Thread: Am I being unrealistic?

To "Am I unrealistic?" I would say absolutely not. I would bet there will not be many that will agree with me but, here goes.

I hone to get a keen and smooth straight as quickly as possible with the least amount of effort. I am like you in that I have a beard that kills a DE in about 3 shaves. My beard even with a killer prep is just brutal to shave and until I finally gave up and went for the sharpest and smoothest edge possible I was not satisfied. I just got tired of shave that almost painful in certain areas. With the following I can get shaves that almost feel like I am shaving with a DE and when I add some techniques I get far better shaves than a DE could ever think of. I can use an Alum block and not pick up one hot spot.

It really depends on what you want for keenness, your style of shaving, your honing ability, and what you have for a razor. As already mentioned up you must have a proper bevel set. If you are going to go over the top you are going to have to make sure that it is as close to perfect as you can get it.

Next you are going to have to decide how you are going to hone it. Are you going to use a progression up to......what point do you want? Some say 30K, some say you can do it off a Coticule. For me, I have converted to a J-Nat with Naguras to get to a very keen smooth edge......but I personally don't stop there. I then go to a hard felt with 0.1 CBN on it for about 10 laps and then finally strop 100 laps, and then I shave. I use CBN every time I start a shave for about the first 3 shaves then I find that the keenness is where I want it and then I can go about a week before hitting the felt again. I can keep a blade going for almost a month before going to the stones and starting about in the middle of the progression. Sounds like a lot of work but if you have three razors that amounts to 3 months of shaves and quite frankly I like honing enough that sometimes I do some touch ups that may not be warranted.

I have tried Shaptons, Coticules, and diamond films but I have landed with what I do now for almost a year. It will all depend on what you want to shave with. If a razor is to keen you might find that you are cutting yourself. If you use scything a lot you might not like such a keen blade.

Concerning pastes. Me, personally, I hate diamond edges. They are extremely keen but they offer up a very "toothy" edge that easily cuts if you do any scything and are just harsh even going down to 0.1 micron. I have never had much luck with Chromium edges but then I have not spent a lot of time with them either. I love CBN (Carbon Boron Nitrate). I find the edges keen, smooth and very forgiving given the amount of keenness that is being wielded on any given edge. Your technique must be be pretty good along with a soft touch.

Enjoy the ride and you will find that in the end you can end up where you want to be. As far as the "shave" goes it is possible to have great skin and fantastic shaves that, quite frankly, gives one a whole new perspective on what is possible when you start the day with such a kick ass shave! Simply astounding!

Sorry about the long post,

Take Care,
Richard