Grip's Journal (and so it has begun....)

[Grips]

Shave #35:

I did the previous shave with a DE due to extreme time constraints. I also did the first pass of this shave to save some time. I touched up my razor on the CrOx balsa. I have glued Larry's balsa strop to a piece of 4x4 I had in the garage. I did this as the balsa was starting to cup. It's nice and flat now. I added a second piece that I plan to coat with FeOx when I get a chance.

The CrOx definitely improved the razor. Both on the HHT and the shave test. Used glycerine as a pre-shave and in the lather again

Second Pass (WTG): Smooth and easy. No problems

Third Pass (XTG): Much closer and smoother. Getting closer on the chin and moustache. Not yet where I want it but much improved.

Touch-up: I tried focusing in on VERY small section of my chin and maximum skin-stretching. Big improvement in closeness.

Overall acceptable results especially as I was rushing the shave a bit.

 

[Grips]

Update:

It's been a while since I've updated my journal. Not b/c I didn't want to, or gave up straights, but due to extreme time constraints. Finally (I hope) I have some time to finish this update in one go. Since I've had about 5-6 shaves since Shave #35, I won't give a shave-by-shave update; just the high (& low) lights.

I have begun touching up the razor more frequently with the balsa since, for whatever reason, it seems to be getting duller more quickly than I thought it would. This, plus being more careful to ensure I get the whole blade stropped (on the leather), has made a big difference in the keeness of my razor.

Having said that....I am more and more realizing that a gestalt approach to straight razor shaving is best. What I mean is,is that the whole of all the factors of a straight shave are greater than the sum of the parts.

The basic components/factors are:

1) A keen razor; along the whole blade length.

2) Excellent prep. Especially the quality of the lather. I am more and more concerned with a really wet lather. I see the lather as a vehicle to hold water on the whiskers with the other characteristics of secondary importance.

3)Sound technique. Especially adequate skin stretching and stroke type matched to the area being shaved and the type of pass being performed.

During the five straight shaves I've had since the last entry I had two that were excellent both in smoothness and closeness. Of course in those shaves, all three basic components had not much lacking.

One shave was so-so. The razor didn't get adequately stropped near the toe. (I could tell by a dullness of the bevel, compared to the rest of the bevel,near the toe). As well, my lather was a little drier than it should be.

Two shaves were lacking. In both cases at least one component was really deficient. Deficient to the point that the other two couldn't make up for it.

I guess another way to look at the components is to use the analogy of a stool. If two legs are really strong they could make up for a weaker leg; but not a leg that's really lacking. As well if you have enough weakness in all three legs, the stool fails again.

My goal now is to ensure that each of those three basic components are as strong as my newish skillls can make them. That way I have the best chance of getting a close, comfortable, painless and enjoyable shave.

For any that have read this far...I hope I made some sense and didn't come across as simply rambling.

 

[Beatnik]

For any that have read this far...I hope I made some sense and didn't come across as simply rambling.

Don't worry, you make complete sense. The observations you made in this post reflect great insight due to your experience. Thus for us complete newbies and want to be's (that's me), it's very valuable stuff. Keep postiong with your experience as I believe you have quite an audience. I for one, have subscribed to your thread a while ago and look forward to your posts. Cheers!

 

[Grips]

Don't worry, you make complete sense. The observations you made in this post reflect great insight due to your experience. Thus for us complete newbies and want to be's (that's me), it's very valuable stuff. Keep postiong with your experience as I believe you have quite an audience. I for one, have subscribed to your thread a while ago and look forward to your posts. Cheers!

Thanks for the encouragement. I appreciate it. I first started doing this journal so I could keep a record to refer back to if I had a problem down the road. I'm happy to see it has helped others.

 

[Grips]

Hone/Touch-up #5:

I decided to touch up the razor. The results after stropping were HHT3-4 and the following shave test was great. The progression is as follows:

15 micron:20 laps. I used a sharpie to mark the bevel before hand just to ensure my bevel was good.
5 micron: ~80 laps. Since I can't get any lapping film to bridge the gap between 15 and 5, I need to do lots of laps to make up for the jump.
3 micron: 40 laps. Razor was shaving arm-hair very cleanly.
0.5 micron: ~80 laps. Another big jump = lots of laps.
CrOx on Balsa: 20 laps
Leather Strop: 40 laps

Shave #41:

I went into this shave looking to make each component I described a couple of posts below as strong as possible. I showered and let glycerine sit on my whiskers while I made my lather. I made sure my lather was nice and wet then added just a bit of glycerine; which seems to help with glide and it seems to help hold the wet lather together without sacrificing water content.

First Pass (WTG): I had 3 days of growth going in but other than right under my nose I had no problems. Guillotine and scything are a must for me with heavy growth.

Second Pass (WTG): Smooth and close

Third Pass (XTG): Really smooth. Probably the smoothest XTG pass I've had with a straight. It seems if you go for smooth the closeness just seems to come with it. Not so much the other way around.

Touch-up mostly around the moustache. Using noah's technique works great.

Results: Probably the overall best straight shave I've had. Almost zero sting with the alum and very close. This was a shave before bed and this morning I got out of bed looking like I had just shaved. It wasn't BBS but an excellent DFS.

Ending in Stupidity:

So the honing and shave went smooth. The clean-up....not so much. I usally rinse my razor, wipe it with TP then give it a spray with rubbing alcohol and let it sit while I clean up my brush and lather bowl before another wipe and strop.

Well I bumped the bowl and the open razor slid off the counter. With visions of a ruined hone job running through my head I.....yes....grabbed for it...with both hands. Well I caught it so it didn't hit the floor alright. The problem is my left hand caught the scales and the spine side of the blade. The right hand caught the scales on the edge side. Old mister left hand closed the razor on top of old mister right. Results were a cut on my knuckle. Not long but very deep. I could see white at the bottom. So after a cascade of mental swearing I checked to see if the joint still worked and that I had not cut the tendon. No,still good but I was bleeding like a stuck pig and it kept soaking through wad after wad of paper towel while I hunted for steri-strips. There were none to be found so I managed to find the Crazy Glue. Opening the package with one hand was a little tough, but I got it done. After getting the cut glued I finally got the bleeding stopped.

You know. The funny thing is. After I realized I hadn't cut the tendon my first thought was," You *** you probably buggered up the edge doing that ". So while it was a stupid move, at least I have my priorities "straight" .

Anyway. I'll have to recheck the edge to see if, I have in fact buggered it.

And yes I know: No pictures means it didn't happen

 

[Grips]

I had trouble adding in a pic to the post so here's one this morning. Sorry no bleeding shots available.

 

[noahpictures]

Sorry about the blood loss, on the other hand congrats on the great shave!

 

[Grips]

Thanks noah. Too be honest, like I said, I'm more choked about possibly ruining my honing results.

 

[Great White Shavealo]

Oh, man! Sorry that you cut yourself. The Super Glue is a good trick. Your story reminds me of another I heard while in culinary school from one of my chef instructors. One of the other chef instructors was hard at work cooking in the school's kitchen for a banquet. He accidentally sliced open his finger pretty good. It was a gusher. Rather than go to the first aid station and bandage up and head to the emergency room for stitches he, without missing a beat, walked over to a red hot double ringed flat top stove and cauterized his wound, then bandaged it up. All the while my chef instructor watched as he did it. Not only did this chef instructor cauterize once. He checked the wound and applied his finger to the hot stove top a second time to make sure the cut was fully closed. I don't know how much truth is in the story, but it sure sounds like something a chef would do! Anyway, if maybe the guy had some Super Glue around he wouldn't have had to head for the red hot stove top!

 

[Grips]

Oh, man! Sorry that you cut yourself. The Super Glue is a good trick. Your story reminds me of another I heard while in culinary school from one of my chef instructors. One of the other chef instructors was hard at work cooking in the school's kitchen for a banquet. He accidentally sliced open his finger pretty good. It was a gusher. Rather than go to the first aid station and bandage up and head to the emergency room for stitches he, without missing a beat, walked over to a red hot double ringed flat top stove and cauterized his wound, then bandaged it up. All the while my chef instructor watched as he did it. Not only did this chef instructor cauterize once. He checked the wound and applied his finger to the hot stove top a second time to make sure the cut was fully closed. I don't know how much truth is in the story, but it sure sounds like something a chef would do! Anyway, if maybe the guy had some Super Glue around he wouldn't have had to head for the red hot stove top!

I would hazard a guess that everyone in that kitchen talked VERY politely to that guy from that time on. That man has some cajones.

Crazy Glue works awesome on cuts. Just hold the edges together, a few drops and within 10 seconds it's sealed.

 

[Grips]

Just received my Big Daddy strop in chestnut. Very pleased. Excellent fit and finish. No sloppy craftmanship. Cutting and hole placement for screws were even. Has a slightly lighter draw than the English Bridle leather used in the Poor Man's strop (which will become my travel strop). Leather was very thick yet very supple. Felt was thick enough and, again, it was cut straight and hole placement was even.

Even though I'm not going to shave until tonight I had to try it out. Anyone that's reading this that was considering a StarShaving strop,(I believe noah was) ,would be more than happy with the purchase IMHO.

 

[cleanshaved]

Grips. sorry to hear of the cut.
I have seen some real bad cuts when boners do that dropping their knife, just not worth it let it drop.
same thing they spend so much time maintaining a edge that the feel it must be protected at all cost.

 

[Grips]

Thanks Chris. I agree, it's not like it can't be re-honed. I guess the protection instinct over-rides the self-preservation instinct. Next time (hopefully there is not a next time) the razor hits the floor.

 

[noahpictures]

Just received my Big Daddy strop in chestnut. Very pleased. Excellent fit and finish. No sloppy craftmenship. Cutting and hole placement for screws were even. Has a slightly lighter draw than the English Bridle leather used in the Poor Man's strop (which will become my travel strop). Leather was very thick yet very supple. Felt was thick enough and, again, it was cut straight and hole placement was even.

Even though I'm not going to shave until tonight I had to try it out. Anyone that's reading this that was considering a StarShaving strop,(I belive noah was) ,would be more than happy with the purchase IMHO.

Yep most likely that'll be my next strop. Thanks for the mini review

 

[Great White Shavealo]

Just received my Big Daddy strop in chestnut. Very pleased. Excellent fit and finish. No sloppy craftmanship. Cutting and hole placement for screws were even. Has a slightly lighter draw than the English Bridle leather used in the Poor Man's strop (which will become my travel strop). Leather was very thick yet very supple. Felt was thick enough and, again, it was cut straight and hole placement was even.

Even though I'm not going to shave until tonight I had to try it out. Anyone that's reading this that was considering a StarShaving strop,(I believe noah was) ,would be more than happy with the purchase IMHO.

I have the "Big Mamma" and it is a good strop. The fellow who makes these strops does a wonderful job. I purchased mine and it hadn't shipped. I emailed the owner of Star and politely let him know that the strop hadn't shipped when it was supposed to. The owner apologized and got it right out. It turned out the poor man was in the hospital with health issues when I placed my order, and he was teaching his daughter the business so she could take over while he was in the hospital. This is one of those small family owned businesses that some of us dream to have. Really good people who put out a really fine product.

Congrats on your strop! I am glad to hear your hand is doing better.

 

[Grips]

Hone #6:

I recently purchased a loop. I used it to check the edge of my razor after the cut incident. There was definitely an area where it looked like the edge was rolled over. So I decide to hone/fix my razor. Here is the progression. All movement to the next finer lapping film came after I was satisfied with what I saw with the loop.

15 micron: ~100 laps. Until the roll-over was gone; it shaved arm hair; and the scratch pattern under the loop was not getting any finer.
5 micron: ~90 laps. Big jump = lots of laps. Again I went until the scratch pattern was not getting any finer.
3 micron: ~60 laps. As above.
0.5 micron: ~80 laps. As above
CrOx on Balsa: 20 laps
Felt Strop: 40 laps
Leather strop: 40 laps

The edge looked very polished under the loop but the HHT was 2 at best. Maybe my judgement of the edge is off, or the HHT is not really a great indicator (no I'm not trying to open up an arguement). I will find out when I shave tonight how the edge actually performs.

 

[dknox]

Nice battle wound! I would suggest a shot of moonshine for your hand and a shot of whiskey for you.

 

[noahpictures]

@Grips, what kind of a razor did you hone/use (brand, grind, width)?

 

[Grips]

@noah. I only own the one razor right now. It a WhippedDog sight-unseen. A 02 Griffon. It is 4/8 now it may have been 5/8 originally as there is alot of hone wear on the spine. It looks to me to be half-hollow. It definitely is not full hollow.

@dknox. Thanks. I definitely could of used a shot for each.

 

[noahpictures]

Have you shaved off of 3 micron film and CrOx? One of these I am going to try it.