Thread: Broke-In New American Razor

So I had this modest little 9/16th Kansas City Special, which is a wedge, however the corporate office (or something) is in Maryland, at least during the time this beautiful little hardly-blemished little square-tip wedge was made. So that's the engravings, "Kansas City Grinding Co.". Yeah. I had previously written of it in the follicle bump woes thread, if you've followed my individual journey. (I suffer from keratosis pilarus, and have sensitive skin)

I used it two days ago, off the 8k Norton and finished on the Spyderco ultra-fine synthetic sapphire stone (2 inch wide). I caused myself a little line cut, you know, the one where you're cutting through some dense facial hair and it suddenly stops and the kinetic energy is trasnferred to up-down movement of the blade's edge, resulting in a very painless, quickly healing, superficial cut-line. Yeah. So I think: "Huh, that's a lot like an 8k, not specifically using scything motions and screwing up on the coarse, thicker bearded sections easily."

Day two. Then I go in for a second shave, not refining the edge, just being more mindful. I get an okay shave and no line-cuts, because I'm more attentive to it. Do some easy flat plane ATG action on my sideburn areas. Not close enough. I can feel the bristliness fresh after shaving. Pseudo-ATG motions don't yield the expected results on other parts of the face. Use the sub-optimal blade to experiment with various different cutting actions, motions, with different grips and motions on the "problem" areas of my face (which, by visual standards, have been conquered long ago by str8 standards).

So that was day two. After that second shave with the newly honed blade I put it on the Spyderco Ultra-fine hone again and with soapy (regular hand soap) water as the lubricant, not a dry honing, proceeded to make a number of circles, usually with a 10 and 10 kind of setup. Both whole-blade from the end and utilizing the advantage of a 2" width to ensure adequate honing of the heel/middle portion of the blade edge. Not that it mattered much, I'd already wore off any smiley, just left a very conservative tiny upswing at the very tip, hardly 2-3mm if that.

Day three. Destroyed all hairs in the way, easily achieving very smooth, bristle-free skin on the flat sideburn areas. Very easy smoothness as WTG pass on the mustache/mouth-hair areas. Easy annhililation of beard-rich chin/jaw areas. Granted, the parts of my face I was experimenting with, with various grips and motions, was somewhat red, with inflamed follicles and irritated acne-like bumps forming, I casually cruised over them with a truly finished little wedge and made everything smoother. After the J.B. Williams, rinsing, and Old Spice aftershave the skin looked fresher and smoother than ever. I didn't make any cuts on the skin's irritated bumps. That triple-milled J.B. Williams leaves a mighty soft, conditioned skin!!

So that's the story of a finished, broken-in American razor. I tested it, did a re-test, then put it back on a finishing hone known for a lack of feedback, making conservative circles to finally coax out its American goodness. Back in a time when hard-work was the norm, when effort was rewarded with real results. Perfect ideals for the act of a straight razor shaving session.

Damn that was a fine shave.

Congrats...A fine shave with a finely tuned blade does result in a really good feeling.

Cheers!

Thanks for sharing and its good to see you moving up the learning curve and having great success with Straight Shaving. You seem to be have a lot fun with straight shaving as well.

Pabster