to do.
Still, I'm a bit giddy about it all.

It's great to hear that anyone in this day an age is still using a straight since he started shaving. I never even saw my father or uncles use one, and I'm 57. Great story!

My lower neck was a bit red the next day, btw.
guess soap would've been good.

Originally Posted by Friggin Joe

...
guess soap would've been good.

I guess!!

I've known only one person in my offline life to shave with a straight, a friend close to my own age. I don't know how he got started. He was ... well, he was the kind of guy, learning he used a straight razor wouldn't surprise you. I didn't have the sense to know I'd be interested myself some day, so never asked him for pointers. And he left us far too soon.

Its really not needed. But you do have to know how to hone and strop very well.

It would be good to call him and chat. Also, remember there is a fine line between being able to shave and producing really high quality shaves. Just shaving with straight is an incredibly simple task.

My mother used a straight, as a hairdresser and barber for years. First time she saw me strop she was like "What the heck are you doing?"

Originally Posted by Friggin Joe

My lower neck was a bit red the next day, btw.
guess soap would've been good.

Oh I got BBS on everywhere.
He's always been good with his hands, dexterity and all that, naturally gifted with tools of every sort. Just a bit heavy handed and didn't do any skin stretching like a barber would.
He can produce a mean edge, but he's no barber, basically.
I'm just impressed that he's always gone 'ignorant' with it and just knew what to do because as far as I know he never had anyone but a butcher teach him how to care for even knives, and he also maintained lots of bladed tools.

I wonder how many people in the old days just roughed it with just a demo from dad or the barber until they picked up on refining their skills with straights.

He's got a foul mouth, in a playful sorta way, but he did tell me his version of why you have to do the x-pattern (paraphrasing, he says the surface of the stone aren't, even and(new to me but makes sense I guess) if you go straight on with the edge you can chip it easier if you oversharpen). I did like how he phrased the chips part, "you won't (bleepin') see them but there there."
The belt produced a good edge, it's the same one he's been using for his hunting knifes. Shouldn't surprise me, as we're stropping on leather, I'd just have expected him to have a proper strop since he does or used to do lots of blade sharpening.

Aha! I've been doing it all wrong, no wonder I'm still getting razorburn