What's new

Zephyr's straight shave journey

Got a nice kit going there. I like the coticule but I am partial to them anyway. I read your thread for the first time today and I'd say your progressing nicely. I like the 6/8 as my favorite size but I won't rule out a good 5/8 on occasion myself. Thanks for the good read.
 
Here they are, along with a few restore objects I got for $23
And my "Restore/honing suitcase"

Did you make that case? That is brilliant man. My mother is handy with sewing, so I sent her a design for a custom razor roll. She is going to make it and mail it back to me. I'll post some pics when I get it.
 
i looked at doing a case like that, but it was over the top for me.. great idea, i'd like to see how the finished cut foam turns out..

It's kinda a prototype, it was much harder to get the cut outs right than I thought. I need to make some sort of template and get a better suited knife for the "real" thing.

Got a nice kit going there. I like the coticule but I am partial to them anyway. I read your thread for the first time today and I'd say your progressing nicely. I like the 6/8 as my favorite size but I won't rule out a good 5/8 on occasion myself. Thanks for the good read.

Thanks, tried the coti for first time yesterday, did not work out very well, picked a Heljestrand No 4 for first try, either I did it completely wrong or the steel is very hard.

I've gotten quite a few 5/8's lately and like them more and more, but 6/8 is still favorite, except my 4/8-5/8 ERN Crown & Sword, that is a wonderful shaver :001_tt1:

Did you make that case? That is brilliant man. My mother is handy with sewing, so I sent her a design for a custom razor roll. She is going to make it and mail it back to me. I'll post some pics when I get it.

Thanks, like I said abowe it turned out to be a prototype, I'm thinking of making a roll aswell, getting close to 30 straights now so I need somewhere to store them.

Looking forward to see what your mother comes up with, I love DIY stuff!
 
Thanks, tried the coti for first time yesterday, did not work out very well, picked a Heljestrand No 4 for first try, either I did it completely wrong or the steel is very hard.

Man... I am having the same exact problem with a Heljestrand #7. When we mentioned, the other day, that we were both having problems honing a razor, I did not realize it would be almost the exact same razor. :lol:

It seems it takes forever to set the bevel on these old Heljestrands... so I think I am going to get a 600/1200 DMT to use for that one before the coticule. I need to have the DMT on hand anyway, most likely.
 
Man... I am having the same exact problem with a Heljestrand #7. When we mentioned, the other day, that we were both having problems honing a razor, I did not realize it would be almost the exact same razor. :lol:

It seems it takes forever to set the bevel on these old Heljestrands... so I think I am going to get a 600/1200 DMT to use for that one before the coticule. I need to have the DMT on hand anyway, most likely.

I took it to the Naniwa 1K to set the bevel, took a lot of passes, but I got it almost where I wanted it, was just doing a few more laps to get it right when SWMBO started to talk about school or something totally uninteresting at the point, but it got me to get off track and I did too many passes and went way to far.
Back to where I started :sneaky2:
 
Yes I was talking about the coticule. Do you know if its a Dressante or La petite or....? Not important to know the vein but yes Heljestrands are hard steel just under the new Thiers Issards I believe in hardness. They will take longer but it will be worth it. I recommend the www.Coticule.be website for coticule use ,tips,and tricks that help you get the desired edge.
 
Yes I was talking about the coticule. Do you know if its a Dressante or La petite or....? Not important to know the vein but yes Heljestrands are hard steel just under the new Thiers Issards I believe in hardness. They will take longer but it will be worth it. I recommend the www.Coticule.be website for coticule use ,tips,and tricks that help you get the desired edge.

It's a "La Grise", this one in fact.

I have spent tremendous amonut of time reading and watching the videos, I think I have caught most I need to know to get started, I just havent figured out how much water I actually should use when raising the initial slurry, I think I used too much water.
 
Fantastic stone! The slurry should be the consistency of regular milk on mine I would think yours wouldn't be any different. You can also play with pressure too. I have good results from a small mount of pressure with a light slurry to improve keenness.
 
Fantastic stone! The slurry should be the consistency of regular milk on mine I would think yours wouldn't be any different. You can also play with pressure too. I have good results from a small mount of pressure with a light slurry to improve keenness.

Thanks, I'll try some more tonight if I get the time.
 
You may also ask Bart if he has any tips for you too. He may be able able to put you ahead of the learning curve slightly since he actually handled the stone if he remembers it well enough. There is a good chance.
 
You may also ask Bart if he has any tips for you too. He may be able able to put you ahead of the learning curve slightly since he actually handled the stone if he remembers it well enough. There is a good chance.

I also got our great steward "honed" who I bought it from to ask, he has, as many of you been a great resource during this journey, thanks to all of you :thumbup:

I'll let you know how it goes with the coti.
 
Thanks, like I said abowe it turned out to be a prototype, I'm thinking of making a roll aswell, getting close to 30 straights now so I need somewhere to store them.

Looking forward to see what your mother comes up with, I love DIY stuff!

That's way too many...make yourself a roll for about 10 of them, and distribute the others as a charitable donation...for tax purposes of course. :thumbup1:

You've got my address already sooo, yeah.:lol:

But in all seriousness, I'm definitely interested in the one hand technique. I'm a very dominant hand righty almost to the point where my left arm is strictly good for two things...typing and my golf swing. Did you go with kind of the Japanese style grip to do the left side of your face or come up with a "Zephyr" grip?
 
That's way too many...make yourself a roll for about 10 of them, and distribute the others as a charitable donation...for tax purposes of course. :thumbup1:

You've got my address already sooo, yeah.:lol:

You never know, it might be coming another straight PIF in the future, keep your eyes open :biggrin1:

But in all seriousness, I'm definitely interested in the one hand technique. I'm a very dominant hand righty almost to the point where my left arm is strictly good for two things...typing and my golf swing. Did you go with kind of the Japanese style grip to do the left side of your face or come up with a "Zephyr" grip?

I'm not doing anything special, I hold the razor as usual and just use the toe to do the first stroke along the ear, then I turn my hand so I get the heel facing the ear for the rest, like you can see in Chimensch's 30th Anniversary Shaving Video
 
You never know, it might be coming another straight PIF in the future, keep your eyes open :biggrin1:

Great...now I have to subscribe to the entire Straight forum:mad3:

SWMBO - "Honey, are you on the computer again?! What are you doing?"
ME - "Nothing"
SWMBO - "What are you doing?"
ME - "I'm waiting for a Norweigan to PIF a Solingen"
SWMBO - "What?":001_huh:

Thanks for the tip on the video! Your shave diary is encouraging...I've got my first straight from WhippedDog, just haven't tried it yet...I'm waiting until I'm in the new place, get the new morning routine down, etc, so I'm in the new mindset...
 
Great...now I have to subscribe to the entire Straight forum:mad3:

SWMBO - "Honey, are you on the computer again?! What are you doing?"
ME - "Nothing"
SWMBO - "What are you doing?"
ME - "I'm waiting for a Norweigan to PIF a Solingen"
SWMBO - "What?":001_huh:

:lol:
 
First 100% perfect BBS shave :biggrin1:

The shaves just keeps getting better and better, and yesterday I had my first perfect BBS!
Three pass WTG/XTG/ATG, and not even a slightly sting when applying D.R. Harris Sandalwood, lovely!


What a feeling :001_tt1:

What makes it even better it that I have honed the razor myself!

The razor that got the honor was this one:
proxy.php


A C.V. Heljestrand frameback from ~1880-1890, honed on Naniwa 1K-3K-La Grise Coticule-CrOx Balsa

This is a wonderful razor, probably the best one I got
 
Top Bottom