Thread: Leading With the Point

Ah, Lynn, my shave guru.

Listen, the whole process of shaving with a straight razor scares me. Then how peculiar, and ironic, that the time spent on my daily shave is one of the best of my day.

Fear, irony and pleasure combined make a complex potion.

Regards,

Obie

I find leading with the point and especially moving the blade at something of an angled stroke (I don't know if I'm describing that clearly) work very well and make the cutting smoother. It took me a couple of years to figure out the angled stroke. On a couple of occasions, I've slid a little and nicked myself, but if you're careful it'll be ok.
Jordan

I use both toe and heel.

Lewis

Well leading with the toe seems very natural for the pro guy in the video. However, he is shaving a customer. I wonder what he does when he shaves himself.

I've tried toe and heel leading, but now I'm more into sole and ankle.

Problem is that both are only good for a foot. (Get it?? 12 inches? A foot? Ha, ha?)

Scything motion only for me. Of course if you look at it in stop action, this would mean that I start leading with the heal and end leading with the point.

After watching that video I tried the point leading and it really solvedsome problems I was having especially on the wild wire on the neck area. I don't know where I pickedup the misconception that the shaving stroke should follow the same angle as the honing. Much better now. I have tamed my neck with more options and i did it with a full hollow to boot!!!
Look no wedge!!
Mike

I use a heal leading stroke quite a bit. It really feels very natural. But I just can't get my mind around how to use a point leading stroke. I keep imagining the edge biting through many layers of skin.

Originally Posted by ndw76

I use a heal leading stroke quite a bit. It really feels very natural. But I just can't get my mind around how to use a point leading stroke. I keep imagining the edge biting through many layers of skin.

A couple of things to consider if you have not already. If you blunt the point it would be safer in all styles if shaving. On all of my square points i run the point over a carberundum stone(smooth side of a grinding wheel dresser) and round of the point. Just a few passes, the blade looks essetially the same. I use a rocking motion so as not to have the point look like / but to look like ). It is almost impossible under any stroke to get the dreaded nick from the points that receive this treatment.
Another consideration is that the edge IMHO should have a slight smile at the very least. Frowns and even perfectly straight edges are much more dangerous if you are using advanced technique(skewed vs 90 deg plowing)
I recently added this stroke to my arsenal and I can't begin to tell you how much better my shave was.
Mike

I too now dread the spike point going forward. I do the scything motion sometimes, and probably heel lead if I think about it, I think I toe lead on my upper lip.

interestingly, I use the first 30% of my razor a lot, the rest less, just because I don't have a lot of flats where I can lay the whole blade on the skin. I was noticing that this morning.

Red