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Nate's "Trust Your Edge" Straight Journal

Guess I better start my journal so that my discoveries may help someone else in the future:001_smile

To Date I own 7 Straight Razors:
1st: Whipped Dog Sight Unseen: Number 65 Gouverneur
2nd, 3rd & 4th: 3 Hashir Straights that came with a Strop I bought
5th: McCoy & Sanders 7/8 Monarch Barber's Notch, (Down ATM for Rescaling)
6th: Genco 5/8 Master Cutler
7th: Wade & Butcher 11/16

After my First Successful Straight Razor ONLY Shave, meaning I had no need at all for a DE Cleanup afterwards, I have learned something new. I learned, as the title says, to "Trust My Edge" For some reason, after honing my 11/16 Wade & Butcher today, it just gave me a really settled and comfortable feeling about shaving with it. It struck me as odd because I have honed and shaved with 5 other Straight razors in the past two weeks. This one though, this particular Edge just gave me a really "At Ease" feeling when I brought it up to my face.

Now I am not sure if this is just me becoming more familiar with the technique involved with Straight shaving, or if it is the fact that I just completed a zero degree variance Lapping of my Hard Ark stone today. Or even if I was just more relaxed of mind today. However I do KNOW this much: I will from now on just plain "Trust My Edge" when it comes to shaving with straights because that was positively the most enjoyable Straight shave I have had to date because of those three little words.

Just sharing my thoughts tonight;
Nate
 
I too learned to hone and shave at the same time, and it is not something that I would necessarily recommend. I often wondered if my poor result was a function of technique or edge. Having a honemeister honed razor in your den is highly recommended so that you have a gold standard to judge your edges.

Is your W&B full hollow or wedge?
 
Yup, once you know you've got a good edge, you may even find your trust resulting in shaving less each morning. Great start!
 
I too learned to hone and shave at the same time, and it is not something that I would necessarily recommend. I often wondered if my poor result was a function of technique or edge. Having a honemeister honed razor in your den is highly recommended so that you have a gold standard to judge your edges.

Is your W&B full hollow or wedge?

I have been sharpening blades since I was 12 years old, that being said, KNOWING that sharpening a straight razor is nothing at all like sharpening anything else I have ever done, I spent a couple months doing my homework on technique and what to look for on a straight razor edge and if I would need other stones to add to my rock quarry. I did buy two more stones to add to the quarry and I spent about a month on one of my older pocket knives actually practicing the stroke techniques on an old stone. I did get the Sight unseen from WD so that I would really know what a blade should feel like when it is truly "Shave Ready" so that I would know what to look for when I ultimately needed to hone it myself. That moment came a LOT sooner than I had hoped since I chipped the blade on my second shave on the sink spigot. I contacted Larry to let him know and I also showed him the repair I made with my stones. He said I did a great job and after shaving with it, I had to agree, it shaved very well and the chip is completely gone.

I definitely do not recommend that anyone else try this as it could result in ruined razors or worse... Severe Injury.

The Wade & Butcher I believe is a wedge as it does not show much hollowing if any at all. I do know that it really fits my hand and eye extremely well.

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Yup, once you know you've got a good edge, you may even find your trust resulting in shaving less each morning. Great start!

That is very true and now the challenge will to be absolutely sure and focused on NOT becoming over confident and complacent as THAT is when the worst nasty injuries occur from what I have read:blink:
 
I too learned to hone and shave at the same time, and it is not something that I would necessarily recommend. I often wondered if my poor result was a function of technique or edge. Having a honemeister honed razor in your den is highly recommended so that you have a gold standard to judge your edges.

Is your W&B full hollow or wedge?

I have been sharpening blades since I was 12 years old, to Quote Agent K from Men in Black "Let me tell you something about your skills.....As of Right Now they mean...Precisely Dic!", KNOWING that sharpening a straight razor is nothing at all like sharpening anything else I have ever done, I spent a couple months doing my homework on technique and what to look for on a straight razor edge and if I would need other stones to add to my rock quarry. I did buy two more stones to add to the quarry and I spent about a month on one of my older pocket knives actually practicing the stroke techniques on an old stone. I did get the Sight unseen from WD so that I would really know what a blade should feel like when it is truly "Shave Ready" so that I would know what to look for when I ultimately needed to hone it myself. That moment came a LOT sooner than I had hoped since I chipped the blade on my second shave on the sink spigot. I contacted Larry to let him know and I also showed him the repair I made with my stones. He said I did a great job and after shaving with it, I had to agree, it shaved very well and the chip is completely gone.

I definitely do not recommend that anyone else try this as it could result in ruined razors or worse... Severe Injury.

The Wade & Butcher I believe is a wedge as it does not show much hollowing if any at all. I do know that it really fits my hand and eye extremely well.

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View attachment 589845


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Yup, once you know you've got a good edge, you may even find your trust resulting in shaving less each morning. Great start!

That is very true and now the challenge will to be absolutely sure and focused on NOT becoming over confident and complacent as THAT is when the worst nasty injuries occur from what I have read:blink:
 
The W&B looks to be a near wedge. Although I do not own one, I do own several 1/4 and 1/2 hallow razors. I find that the feel on the face and the resulting technique to get a good shave to be different between these and full hollow ground razors. This likely accounts for the difference in feel that you have pointed out using it.

I too have been making tools sharp for a very long time, which is why I decided to learn both shaving and honing at the same time. Luckily, I had some new acquisitions in the razor department that had exceptional edges on them. Honing a razor is not rocket science, nor are their particular deities that one must pay homage to in order to get a good result. But, sometimes I am humbled by my attempts when I follow that shave up with some of the best edges I have from others. I did the greatest part of my first 100 shaves on a razor that I put the edge on it. As my shaving skills developed further, I was really able to discern subtle differences in edges that do make a difference in the resulting shaves I am able to obtain. Good luck on your journey in both honing and shaving. I am completely enjoying my journey.
 
The W&B looks to be a near wedge. Although I do not own one, I do own several 1/4 and 1/2 hallow razors. I find that the feel on the face and the resulting technique to get a good shave to be different between these and full hollow ground razors. This likely accounts for the difference in feel that you have pointed out using it.

I too have been making tools sharp for a very long time, which is why I decided to learn both shaving and honing at the same time. Luckily, I had some new acquisitions in the razor department that had exceptional edges on them. Honing a razor is not rocket science, nor are their particular deities that one must pay homage to in order to get a good result. But, sometimes I am humbled by my attempts when I follow that shave up with some of the best edges I have from others. I did the greatest part of my first 100 shaves on a razor that I put the edge on it. As my shaving skills developed further, I was really able to discern subtle differences in edges that do make a difference in the resulting shaves I am able to obtain. Good luck on your journey in both honing and shaving. I am completely enjoying my journey.

That is what I am thinking as the Monarch I have is a LOT more hollow ground than this one is.

I am very very much enjoying the Journey thus far. It has given me a renewed target for my creativity as well as a very relaxing experience with shaving rather than it being a chore that "Has to be Done". It is now something that I very much look forward to each day.
 

rockviper

I got moves like Jagger
MEATY goodness! :thumbup1:

Whenever I was a "grind" pic, I do one of two things:
- stand the blade in the spine, or
- hold the blade about 1/2 to 1" from the tip between thumb and forefinger.
Either of those ways helps the camera's auto-focus lock onto what I want to see.
 
MEATY goodness! :thumbup1:

Whenever I was a "grind" pic, I do one of two things:
- stand the blade in the spine, or
- hold the blade about 1/2 to 1" from the tip between thumb and forefinger.
Either of those ways helps the camera's auto-focus lock onto what I want to see.

Yes indeed it is, this blade has the Beef :lol:

That is a great idea for the photos, I will definitely do that the next time I try and get a shot of the hollowness of one of my blades. Or just use my Cannon instead of my phone, then I can get down to the molecular level of the blade LMAO
 
Tonight's Lineup is a freshly Honed Hashir 6/8 with a 4mm spine, TAOS Lavender Cream and my Home Made Shave Brush, (22mm Knot, old police baton, base of a .50 Caliber Shell and a brass collar).

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I now have 6 operational and honed straight razors so I transformed a test tube stand into a straight razor stand to house them neatly and safely:

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Left to Right: Hashir 6/8 Rust Red Scales, Wade & Butcher 11/16 Arrow, Hashir 6/8 Black Scales, Wade and Butcher 11/16 Arrow with new wood scales, Genco Master Cutler 5/8, and last which was my very first Straight Razor, Gebr & Krusius Gouverneur 65 5/8.

They all have their unique qualities and each one provides me with a superb shave every time.
 
Test tube rack is a good idea to both display them and have them at the ready.

Thank you very much;
That is what I was thinking, after a paintkob and a couple coats of Marine Spar Lacquer it makes a both Stylish AND functional storage idea for them.

How are the Hashir's working out for you?

2 out of the three I got are pretty good really. The thing is the blade that came in the red scales was like everyone warned me, complete garbage, no matter what I did it would not hone up right. However I liked the scales it came in so I removed the bad blade from the red scales and one of the good blades from it's thin black plastic scales and put the good blade into the red scales and got rid of the bad blade completely. The two in the rack though actually shave pretty good.
 
Well I guess a serious injury is inevitable when working with straight razors. I got my worst one today while finishing up the restoration on my Monarch. Blade slipped and laid my finger wide open. :sad::sad:

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Hopefully it will heal quickly.

On a positive note though the Monarch came out pretty good for my very first set of scales made from scratch:biggrin1::biggrin1::biggrin1:

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Sorry for the mishap. I am assuming that this blade was not honed by you yet, but that might be a bad assumption. If it was not yet honed by you, it goes to show just how sharp they can be coming in from the wild.
 
I feel your pain. During the last week of the GD mod competition I had a blade slip and give a pretty good cut on one of my fingers. I compounded the problem by wrapping it too tightly near the nail, which led to a blood blister on the finger as well. Fortunately all has healed, but it wasn't comfortable. What kind of wood did you use on the scales?
 
Sorry for the mishap. I am assuming that this blade was not honed by you yet, but that might be a bad assumption. If it was not yet honed by you, it goes to show just how sharp they can be coming in from the wild.

Actually yes, I had just finished honing it and was doing my normal routine of canvass/50K and then 200K Diamond spray on their perspective strops that I made and when I was on the 200 I lost concentration for just a split second and the blade folded down on the finger. So sharp it didn't even hurt, but it definitely went deep and is quite sore now.

I feel your pain. During the last week of the GD mod competition I had a blade slip and give a pretty good cut on one of my fingers. I compounded the problem by wrapping it too tightly near the nail, which led to a blood blister on the finger as well. Fortunately all has healed, but it wasn't comfortable. What kind of wood did you use on the scales?

Yeah it is quite painful now, luckily through the Military I have been exposed to a myriad of different medical courses to take care of a lot of different injuries. This one probably should be stitched up but I have had worse and gotten through them with proper care and attention.

For the wood, I actually cut the scales out of an old cutting board I had. It is a pretty hard wood although I am not sure exactly what kind it is. It has the appearance of pine but pine is very soft and this stuff is very hard.
 
Fortunately the injury was a nice smooth and clean cut. Looking pretty good thus far although it is very very deep.

Be very careful with Straight Razors, They can Injure You Pretty Easily and when you least expect it.
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