How to hold a straight

[Luc]

I would like to use this thread to eventually develop something in Wiki so we can have the different grips on one page.

If we can get Japanese straights, that would be great.

Please post some pictures on how you hold your straight!

 

[netsurfr]

Sorry, I can't resist the obvious. Hold it carefully!
I know this is a totally frivolous post but I just could not resist.

 

[michiganlover]

Sorry, I can't resist the obvious. Hold it carefully!

And tightly. Dropping your straight sucks, trying to catch a dropping straight sucks even more.

 

[Alacrity59]

I would like to use this thread to eventually develop something in Wiki so we can have the different grips on one page.

If we can get Japanese straights, that would be great.

Please post some pictures on how you hold your straight!

This is a great question but really hard to address for me. There is a certain looseness needed to get the lightness of touch so you are not scraping your face. But you want to have a focus and perhaps a bit of a grip so as not to move the blade side to side or to let it drop. When shaving upwards against the grain I sometimes need to have the scales 180 degrees to the blade so it does not hit my chest as I'm doing my neck.

 

[blackfoot]

I imagine we all hold it a little different.

 

[wazazzle]

Mostly left handed with 3 fingers. But i've seen some funky people hold theirs with two fingers, one on each end of the blade. Guess what ever works for ya.

 

[SRock]

I imagine we all hold it a little different.

 

[woodturner]

Initially I held with thumb and three fingers. Switched to just thumb and two fingers made all the difference because it allowed control, lightness of touch, and the most responsiveness with regard to feel of blade to face.

 

[Carlin]

Sorry, I can't resist the obvious. Hold it carefully!
I know this is a totally frivolous post but I just could not resist.

Starting to sound like my mother!

"Mom, how do you do x?"

"Carefully."

 

[taffy]

Very akwardly at the moment, and as for my left hand, impossable!

 

[Luc]

I guess I will need to kick this one by taking a picture tonight...

 

[SRock]

I guess I will need to kick this one by taking a picture tonight...

That would be a great addition to this thread!

Initially I held with thumb and three fingers. Switched to just thumb and two fingers made all the difference because it allowed control, lightness of touch, and the most responsiveness with regard to feel of blade to face.

That's basically how I do it.

 

[crankymoose]

just do what is comfortable and of course safe, there is no right or wrong way to hold it and in fact when doing different areas of the face and neck you will need to change grips whether you use one hand or both when shaving with the straight,

also size and type of straight can have a little to do with it as well as a japanese straight (Tosuke, etc) is obviously different but I have some straights that are just a tad smaller then others and a 2 finger grip works on them where as one of my larger choppers it would not

 

[Luc]

All right... I'm no hand model and taking pictures with my left was more difficult than I thought. I should do this again later with a bigger angle...

Anywho, you get the idea...

 

[blackfoot]

Excellent!

 

[bmc1979]

For my WTG pass I hold it like you do in your last picture Luc. For XTG (and to some extent ATG), after experimenting a bit, I've actually found it the most comfortable and easily to control by holding it with the scales and blade in a line. Would be like holding a Japenese straight I would assume although I've never used one.

 

[jtrops]

Thanks for this thread. I haven't really paid attention to my grip in years, and today I was noticing how I hold the darn thing. I wasn't really thinking of this thread, but I'm sure it was the reason I was interested. Your photo's are pretty much where I am, except for the first one. I don't think I've ever held it that way.

The second photo is much like how I get under the chin going up from the neck, but I have the scales in line with the blade. Though the grip is the same would that constitute another way to hold it? If so, I'll post a photo.

 

[Telecaster52]

I prefer the trac II approach

 

[Desdinova]

I only use 2 grips.

1) 2 fingers on top of spine, one one tang, thumb under (classic grip) for WTG and XTG passes.

2) 3 fingers one one side of spine with thumb on other side of spine (think this is called Japanese grip or guillotine grip) from my ATG passes.

 

[LaughingAtFate]

I prefer the trac II approach

Where does it end? I ask that, because well, you know how bladehungry gillette have gotten these days with their offerings (mach3, Fusion? what next??)

Given how we can keep adding blades, I guess the sky is the limit with that line of thinking