njt's shave journey v2

[njtnjt]

I have not heard of Stirling Soap. Thank you - I will look into it.

I took a chance on Tabac after reading that Alfredo used it (mostly) in his 130 shaves on a TI razor a couple years back. He said it was his go-to soap so I thought I'd ride his coattails I am impressed with the slickness. Now I just need to build a little more lather and I am "there" The bigger lathering bowl should do the trick.

I'll look into Stirling tonight.

Thanks for reading.

 

[njtnjt]

Razor: Brian Brown 6/8 shorty Spanish Point

Shave: #7
Prep: Hot shower, lather face before stropping
Soap: Tabac
Strop: Kanayama 50
HHT pre shave: 4
Grind: half hollow
Shave: BBS
After shave - splash of Thayers rose witch hazel, Jasons vitamin E creme

2 pass shave with learning curve for new soap. Placing the puck in a bigger container made a small difference. I was able to load the brush a little better with the extra breathing room the container gave me. Plus the lather that overflowed the puck was still available to me to use. I will keep the puck in the bigger container for now and see how it goes.

HHT was off at the end of the shave. Mostly the toe area just wasn't showing any hht. I made an additional 25 passes on the leather and it seems to be back to where it should. Amazing what a good strop can do to an edge. That tiny edge is such a delicate thing!

Thanks for reading.

 

[njtnjt]

Razor: Brian Brown 6/8 shorty Spanish Point

Shave: #8
Prep: Hot shower, lather face before stropping
Soap: Tabac
Strop: Kanayama 50/50
HHT pre shave: 3/4
HHT post shave: 4
Grind: half hollow
Shave: Once pass - BBS in a few places, otherwise a good shave.
After shave - splash of Thayers rose witch hazel, Jasons vitamin E creme

The puck of Tabac is loosening up a bit. The large container I have it in has helped the process of loading the brush. I got a great head of lather today. I can really gauge its performance now which is excellent. It is different than Cella in that once an area has had a pass, the skin in squeaky clean and dry. With Cella there always seemed to be some sliminess that I could count on for touch-ups and buffing. Not so with Tabac. I have to reapply. On the plus side - the Tabac is not bothering my skin like Cella would when it had been on me for more than say 10 minutes. The Cella would burn a bit. The Tabac has been pleasantly well behaved..

I also found the Tabac to go on a bit richer and thicker compared to the Cella. The Cella would have heaps and mountains of lather. The Tabac is a bit more like yogurt. Whatever it looks or seems like - the Tabac is working great. I look forward to trying something from Sterling for comparison when I finish this puck.

HHT was again a bit squirrelly after the shave. Additional passes on the Kanayama took care of it - but only after I did some X strokes. Straight strokes did not help the HHt much. Once I went diagonal the HHT increased quickly. The blade still seems mighty keen.

Thanks for reading.

 

[njtnjt]

Razor: Brian Brown 6/8 shorty Spanish Point

Shave: #9
Prep: Hot shower, lather face before stropping
Soap: Tabac
Strop: Kanayama 50/30
HHT pre shave: 4
HHT post shave: 4
Grind: half hollow
Shave: Once pass - BBS in a few places, otherwise a good shave.
After shave - splash of Thayers rose witch hazel, Jasons vitamin E creme

One pass shave again today that was very pleasing. I think I am getting closer shaves with the Tabac vs Cella. Almost positive of that. It may be a clue that Tabac does not leave a residue on the skin the way Cella frequently did.

Been experimenting gently with HHT and the strop. I have found that pressure on the strop definitely equates to less HHT. It has taken a long time (to me) to be able to strop properly. I am sure I am no magician yet, but just to be able to do a good job, get the whole edge, keep it keen. It takes some time. Again... for me. Some of you have the touch right off the bat. You know who you are!

Best Sunday to you and yours. Thanks for reading.

 

[njtnjt]

Razor: Brian Brown 6/8 shorty Spanish Point

Shave: #10
Prep: Hot shower, lather face before stropping
Soap: Tabac
Strop: Kanayama 50/30
HHT pre shave: 4
HHT post shave: 4
Grind: half hollow
Shave: Once pass - BBS here and there; a good shave.
After shave - splash of Thayers rose witch hazel, Jasons vitamin E creme

The shaves are very, very good. The edge has been maintained with light stropping on the Kanayama. I experimented the other day with some heavier strokes - definitely a no-no. The HHT took a little dive but then back up again with some light passes.

I am liking the Tabac very much and will continue to use it till I finish the puck.

Not sure there is anything I can do to improve my shaving experience at the moment. I don't feel the need to be totally BBS every day. Its nice to rest the skin a bit. Actually - my experience is better some days by not doing the second pass. Start to finish its a 15 minute shave. That works well when I need to get moving early like today.

Thanks for reading.

 

[labrax]

It is a nice situation to be in - where you are achieving very good shaves and are very happy with all aspects of the prep/shave/gear! Very nice job.

Sent via Tapatalk from phone

 

[njtnjt]

It is a nice situation to be in - where you are achieving very good shaves and are very happy with all aspects of the prep/shave/gear! Very nice job.

Sent via Tapatalk from phone

Aye - thanks so much! Taught me some patience

 

[Attila]

I finally caught up on all your posts here Nicholas. I'll be following along a bit more going forward as I'll have some more time to do so. Great to see you posting your journal again!

I've also taken a stab at honing one of my razors with the "Simple Method" of honing you told me about, with mixed results. I found the edge a bit "harsh" though I did seem to be getting a solid HHT4 on my tests before the shave. I suspect what may have happened is that I spent too much time with the edge leading strokes on a Norton 4K before moving to the trailing strokes with the 4K and an 8K. Perhaps I should have done some trailing strokes also on the 12K Naniwa also. For whatever reason, I elected to try with my synthetics instead of my Jnat at the first go. I'll give it another shot with only the edge trailing strokes this time on the Jnat and see what I will see. It's kind of fun trying out this newer method of honing...

 

[njtnjt]

I finally caught up on all your posts here Nicholas. I'll be following along a bit more going forward as I'll have some more time to do so. Great to see you posting your journal again!

I've also taken a stab at honing one of my razors with the "Simple Method" of honing you told me about, with mixed results. I found the edge a bit "harsh" though I did seem to be getting a solid HHT4 on my tests before the shave. I suspect what may have happened is that I spent too much time with the edge leading strokes on a Norton 4K before moving to the trailing strokes with the 4K and an 8K. Perhaps I should have done some trailing strokes also on the 12K Naniwa also. For whatever reason, I elected to try with my synthetics instead of my Jnat at the first go. I'll give it another shot with only the edge trailing strokes this time on the Jnat and see what I will see. It's kind of fun trying out this newer method of honing...

Hi Attila! So good to hear from you.

I have not tried synthetics with the "simple honing method" yet. Todd says going more than 8k is not going to get the edge any better. I think he recommends stopping around 6k - I could be wrong about that.

I did not do progressions that way I have read about. I went 1k - JNat/tomo slurry - denim - latino/diamond spray - kanayama. No more than 30 strokes in any one place except the JNat which was 50 BUT.... my JNat is a half size stone. I'd have to do 100 passes to get the results of 50 on a full size stone.

I really think "less is more" in terms of the number of strokes you make on the hone. I do 20 half strokes, 10 edge leading and then 20 edge trailing before going to the pasted denim.

I did have to do the entire JNat through Kanayama progression twice on my Le Grelot with the Swiss steel. Just very hard steel. But it came out great.

I have used my JNat only so far and the results have been spectacular. I have another JNat that I was not able to get a good edge off. I think its a bit soft; maybe more of a mid-range hone? But I intend to try that one with this method too. So far I don't want to change a thing. Pinch me because I may be dreaming at how the pieces have come in to place; and it only took 2 years Honing and stropping required a lot of practice to get right.

Try less strokes - keep it simple, try to mind the moderate pressures Todd recommends. Maybe try your JNat?

Hope you are having fun with it anyway! Thanks so much for checking in!!

 

[cmh737]

I had to jump in when I saw that you had a Brian Brown spanish point shorty - awesome looking razor! I've been contemplating getting one to keep my Brian Brown 6/8 square point company. I finally got the edge on my 6/8 dialed in perfectly for me a couple of months ago. It had me vexed for quite a while (I almost unloaded it - gasp!). I was never quite satisfied with it from the start. Tried re-honing it with various synth set ups, then JNAT, and then coti. Oh ho, the coti was the ticket! The Les Lat turned the blade into one of my favorites! Now I want the shorty.

 

[njtnjt]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for jumping in here. Yes - my first Brian Brown razor but not my last surely. Love the Spanish point shorty. I have a small angular face and this razor fits it so well. Love the Spanish point in the mustache area!

You have had a lot more experience with different kinds of edges than I have. I started with honing "3m paper" then synths then JNats. Brian honed this razor on a JNat. I ruined that edge in 6 or 7 shaves with stropping experiments then touched it up on my JNat. Once I got this new strop down a bit the edge has been going hht4 from shave to shave without letup. Almost BBS one pass shaves.

I think I'd like him to make me another shorty/Spanish but with different scales. I don't mind the acrylic. They look good and balance well. I just need another color or material so that I could tell the two razors apart.

There was a 7/8 shorty / Spanish on Ebay last week. Tempting but too wide for my facial features. I know the guy still has it.... No relation to me. It was unused. Still had the oil on the steel.

Wonder what you felt about the edge that wasn't quite up to snuff. Can you describe it in detail? I am a student still learning

Thanks so much for reading.

 

[cmh737]

Stellar photo - awesome razor!!

Hi Chris,....Wonder what you felt about the edge that wasn't quite up to snuff. Can you describe it in detail? I am a student still learning

Best I can recall, it just wasn't sharp enough. However, and a big however at that, was it really the edge or just an inexperienced user (me!)? LOL. Impossible to truly answer, but I'll blame this newb user at the time; and then I probably proceded to botch the edge in my newb honing skill trials. But I've certainly got it dialed-in now. You know what I have to do, right? Yep, get another one and put it to the test!!

 

[njtnjt]

Razor: Brian Brown 6/8 shorty Spanish Point

Shave: #11
Prep: Hot shower, lather face before stropping
Soap: Tabac
Strop: Kanayama 50/30
HHT pre shave: 3/4
HHT post shave: 3/4/5
Grind: half hollow
Shave: Once pass with touchups - BBS here and there; a good shave.
After shave - splash of Thayers rose witch hazel, Jasons vitamin E creme

Not sure what is going on with the edge today. Maybe I was just rushing a bit on the HHT test. Did seem a bit "here and there" with the keenness along the width. I'll test with more time tomorrow again. But 11 shaves is sort of a record for the keenness that has been kept running along.

Thanks for reading.

 

[njtnjt]

Stellar photo - awesome razor!!



Best I can recall, it just wasn't sharp enough. However, and a big however at that, was it really the edge or just an inexperienced user (me!)? LOL. Impossible to truly answer, but I'll blame this newb user at the time; and then I probably proceded to botch the edge in my newb honing skill trials. But I've certainly got it dialed-in now. You know what I have to do, right? Yep, get another one and put it to the test!!

Hi Chris,

Reminds me - I have one JNat that looks spectacular but I have never been able to get a great finished edge off it. I am going to try again sometime soon. Then I have another JNat that look pretty pedestrian that gives me tremendous edges. I have only owned two of those rocks but from my small sample I'd say results can vary widely. I bought the first one from one of the honing gurus here at B&B. It may be better suited to mid-range work though he sold it to me as a finisher. The second one I bought from Aframes Tokyo, told him I wanted a finisher, and BOY can it finish an edge!

You might try another rock is what I am saying. You are getting great edges from the Coti so you know how to hone. When the time comes look up Alex Gilmore or Aframes.

I plan to buy a third rock from Alex once I have the funds. My finisher is half-size. I'd like a longer rock to hone on. Some first world problem to have....

Thank you so much for chiming in and best wishes.

 

[Attila]

Wow, Nicholas. That Brian Brown you have shows spectacularly in that picture of yours! Just beautiful.

Thank you so much for the advice. When I get some time I will try it again using your advice to the letter.

 

[njtnjt]

Wow, Nicholas. That Brian Brown you have shows spectacularly in that picture of yours! Just beautiful.

Thank you so much for the advice. When I get some time I will try it again using your advice to the letter.

Thank you Attila. I hope the advice might help you. I guess what I was trying to say is be careful not to "over-hone" using his method. The less is more approach. Try using more pressure on the hones and denim than you are used to. I don't lighten up till I get to the clean leather.

I hope it works for you and that it is a fun experience. Most of my honing experiences were anything but fun till I tried this.

Best!

 

[labrax]

Hi Nicholas,

The light stropping you suggested worked for me, so I probably should try following your 'less is more' philosophy that seems to be working wonderfully for you. Enjoying the back and forth here on the honing and differences with the JNats.

Sent via Tapatalk from phone

 

[cmh737]

....You might try another rock is what I am saying. You are getting great edges from the Coti so you know how to hone. When the time comes look up Alex Gilmore or Aframes?...

Thanks for the recommendations! I was unfamiliar with Aframes. The JNAT that I have is actually from Alex, but is best used as a finisher (Ozaki, asagi 5+). I endured much frustration until I finally used it strictly as a finisher, and then the lightbulb dawned. I've used it with excellent success on 3 different razors of late, going Chosera 1K, Naniwa 5K/8K/12K, then the JNAT with just misty slurry from the tomo - Bingo! But I would definitely like to get another type JNAT that I could do the mid-range work on.

 

[Attila]

I have not heard of Stirling Soap. Thank you - I will look into it.

I took a chance on Tabac after reading that Alfredo used it (mostly) in his 130 shaves on a TI razor a couple years back. He said it was his go-to soap so I thought I'd ride his coattails I am impressed with the slickness. Now I just need to build a little more lather and I am "there" The bigger lathering bowl should do the trick.

I'll look into Stirling tonight.

Thanks for reading.

Oh, I forgot to mention my experiences with Stirling. I found their earlier formulation to be much more slick and have overall more cushion than the newer "easier to lather" formulation. I never had an issue getting a great lather with the earlier formulation but admittedly we do have softer water around here. The last time I tried their newer formulation (almost 1.5 years ago now) I found I preferred other soaps like Cold River Soapworks, Mikes, Tabac, Mystic Waters, to name a few.

Not to say Stirling doesn't make good shave soaps with great scents and for excellent prices. Just for me, the aforementioned soaps worked better.

 

[njtnjt]

Oh, I forgot to mention my experiences with Stirling. I found their earlier formulation to be much more slick and have overall more cushion than the newer "easier to lather" formulation. I never had an issue getting a great lather with the earlier formulation but admittedly we do have softer water around here. The last time I tried their newer formulation (almost 1.5 years ago now) I found I preferred other soaps like Cold River Soapworks, Mikes, Tabac, Mystic Waters, to name a few.

Not to say Stirling doesn't make good shave soaps with great scents and for excellent prices. Just for me, the aforementioned soaps worked better.

Thank you so much for weighing in on the soaps. We have hard well water here; 330ppm mineral count. The soap has to be very hi performance, slick and cushiony to work.

I will look at some of these other names you mention before I run out of Tabac.

Thanks so much Attila!