Well, it was inevitable, with a month of DE success, I had to find out about reversing the technology a bit further. Not surprising, as I love my wickedly sharp kitchen knives and haven't killed myself with them, I had to try straight-razor shaving.
First, thanks go out to obiwan for convincing me not to jump into straights without doing some more research when he had his great pieces on B/S/T. Next to oakeshott for getting me a great little CV Heljestrand, hollow, 4/8 or a tad bigger. Yes, it is damn sharp and nicely finished -- more on that later. A shout out to Larry at Whipped Dog for getting me a Poor-Man's Strop kit, a fine value and all the good advice here about you ruining your first strop make it even more recommended.
I've read through the "interactive" guide here, Larry's guide, watched Mantic's video, as well as perused some of the introductory wiki material on SRP. Of course, razor in hand is always a different thing.
Yesterday, I had the time to try the straight, as well as not having to look good if I drastically failed. So...
Question 1) Stropping and fine cuts on the strop
I seem to be lightly nicking or slicing the strop at the top and bottom at the end/start of my stroke. They tend to be angled from the end of the blade to the handle, toward the center of the strop. I am thinking that I am somehow not getting the angle right when flipping the razor over (yes, I rotate around the spine, not the edge) and they might be from starting to "X-draw" the razor down the strop, perhaps from changing the angle (as seen from above) so that the handle is "leading" the pass.
Any suggestions on how to learn a better technique on starting a stropping draw?
Question 2) Blade angle while shaving
Ok, the moment of truth was at hand. Lathered up with Mystic Water Soap as usual, and carefully, very carefully, started up by my sideburn as I do with a DE, carefully started downward and increased the angle until I could feel it cutting. Success! Wipe razor on a sponge, repeat the next lower area. Two square inches of clean-shaven face, no blood. For that, I'll call my first "shave" a total success.
Maybe I got cocky, who knows, but when I got to my cheek, where it hollows out, OUCH! Ok, big slice putting the razor against my skin. So I grabbed the styptic pencil, dressed my wound, and backed off. Working over the lower jaw, I got two or three more "bites," not as severe as the first, but enough that I cleaned the straight, grabbed the DE, and finished off. Good news is that all but the first healed up in a day, and the big one isn't terrible today either.
Time to get some advice on how to better learn the right angle without looking like someone is playing pick-up sticks on my face.
Question 3) Razor size and grind
Yeah, I read that 6/8 is sort of the recommended size to start with, but (a) I didn't know the size of the CV Heljestrand, and, being Swedish, it had even more attraction to me. Gotta go with the instincts, right. so, I've now got a 4/8 or maybe 9/16 that looks to be either half-hollow or full-hollow. It isn't a numbered model, and I'm not an expert on distinguishing the difference between the various hollow grinds, even after looking at the illustrations on SRP.
Where can I learn a bit more about the perceived shaving qualities of the larger blades, and when one would want a different size blade or a different grind?
If it matters, I think I've got reasonably slow-growing whiskers (a three-pass DE shave with a Merkur 34C and Astra blades feels smooth all day, and can go a second day and still not look scrubby).
TIA -- It's great to have this as a resource for the lost art.
First, thanks go out to obiwan for convincing me not to jump into straights without doing some more research when he had his great pieces on B/S/T. Next to oakeshott for getting me a great little CV Heljestrand, hollow, 4/8 or a tad bigger. Yes, it is damn sharp and nicely finished -- more on that later. A shout out to Larry at Whipped Dog for getting me a Poor-Man's Strop kit, a fine value and all the good advice here about you ruining your first strop make it even more recommended.
I've read through the "interactive" guide here, Larry's guide, watched Mantic's video, as well as perused some of the introductory wiki material on SRP. Of course, razor in hand is always a different thing.
Yesterday, I had the time to try the straight, as well as not having to look good if I drastically failed. So...
Question 1) Stropping and fine cuts on the strop
I seem to be lightly nicking or slicing the strop at the top and bottom at the end/start of my stroke. They tend to be angled from the end of the blade to the handle, toward the center of the strop. I am thinking that I am somehow not getting the angle right when flipping the razor over (yes, I rotate around the spine, not the edge) and they might be from starting to "X-draw" the razor down the strop, perhaps from changing the angle (as seen from above) so that the handle is "leading" the pass.
Any suggestions on how to learn a better technique on starting a stropping draw?
Question 2) Blade angle while shaving
Ok, the moment of truth was at hand. Lathered up with Mystic Water Soap as usual, and carefully, very carefully, started up by my sideburn as I do with a DE, carefully started downward and increased the angle until I could feel it cutting. Success! Wipe razor on a sponge, repeat the next lower area. Two square inches of clean-shaven face, no blood. For that, I'll call my first "shave" a total success.
Maybe I got cocky, who knows, but when I got to my cheek, where it hollows out, OUCH! Ok, big slice putting the razor against my skin. So I grabbed the styptic pencil, dressed my wound, and backed off. Working over the lower jaw, I got two or three more "bites," not as severe as the first, but enough that I cleaned the straight, grabbed the DE, and finished off. Good news is that all but the first healed up in a day, and the big one isn't terrible today either.
Time to get some advice on how to better learn the right angle without looking like someone is playing pick-up sticks on my face.
Question 3) Razor size and grind
Yeah, I read that 6/8 is sort of the recommended size to start with, but (a) I didn't know the size of the CV Heljestrand, and, being Swedish, it had even more attraction to me. Gotta go with the instincts, right. so, I've now got a 4/8 or maybe 9/16 that looks to be either half-hollow or full-hollow. It isn't a numbered model, and I'm not an expert on distinguishing the difference between the various hollow grinds, even after looking at the illustrations on SRP.
Where can I learn a bit more about the perceived shaving qualities of the larger blades, and when one would want a different size blade or a different grind?
If it matters, I think I've got reasonably slow-growing whiskers (a three-pass DE shave with a Merkur 34C and Astra blades feels smooth all day, and can go a second day and still not look scrubby).
TIA -- It's great to have this as a resource for the lost art.
