My Re-entry into straights.

[kg4ghn]

I love shaving with a straight razor. I love everything that goes with it. All of the gear, the maintenance, stropping, honing.

But the shaves I got with a straight sucked. I chalked it up to bad technique, but it just didn't get any better. I have 2 straights, a vintage Geneva and a new Dovo and the shaves were the same off of both of them. I started wondering if maybe my honing was bad. I use a Chinese 12k to do my touchups, and I tried a barber's hone.

So I sent my Dovo to a guy on here to see if my edge was up to par, and to re-hone it for me on a coticule. He has more expensive stones including a JNat but I don't have a lot of money and didn't want to get my razor back and get great shaves and then not be able to afford a several hundred dollar hone to be able to duplicate the results at home. The guy I sent my straight to said everything looked good, my honing was fine, he just isn't a fan of the Chinese 12k. He honed it up on a coticule and sent it back to me.

I took it out of the box, stropped it, took a shower and shaved. Crappy shave. By this time I hadn't shaved with a straight in about 2 months b/c I fell in love with SEs and the really good, really easy shave they give me. So I didn't give up and decided to try again in a few days. Next time it was time to shave I slowed down, took it back to the basics and paid really close attention to my stropping and prep.

Excellent shave!!! BBS in all but just a few spots!

I repeated these results for 3 more shaves in a row. This is what I had been reading about. Great straight shaves. As close as my SE shaves.

Now, just for test purposes I did a fresh touchup on my other straight with my C12k. Paid real close attention to my stropping, and kept all other variables the same. I just got done and I got the same crappy shave I used to get before I quit straight shaving. I even did an extra ATG pass, which I paid for in razor burn, but still not as close as the coticule edge.

So for me, a Chinese 12k just doesn't give me the edge I need to get great results from a straight razor. And I've read about other people that have had the same results as me. Actually reading some of those responses is what made me want to try something else. I'm not trying to bash the Chinese 12k, and I'm not going to be a Chinese 12k hater, but for my personal use it doesn't compare to the results I got from a coticule. I have since ordered a coticule bout and it should be here any day now!

And the best part, I'm back to loving shaving with a straight again!

 

[Wid]

When you do the touch ups how many passes on the C12K do you make? Is is with just plain water?

 

[Munxcub]

When you do the touch ups how many passes on the C12K do you make? Is is with just plain water?

C12K are quite slow, are they not?

 

[Wid]

C12K are quite slow, are they not?

Yes they are.

 

[kg4ghn]

When you do the touch ups how many passes on the C12K do you make? Is is with just plain water?

I usually do 100+

I have played around with doing less and doing more but I didn't a big difference either way so I usually just stay around 100. I have used it to touchup my straights 10-15 times total.

I have a slurry stone, that I played around with a little but I usually just used water and a lot of strokes.

When I sent my Dovo off to be honed, the guy I sent it to said that the edge looked really good under magnification. That was another reason why I sent it off, to have somebody else check to make sure that it wasn't my honing causing bad shaves.

 

[LarryAndro]

Did you move from the 12K to the leather strop, or did you use chromium oxide or some abrasive and surface between the C12K and the strop?

 

[kg4ghn]

Did you move from the 12K to the leather strop, or did you use chromium oxide or some abrasive and surface between the C12K and the strop?

I just went from the C12K to the strop, I don't have any paste yet. (I actually have some on the way from you) I do strop extra after a touchup than my everyday strop.

 

[Wid]

I've shaved straight off the C12K and it wasn't to bad but with using pastes it takes it to a higher level of comfort imo.

 

[pelicano]

Next time it was time to shave I slowed down, took it back to the basics and paid really close attention to my stropping and prep.

Excellent shave!!! BBS in all but just a few spots!

It took me eight months, more or less, to find my shaving zen, and it was all about paying attention.

Congrats! Just keep at it until it becomes second nature.

I send my razors out for honing. I honed a bit in the past, but the results were not always the same (sometimes good, sometimes so-so), so I decided to let a pro do it.

 

[LarryAndro]

I agree with Wid. I have shaved after the barbers hone and leather strop with no problem. But, when I used chromium oxide between the hone and the leather strop, it was smoother, sharper and better. I would think the same principle would apply to the C12K and leather strop.

When you get your balsa, it is treated with 0.3 chromium oxide (green) and 0.1 micron iron oxide (red.) Try going from the C12K, to 15 passes on green and 15 passes on red, then leather stropping for say 40 passes. The number of passes are estimates.

 

[kg4ghn]

I agree with Wid. I have shaved after the barbers hone and leather strop with no problem. But, when I used chromium oxide between the hone and the leather strop, it was smoother, sharper and better. I would think the same principle would apply to the C12K and leather strop.

When you get your balsa, it is treated with 0.3 chromium oxide (green) and 0.1 micron iron oxide (red.) Try going from the C12K, to 15 passes on green and 15 passes on red, then leather stropping for say 40 passes. The number of passes are estimates.

I will try it out when I get it.

It just amazed me the difference in the closeness of the shave between the coticule and the C12k. I actually got my coti in the mail today!

 

[Luc]

Welcome back!

 

[kg4ghn]

Welcome back!

Thanks!

I only quit using straights, I kept using the rest of my stuff. My 1912 got used ~95% of the time just because it's so damned easy and fast to get a great shave.

But I kept passing my strop hanging in the hallway and it kept calling me...

I'm on a straight razor kick now, but I might find an injector or something else I haven't tried yet in an antique store later..... It's a never ending learning experience.


I have also started a shave log on my computer, which is something I should have done in February when I started all of this.

 

[Luc]

Please post your experiences!