shaving with a $0.25 paring knife

[Ben325e]

Hey guys, tonight in the restoration chat I said that I wanted to do a shaving response to Murray Carter's video where he shaves with a camping knife, so I did. At the end of Murray Carter's video, he asks "Can YOUR roofing knife do that?" So, I set out to see if mine could.

I tried to make the situation as close to what Murray did as possible; he didn't use a brush, neither did I, I don't know what kind of soap he used, so I just used some old Van Der Hagen soap from walmart that costs about a buck fifty or so. He sharpened his knife on a 6000 grit king, so I sharpened mine on a little 6000 grit 1x6 stone that I have. He had some classical music in the background, I had the cars driving by on the street as ambiance. I say in the video that I found that soap in my closet; I have a closet in my bathroom with all my shaving stuff in it, just for clarification. I wasn't going through my clothing closet and found the soap under some shoes or something, which is kinda how it sounded to me in the video.

Since you can't see my facial hair so great in the video (I have brownish hair, but my facial hair is blonde and red) I put up some extra pics so you can see what I'm going up against.

My preshave was just like his; I just splashed some warm water on my face a few times.

I did three passes, and the video was 10 minutes on the dot! Seriously, no editing or anything....

I didn't strop the knife, as it wasn't really necessary. I consider it BBS when you rub against the grain and can't feel any hairs or stubble at all - and I got BBS everywhere except my upper lip (didn't do a fools pass) and just under my bottom lip. My cheeks and neck are super smooth....

So, for all the newbies who think, Aw man, if I can just get some of that Mitchells Wool Fat soap, or a Tony Miller smooth and buffed horsehide strop, or a Rooney Silvertip brush, well that's all stuff that's really nice and makes things more enjoyable, but it's not absolutely necessary. Good technique is really what you need to get a good shave. I don't have any irritation from my shave, and my tecnique was rushed. I'm not saying mine can't get better, I'm just saying that it's good enough to get me a great shave.

On the video, it sounds like the knife is pulling or might be painful. If you've ever made a shaving video in your bathroom, you'll know that it sounds sooo much worse than it actually is. The shave was actually decently comfortorable, all things considered. I wish my first straight shave were as comfy as this one!

Anyway, here's the pic of what my face looked like before I shaved:







Here's the video:

YouTube - Re: Shaving with a camping knife!