Hi there, everybody.
I just had my first shave with a real straight-razor. I have always wanted to try one, but always found the cost too prohibitive. I'm very much a "minimalist", and even some of the deals I've seen with old vintage blades for $70 or so are too rich for my blood. So, I'm sure you can guess what's next... I got a Gold Dollar.
I actually got a bunch of stuff...
A 3k/8k combination generic chinese waterstone for $16
A 8k/10k combination agate hone... Which I'm fairly sure is actually just some bathroom tiles that someone cut up and glued together, but at least I only paid $8.
A vegtable-tanned leather strop with some chromium oxide compound for $10
And the Gold Dollar for $12. I'm not sure which model it is because I can't find a number anywhere on it. I'd post a link to it on Amazon but not sure if that's allowed? I can't seem to find the rules so far. But anyway it's one of the ones without the stabilizer, nice hollow grind, looks about 6/8" wide.
So aside from getting ripped off on the bathroom tiles, I think I came out pretty good, $50 total. I already have a Norton 220/1K waterstone, and a kangaroo-hide paddle strop that I won in a sharpening contest. I've never really had high-grit hones though, so it was nice to get the 3k/8k one and the stropping stuff. Figured if I didn't like the straight razor, at least I'd have some new sharpening equipment.
I've never shaved with a straight razor before, but I have shaved with my pocket knives. I'm very much a minimalist, normally finishing my knife edge's on a DMT fine hone, and making them whittle hair. Before I won a sharpening contest, people didn't believe I could get them that sharp with such a coarse grit, so I took a video of me shaving with one fresh off the DMT to prove it. I actually kind of liked it, so tried it a few more times, but it's really a pain in the butt to try to maintain a pocket knife at that level of sharpness.
The Gold Dollar was advertised as "shave ready" and I had my doubts, so I tried it on my arm hair first, and it tugged quite a bit. I mean, it would have shaved, but it would have been about as comfortable as my pocket knife off the 600 grit. So I loaded up the new strop I got with buffing compound, did about 40 laps (20 per side), then did 20 per side on the kangaroo hide, and it was noticeably more polished and tugged a lot less. So it really didn't need much work, but it wasn't exactly the best looking bevel. It had a bit of a "smile" and there was about an 1/8" down near the heel that someone really messed up. Looks like someone let the edge of the belt sander dig into it a little, leaving a little bit of a "gap" where the bevel disappears before the heel--not sure I described that the best, but anyway, I wasn't expecting solid craftsmanship. It also came with some free rust spots too!
I didn't have any more money for a brush or any soaps, so I just used some Barbasol. I feel like that might be a sin to say around here... But hey, like I said, minimalist. I might try to find some stuff like that later on, but I didn't want to spend the money up front just in case the razor turned to be garbage. But I did do a little bit of "prep" by putting a hot, wet towel on my face, pre-washing with soap, etc.
The shave was not bad, but not great. It "tugged" a little bit. Nowhere near as bad as when I shaved with my pocket knife, but really not quite as smooth as a disposable cartridge razor either, so I'm sure it would not get high marks among any real enthusiast. However, it shaved hair off my face, didn't leave my skin irritated, and I managed not to cut myself, so I'll call that a success! I still need to practice technique. I kept forgetting to hold my skin taut, and caught myself holding it by the handle instead of by the blade and tang a couple times. I tried switching it to my left hand to do the left side of my face, but it just felt SO funky that I was not comfortable trying it, so I just kept it in my right hand and basically watched what I was doing by looking underneath my arm as it went across my face. Definitely unorthodox, but that's how I did it with my pocket knives the few times I tried it.
I did two passes, and was satisfied. I mean it definitely wasn't "baby butt smooth" and there was some stubble I missed on my neck, but I think that's mostly due to the fact that my grain goes in some weird directions on my neck, and just getting a hang of the technique. It was definitely every bit as clean shaving as a disposable cartridge, though I do tend to buy the cheap single-blade ones and not those ones with 65 blades in them.
So yeah it seems like this will be fun! I am going to give it a few more tries before deciding if I want to reset the bevel or anything. I'd rather not waste any more steel than I need to. Maybe I'll buy a second one for experimenting. I'll probably look around at the brick and mortar for a brush and some shaving soaps sometime down the line, but I don't think I'll be looking into anything too extravagant. One of the biggest reasons I wanted to get into using a straight razor was so that I never had to buy disposables again. Now the only consumable I'll have to keep buying is a can of Barbasol, and the last one I got lasted a year so that's some good savings.
I'm gonna go investigate this 8k/10k "hone" a little more and see how bad I got ripped off there. Seriously I am almost 100% sure these are just bathroom tiles, they're even glazed like tiles would be haha There is absolutely no abrasiveness to them at all, it's more like steeling a knife edge than sharpening them. I took them to some 320 grit sandpaper to see if I could abrade the glazing off and reveal some grit, but they're still extremely smooth, The supposed-8k side feels about half as abrasive as the 8k waterstone I just bought. Pretty sure I got hosed.
Well anyway this is pretty rambly for an intro. Time to go grow some more hair so I can try this out again
I just had my first shave with a real straight-razor. I have always wanted to try one, but always found the cost too prohibitive. I'm very much a "minimalist", and even some of the deals I've seen with old vintage blades for $70 or so are too rich for my blood. So, I'm sure you can guess what's next... I got a Gold Dollar.
I actually got a bunch of stuff...
A 3k/8k combination generic chinese waterstone for $16
A 8k/10k combination agate hone... Which I'm fairly sure is actually just some bathroom tiles that someone cut up and glued together, but at least I only paid $8.
A vegtable-tanned leather strop with some chromium oxide compound for $10
And the Gold Dollar for $12. I'm not sure which model it is because I can't find a number anywhere on it. I'd post a link to it on Amazon but not sure if that's allowed? I can't seem to find the rules so far. But anyway it's one of the ones without the stabilizer, nice hollow grind, looks about 6/8" wide.
So aside from getting ripped off on the bathroom tiles, I think I came out pretty good, $50 total. I already have a Norton 220/1K waterstone, and a kangaroo-hide paddle strop that I won in a sharpening contest. I've never really had high-grit hones though, so it was nice to get the 3k/8k one and the stropping stuff. Figured if I didn't like the straight razor, at least I'd have some new sharpening equipment.
I've never shaved with a straight razor before, but I have shaved with my pocket knives. I'm very much a minimalist, normally finishing my knife edge's on a DMT fine hone, and making them whittle hair. Before I won a sharpening contest, people didn't believe I could get them that sharp with such a coarse grit, so I took a video of me shaving with one fresh off the DMT to prove it. I actually kind of liked it, so tried it a few more times, but it's really a pain in the butt to try to maintain a pocket knife at that level of sharpness.
The Gold Dollar was advertised as "shave ready" and I had my doubts, so I tried it on my arm hair first, and it tugged quite a bit. I mean, it would have shaved, but it would have been about as comfortable as my pocket knife off the 600 grit. So I loaded up the new strop I got with buffing compound, did about 40 laps (20 per side), then did 20 per side on the kangaroo hide, and it was noticeably more polished and tugged a lot less. So it really didn't need much work, but it wasn't exactly the best looking bevel. It had a bit of a "smile" and there was about an 1/8" down near the heel that someone really messed up. Looks like someone let the edge of the belt sander dig into it a little, leaving a little bit of a "gap" where the bevel disappears before the heel--not sure I described that the best, but anyway, I wasn't expecting solid craftsmanship. It also came with some free rust spots too!
I didn't have any more money for a brush or any soaps, so I just used some Barbasol. I feel like that might be a sin to say around here... But hey, like I said, minimalist. I might try to find some stuff like that later on, but I didn't want to spend the money up front just in case the razor turned to be garbage. But I did do a little bit of "prep" by putting a hot, wet towel on my face, pre-washing with soap, etc.
The shave was not bad, but not great. It "tugged" a little bit. Nowhere near as bad as when I shaved with my pocket knife, but really not quite as smooth as a disposable cartridge razor either, so I'm sure it would not get high marks among any real enthusiast. However, it shaved hair off my face, didn't leave my skin irritated, and I managed not to cut myself, so I'll call that a success! I still need to practice technique. I kept forgetting to hold my skin taut, and caught myself holding it by the handle instead of by the blade and tang a couple times. I tried switching it to my left hand to do the left side of my face, but it just felt SO funky that I was not comfortable trying it, so I just kept it in my right hand and basically watched what I was doing by looking underneath my arm as it went across my face. Definitely unorthodox, but that's how I did it with my pocket knives the few times I tried it.
I did two passes, and was satisfied. I mean it definitely wasn't "baby butt smooth" and there was some stubble I missed on my neck, but I think that's mostly due to the fact that my grain goes in some weird directions on my neck, and just getting a hang of the technique. It was definitely every bit as clean shaving as a disposable cartridge, though I do tend to buy the cheap single-blade ones and not those ones with 65 blades in them.
So yeah it seems like this will be fun! I am going to give it a few more tries before deciding if I want to reset the bevel or anything. I'd rather not waste any more steel than I need to. Maybe I'll buy a second one for experimenting. I'll probably look around at the brick and mortar for a brush and some shaving soaps sometime down the line, but I don't think I'll be looking into anything too extravagant. One of the biggest reasons I wanted to get into using a straight razor was so that I never had to buy disposables again. Now the only consumable I'll have to keep buying is a can of Barbasol, and the last one I got lasted a year so that's some good savings.
I'm gonna go investigate this 8k/10k "hone" a little more and see how bad I got ripped off there. Seriously I am almost 100% sure these are just bathroom tiles, they're even glazed like tiles would be haha There is absolutely no abrasiveness to them at all, it's more like steeling a knife edge than sharpening them. I took them to some 320 grit sandpaper to see if I could abrade the glazing off and reveal some grit, but they're still extremely smooth, The supposed-8k side feels about half as abrasive as the 8k waterstone I just bought. Pretty sure I got hosed.
Well anyway this is pretty rambly for an intro. Time to go grow some more hair so I can try this out again