Damn Comfortable Shave

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

My Saturday shave was a duplicate of my Friday shave.

In this picture the Tanifuji's blade is resting on the stand because the blade's a bit loose.

Before shaving today I took the razor to the hammer and anvil and tightened the blade considerably. Much better now.



I think I will hone the razor a bit more on the DCA finishing side, but not today. The SOC is pictured (old picture, not current) damp; it's a good brush but not my favorite boar by miles.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Monday's shave was very good.

Generally in recent months I've used the Wade on Mondays to get the week started right. Today I used instead my white Tanifuji.

I'm trying to achieve an edge as good as or better than the Wade's edge on the Tanifuji. The Wade's edge is as perfect as any edge I've experienced; it's sharp and extremely comfortable and smooth feeling.

I knew the other day (my last Tanifuji shave) the edge was pretty close. I've not honed it since then but it may be even better today.

My belief is the edge has been improved a tad by my stropping. I've newly improved my stropping I think. I could explain exactly what I've changed but not in a simple or quick discussion, so I'll save that post.

I'm also not saying the Tanifuji edge is maxed out. It might be a razor which can be honed to an even sharper edge. It is damn sharp and plenty comfortable now or I wouldn't be saying it's close to the Wade's edge.



I also think maybe my technique is improving a little bit. Every little bit helps. This was a very good shave.

Happy shaves to you,

Jim

 

[Raven Koenes]

Monday's shave was very good.

View attachment 1040014

Generally in recent months I've used the Wade on Mondays to get the week started right. Today I used instead my white Tanifuji.

I'm trying to achieve an edge as good as or better than the Wade's edge on the Tanifuji. The Wade's edge is as perfect as any edge I've experienced; it's sharp and extremely comfortable and smooth feeling.

I knew the other day (my last Tanifuji shave) the edge was pretty close. I've not honed it since then but it may be even better today.

My belief is the edge has been improved a tad by my stropping. I've newly improved my stropping I think. I could explain exactly what I've changed but not in a simple or quick discussion, so I'll save that post.

I'm also not saying the Tanifuji edge is maxed out. It might be a razor which can be honed to an even sharper edge. It is damn sharp and plenty comfortable now or I wouldn't be saying it's close to the Wade's edge.

View attachment 1040019

I also think maybe my technique is improving a little bit. Every little bit helps. This was a very good shave.

Happy shaves to you,

Jim

Where are your shoes?

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

What about my stropping?



Mostly I use a very wide leather strop, horse (shell but not cordovan) from Superior Shave. It's 3.4 inches wide. I also use a Tony Miller linen strop (about 2.5 inches wide) and the pictured linen side of my wide strop.

I try to follow this advice by Slash @Slash McCoy.

Use a slight X motion as you strop, even if your strop is wide enough to take the whole blade.

I became convinced some months ago that one should strop the razor both immediately after shaving and also immediately before shaving. I follow this practice.



Pictured is the leather side of the strop I use. It's at the beach in the photo.

Like everyone (I hope) I stop like this.



I don't lift the spine (like everyone I hope).

Recently I've been paying much more attention to a couple of matters to the advantage of my edges I think.

I've been stropping sometimes while wearing my hearing aids. Usually I don't wear them when stropping but wearing them gives me much more audible feedback and information about what's going on.

I've also been pushing the razor into the strop with more force. This is not exactly new in its entirely but it's new in two ways.

• On the downward stroke I'm attending to more push into the strop because I noticed the upward stroke is more naturally a heavier push into the strop for me.
• I've also been making more of an effort to deflect the strop with the spine, particularly on the downward stroke.

My stropping varies in how heavily I push into the strop.

I believe the recent improvement to my stropping and consequently to my edge is this.

• I've been recently making more of an effort to deflect the strop with the spine, particularly on the downward stroke.

It's not like I was doing it "bad" but I'm doing it better now I think.

I hope this post makes some sense to you.

To me, it's very interesting how long the learning process is when it comes to mastering all the aspects of straight razor shaving and straight razor maintenance (to say nothing of straight razor restoration).

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Where are your shoes?

My wooden shoes are on Pinocchio. He borrowed them when he was over to fix my chimney. Told me he was a chimney sweep. Should have noticed his nose but I missed it.

What a dummy I am.

Spoiler: This is...

An inside joke unless you read Rave's thread.

Not that my half of the joke is very funny, but it amuses me.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Raven Koenes]

My wooden shoes are on Pinocchio. He borrowed them when he was over to fix my chimney. Told me he was a chimney sweep. Should have noticed his nose but I missed it.

What a dummy I am.

Spoiler: This is...

An inside joke unless you read Rave's thread.

Not that my half of the joke is very funny, but it amuses me.

Happy shaves,

Jim

I'm missing one of my wooden shoes/klompen. Every time I do laundry one always comes up missing in the dryer.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

I'm missing one of my wooden shoes/klompen. Every time I do laundry one always comes up missing in the dryer.

I know what you mean.

When I bought mine in Holland they did not give me instructions on drying them. Fortunately I did get the version which can be resoled by any local shoe repair store. Even more fortunately they have been very long lasting and have needed only the occasional polishing.

Yours are much fancier (I'm surprised your wife hasn't said yours are the kind only kings should wear), and probably need fancier polishes, but this stuff works for mine.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Raven Koenes]

I know what you mean.

When I bought mine in Holland they did not give me instructions on drying them. Fortunately I did get the version which can be resoled by any local shoe repair store. Even more fortunately they have been very long lasting and have needed only the occasional polishing.

View attachment 1040074

Yours are much fancier (I'm surprised your wife hasn't said yours are the kind only kings should wear), and probably need fancier polishes, but this stuff works for mine.

Happy shaves,

Jim

Thanks for the heads up. I have a friend who makes wooden shoes, so me wearing King Clogs, at a discount, is not an issue. It is frustrating when you go to fold wooden shoes, right out of the dryer, to discover you have to wear a mismatched set.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Thanks for the heads up. I have a friend who makes wooden shoes, so me wearing King Clogs, at a discount, is not an issue. It is frustrating when you go to fold wooden shoes, right out of the dryer, to discover you have to wear a mismatched set.

Your friend lives in Holland?

 

[Seveneighth]

What about my stropping?

View attachment 1040023

Mostly I use a very wide leather strop, horse (shell but not cordovan) from Superior Shave. It's 3.4 inches wide. I also use a Tony Miller linen strop (about 2.5 inches wide) and the pictured linen side of my wide strop.

I try to follow this advice by Slash @Slash McCoy.



I became convinced some months ago that one should strop the razor both immediately after shaving and also immediately before shaving. I follow this practice.

View attachment 1040034

Pictured is the leather side of the strop I use. It's at the beach in the photo.

View attachment 1040036

Like everyone (I hope) I stop like this.

View attachment 1040037

I don't lift the spine (like everyone I hope).

Recently I've been paying much more attention to a couple of matters to the advantage of my edges I think.

View attachment 1040038

I've been stropping sometimes while wearing my hearing aids. Usually I don't wear them when stropping but wearing them gives me much more audible feedback and information about what's going on.

I've also been pushing the razor into the strop with more force. This is not exactly new in its entirely but it's new in two ways.

• On the downward stroke I'm attending to more push into the strop because I noticed the upward stroke is more naturally a heavier push into the strop for me.
• I've also been making more of an effort to deflect the strop with the spine, particularly on the downward stroke.

My stropping varies in how heavily I push into the strop.

View attachment 1040041View attachment 1040042

I believe the recent improvement to my stropping and consequently to my edge is this.

• I've been recently making more of an effort to deflect the strop with the spine, particularly on the downward stroke.

It's not like I was doing it "bad" but I'm doing it better now I think.

I hope this post makes some sense to you.

To me, it's very interesting how long the learning process is when it comes to mastering all the aspects of straight razor shaving and straight razor maintenance (to say nothing of straight razor restoration).

Happy shaves,

Jim

Great post Jim. Really. Need to link to this from time to time.

I think there might also be a couple of intangibles...

Your stropping action just gets better as you get used to a strop and more practised.
The strop itself improves over time. This is something I always forget with a new strop. I go through period of very very very slightly inferior shaves, and then they pick up again. But a new strop is so few and far between that I don't really make the connection. This year though I have been using two hard-to-wear-in strops and have really registered the difference - but only since the strops have worn in.

 

[Raven Koenes]

Your friend lives in Holland?

Yes.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Yes.

I was picturing a little wooden shoe business in Colorado. There goes that.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Great post Jim. Really. Need to link to this from time to time.

I think there might also be a couple of intangibles...

Your stropping action just gets better as you get used to a strop and more practised.
The strop itself improves over time. This is something I always forget with a new strop. I go through period of very very very slightly inferior shaves, and then they pick up again. But a new strop is so few and far between that I don't really make the connection. This year though I have been using two hard-to-wear-in strops and have really registered the difference - but only since the strops have worn in.

Could be. My strop is fairly new to me (months). I got it off the BST last February but I think it had not been used too very much before it came to me. Not that it was NOS or anything but it arrived in good condition according to my unskilled eye. It was certainly not beat up or anything when I got it.

This photo of my strop was taken by the gentleman from whom I acquired it.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Raven Koenes]

I was picturing a little wooden shoe business in Colorado. There goes that.

My friend did learn from a master who was in his late 80's at the time...though.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Tuesday's shave was very good.

My Wide Torrey was recently honed (since its last use) on the finishing side of the DCA. It's definitely improved. The shave today was better than on its last few outings.



Good kit. Good shave - mixture of BBS and DFS - as I'd expect with this nice edge.

Happy shaves to you,

Jim

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Wednesday's shave was very good.

This is my Pipe Razor. Today I honed it on the finishing side of my Double Convex Arkansas 8x3 stone, perhaps 100 round trips (or less). If I'm remembering and searching correctly its edge was previous very very good (by my standards of several months ago). This razor was made by Geo. Wostenholm & Son in Sheffield, England, some time after 1892 by the England marking.

Anyway, the edge is really good. Can it be maxed out even more? Perhaps, but there's no rush. It's in the league with the Wade now. I'm not saying they're one another's equals, but they're close enough to compare side by side.



Good kit. Good shave.

Happy shaves to you,

Jim

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Also honed...

Also honed today were these two already very very good edges. The Wide Torrey and the White Tanifuji both received a little time on the finishing side of the DCA. Maybe 20 round trips on one and maybe 30 on the other, and, yes, I've forgotten which had 20 and which had 30, but does it matter?

This is just seeing if the edges can be maxed out.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Seveneighth]

Are you still using your Zulu Grey at all?

They are running a discount at the moment ... and I am wondering...

If you were to choose between the ZG and your Arks which would you go for?

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

I honed a few more razors, too.

One I'm beginning on is a German razor which looks like a Torrey 136. My plan is to get it very sharp if I can, and shave test it of course, and give it to a member who told me he wants to try straight razor shaving. I hope I can get it sharp to my satisfaction. The edge looked pretty good so I took it to only the DCA, both sides of the stone, doing a ton of laps while talking with my grandson. We'll see how the shave test goes.

Here's another...

This is my Herder 76. I'm trying to get it to the level I like, but haven't achieved that just yet. Well, maybe I achieved it today, but I'm not at all sure. DCA only.

This Torrey 136 was taken all the way back to the 320 Shapton, then the Chosera 1K, the 3k SS, the Washita, and finally to both sides of the DCA. I think it may be to my liking now, but I won't know for sure until I shave test it. It was today's big project.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Are you still using your Zulu Grey at all?

They are running a discount at the moment ... and I am wondering...

If you were to choose between the ZG and your Arks which would you go for?

I wrote a long response, but it disappeared.

I don't see the Arks and the ZG as an apples to apples comparison because the ZG has a very large range.

For everything past a mid range stone such as the Washita I'd go for the convexed Ark (the DCA) over anything else I have.

However, the ZG is a great stone. The ZG has a very large range with its slurry stone and it will flat out get a razor sharp! Probably easier to use following a mid range stone, but could be used with just a bevel setter.

I'm not even thinking of getting rid of any stones but the stones I used today are the only stones I've used since I got the DCA and the Washita. My coticules, my other synthetics, my ZG, my flat Arks - they're not being used.

I know Jarrod's mentioned the soft side of the DCA as a bevel setter. I think of it as a bevel setter only in the sense that it pre-sets the bevel for the hard side of the DCA to finish. In other words I wouldn't use it as a bevel setter on a razor which didn't already have the actual bevel set. Perhaps Jarrod uses the DCA for that purpose and I'm not being critical of anyone who does it that way. I'm just saying I find the DCA useful primarily when the bevel was previously established with flat stones and I'm finishing on the DCA (using both sides of the DCA).

I like having both sides of the DCA. I use the black finishing side as a solo stone only when all I'm doing it maxing out an already sharp edge meaning the soft side was previously used on the edge.

That's not much of an answer, but it's all I can come up with.

Please don't think I'm knocking the ZG. I think it's a great stone.

Happy shaves,

Jim