Thread: My first real cut.

Still psyched to have successfully honed a razor from near-bread-knife up to almost HHT sharp (only my second attempt at honing), I tried it out for a second shave today. It went really well, I've got a much better idea how to use this razor (and straights really are significantly different than those Persona replacable-blade straights) and how to make shaving foam. I tried adding a little jojoba oil to the soap, but I felt it killed the foam a bit.

Then I started cleaning the razor and it slipped. Got a nice long cut on my left thumb, right over the first knuckle.

Working on these things has changed my brain wiring.

My thoughts went something like this.

1. Ow.
2. Oh crap, I hope I don't need to rehone it now.
3. That's a lot of blood.
4. I don't think the razor is sharp enough, it stung a little.

Once I got the bleeding to stop I dabbed on some superglue. It works just as well on living skin as it does on the dead keratin in horn scales.

Originally Posted by Voidmonster

1. Ow.
2. Oh crap, I hope I don't need to rehone it now.
3. That's a lot of blood.
4. I don't think the razor is sharp enough, it stung a little.

Rofl! That's what I call keeping your cool! Really glad to hear you came away from it with no major damage tho. You are quite right, superglue is a good thing
On cleaning the razor, I never apply any force to it during shaving. I very carefully wipe off the lather on a piece of soft paper, and after the shave I just wash, strop and oil it. If I apply any force to a razor it is during a restore, and then it's mandatory to lay it flat on something to avoid accidents - check out this post for an idea.

EMT gel will work wonders on that cut..

Wheres the pics !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Originally Posted by str8fencer

Rofl! That's what I call keeping your cool! Really glad to hear you came away from it with no major damage tho. You are quite right, superglue is a good thing
On cleaning the razor, I never apply any force to it during shaving. I very carefully wipe off the lather on a piece of soft paper, and after the shave I just wash, strop and oil it. If I apply any force to a razor it is during a restore, and then it's mandatory to lay it flat on something to avoid accidents - check out this post for an idea.

Oh, that thread looks excellent! I was just pricing out a buffing wheel/grinder, so I looked through the thread of terrible restoration mishaps to get ideas on better safety.

The lesson I got from my recent cut (which seems to be healing quite well already!) is do cleanup on the blade after my hands are dry. It happened because of wet fingers, while rotating the blade. Either that, or only do the cleanup over a towel...

You raise an interesting question for me though. Stop before shaving, after or both? Thus far, I tend to strop it just before shaving, then gently wash off the blade, dry it completely (being especially careful to get all the water out of the scales) and then buff it with a microfiber cloth.

Ker-slice! by Zak Jarvis, on Flickr

I know... Pix or it didn't happen.

It's really not too bad at all, though it's deeper than it looks in that picture.

At the deepest, it's about as deep as two brass pinning rods next to each other, but it sealed up real tight (five minutes of compression will do that, some).

I failed terribly and didn't get either pictures of it bleeding everywhere or sealed up with a thick press-on-nail glue bandage. It still doesn't hurt though, so maybe it's sharper than I thought.

One thing, the bottle of CA I use (the thick variety -- I got it expressly for first aid, so the gloopier version is great for cuts and less great for working on wood/horn) says it bonds skin and eyes in seconds. This is an important safety tip.

As a kid, I was putting together this motorized Tamiya model of the Bismarck, and there was this long arm with a little cup on the end that needed gluing, which I was doing with CA.

I carefully pressed the tip of the glue down into the cup and when I moved it away to see how much glue was there the arm sprung up and catapulted all the glue directly into my eye.

Fun was not had that day.

Welcome to the club!!!!!

If it isnt down to the bone, its back to the hones! Congrats on the milestone, you are on your way!

Originally Posted by Voidmonster

You raise an interesting question for me though. Stop before shaving, after or both?

I strop before a shave, like regular (15 linen, 40 leather), then after the shave I clean and dry the razor, then strop it again (15-20 on leather). This last stropping is mainly to make sure there is no moisture left on the blade. I then dip it in my alcohol/oil mix, let it dry and put it away. Stropping after a shave is optional, but if I can invest 30 seconds into making sure my razors stay rust free, I'm happy to take the time.

Originally Posted by Voidmonster

I carefully pressed the tip of the glue down into the cup and when I moved it away to see how much glue was there the arm sprung up and catapulted all the glue directly into my eye.

Yikes! That sounds like no fun at all. I hope it did not leave any damage.


PS! Looks to me that razor of yours was pretty all right in sharpness after all. Cuts heal a lot better when a real sharp knife was the cause.

I agree that if you felt it, it wasn't sharp enough!