Kia ora
I have now been shaving with a SR for a year. Just a quick look back on the year.
I had been thinking of giving SR shaving a go but was in two minds for a few months. The idea of throwing money at this and finding it was not for me just played on my mind but that itch had to be scratched. The trigger was when the little woman said “what are you scared !!” well F that, order placed for a straight the same day. A Dovo 5/8 half hollow and a 3’ English bridal strop from The Superior Shave.
I posted here at B&B re what was in the post. Needless to say a whipped dog strop was recommended to use till I was stropping without nicks. So I ordered a poormans strop.
Pre 1st shave: I did a few shadow shaves and shadow strops i.e. razor in hand and shave with no contact. Stropping in the air with no strop and just focus on good form of turn and stroke.
1st shave: I must have done something right as my first shave was going to be cheeks only but ended up with a full 3 pass shave. WTG-ATG-XTG. No blood and a DFS.
Stropping went well with no nicks to the poormans strop so after two weeks I converted it into a home made paddle strop I named Excalibur. It looked like a cricket bat to me so named it after NZ cricket legion Lance Carnes bat he called Excalibur. He hit many 6’s with it. But that’s another story.
Honing: I thought honing would be a grind and was not what I wanted to be spending my time doing but happy to say I wrong.
Honing is key to a good shave and I enjoy honing then shaving off my edges.
My first hone set was a Norton 250/1000 & 4000/8000 plus lapping plate. The lapping plate was slow so got a DMT plate for lapping.
A few weeks later I added a 12K Naniwa. Was getting good edges but HHT 4 at the best.
Used TI paste & CrOx to get the edge to my liking.
My 1st hone was about 2 weeks after starting. I had rolled the edge. So hit the hone with an acceptable result but room for improvement. Very happy to get the first hone under my belt and improve the edge at that.
Natural stones started calling me, reading the honing section will do that to you. Was not sure if I wanted a coti or something else, so started reading all the honing posts I could. JNAT’s seemed to have what I was after very keen yet a smooth edge.
I sent my Dovo to the good Doctor for a taste of JNAT to see before I buy but my AD’s kicked in and I got one before the Dovo had even got to Doc. So I came up with a plan B. That was to use Docs JNAT edge as something for me to aim my owne dges at.
Happy to report my first JNAT edge was good but not quite as good as the JNAT Jedi’s
To start I was going off the 12K naniwa to the JNAT with Tomo then finish on water.
I now have a full set of naguras, so all is done on the JNAT and I am enjoying the honing and shaving of these edges.
Plan B helped lift my game.
Pasted strop: I was using TI paste and CrOx on Excalibur with very good result. Weekly touch ups could keep an edge going.
Now I have my JNAT it has been retired. The edges just don’t need anything else and now maintain them with the stone only. YMMV.
Razors: I only have 2 new razors my 5/8 Dovo and a 7/8 Hart. I have few pre loved razors that make up the bulk of my rotation.
New is not always better, I find my 7/8 Joseph Elliot is my current favorite, think she about 160 years old?. Wanted to try different sizes / grinds to find what works for me, so got a few different sizes razors.
I enjoy the heaver grind and larger blades but that can change so I will keep few types of grinds in my rotation.
Journal: I kept a journal here at B&B and found this very helpful. It made me think about the shave to log and got plenty of good advice from others. link to my journal http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/265331-Shave-journal-Chris
The learning curve: I moved up the curve very quickly. It felt like I had done this before, very natural. We all move at different speed. Just relax and enjoy the learning curve. After a few months I stalled, so tried throwing in some guillotine and scything strokes. This got forward movement again.
summary The first year has resulted in a few mild AD’s which made my wallet bleed money. The AD’s will be placed under control next year. Well that’s the plan anyway. Wish me luck.
The only thing I would change is my starting honing set up, it would have been good to start with a coti.
I am glad I now shave with a straight. Only wish I found the straight and narrow years ago. My face has never felt better, with zero irritation and look forward to the morning shave.
I would like to say thank you to all at B&B who offered advice on the way. There is no way I would have picked up a straight let alone mastered it without your help.
I have now been shaving with a SR for a year. Just a quick look back on the year.
I had been thinking of giving SR shaving a go but was in two minds for a few months. The idea of throwing money at this and finding it was not for me just played on my mind but that itch had to be scratched. The trigger was when the little woman said “what are you scared !!” well F that, order placed for a straight the same day. A Dovo 5/8 half hollow and a 3’ English bridal strop from The Superior Shave.
I posted here at B&B re what was in the post. Needless to say a whipped dog strop was recommended to use till I was stropping without nicks. So I ordered a poormans strop.
Pre 1st shave: I did a few shadow shaves and shadow strops i.e. razor in hand and shave with no contact. Stropping in the air with no strop and just focus on good form of turn and stroke.
1st shave: I must have done something right as my first shave was going to be cheeks only but ended up with a full 3 pass shave. WTG-ATG-XTG. No blood and a DFS.
Stropping went well with no nicks to the poormans strop so after two weeks I converted it into a home made paddle strop I named Excalibur. It looked like a cricket bat to me so named it after NZ cricket legion Lance Carnes bat he called Excalibur. He hit many 6’s with it. But that’s another story.
Honing: I thought honing would be a grind and was not what I wanted to be spending my time doing but happy to say I wrong.
Honing is key to a good shave and I enjoy honing then shaving off my edges.
My first hone set was a Norton 250/1000 & 4000/8000 plus lapping plate. The lapping plate was slow so got a DMT plate for lapping.
A few weeks later I added a 12K Naniwa. Was getting good edges but HHT 4 at the best.
Used TI paste & CrOx to get the edge to my liking.
My 1st hone was about 2 weeks after starting. I had rolled the edge. So hit the hone with an acceptable result but room for improvement. Very happy to get the first hone under my belt and improve the edge at that.
Natural stones started calling me, reading the honing section will do that to you. Was not sure if I wanted a coti or something else, so started reading all the honing posts I could. JNAT’s seemed to have what I was after very keen yet a smooth edge.
I sent my Dovo to the good Doctor for a taste of JNAT to see before I buy but my AD’s kicked in and I got one before the Dovo had even got to Doc. So I came up with a plan B. That was to use Docs JNAT edge as something for me to aim my owne dges at.
Happy to report my first JNAT edge was good but not quite as good as the JNAT Jedi’s
To start I was going off the 12K naniwa to the JNAT with Tomo then finish on water.
I now have a full set of naguras, so all is done on the JNAT and I am enjoying the honing and shaving of these edges.
Plan B helped lift my game.
Pasted strop: I was using TI paste and CrOx on Excalibur with very good result. Weekly touch ups could keep an edge going.
Now I have my JNAT it has been retired. The edges just don’t need anything else and now maintain them with the stone only. YMMV.
Razors: I only have 2 new razors my 5/8 Dovo and a 7/8 Hart. I have few pre loved razors that make up the bulk of my rotation.
New is not always better, I find my 7/8 Joseph Elliot is my current favorite, think she about 160 years old?. Wanted to try different sizes / grinds to find what works for me, so got a few different sizes razors.
I enjoy the heaver grind and larger blades but that can change so I will keep few types of grinds in my rotation.
Journal: I kept a journal here at B&B and found this very helpful. It made me think about the shave to log and got plenty of good advice from others. link to my journal http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/265331-Shave-journal-Chris
The learning curve: I moved up the curve very quickly. It felt like I had done this before, very natural. We all move at different speed. Just relax and enjoy the learning curve. After a few months I stalled, so tried throwing in some guillotine and scything strokes. This got forward movement again.
summary The first year has resulted in a few mild AD’s which made my wallet bleed money. The AD’s will be placed under control next year. Well that’s the plan anyway. Wish me luck.
The only thing I would change is my starting honing set up, it would have been good to start with a coti.
I am glad I now shave with a straight. Only wish I found the straight and narrow years ago. My face has never felt better, with zero irritation and look forward to the morning shave.
I would like to say thank you to all at B&B who offered advice on the way. There is no way I would have picked up a straight let alone mastered it without your help.
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Congrats are well in order as well. I am glad that you have had a great journey. I am five months in and still rotate DE and STR8 s. I started honing on films alone and now have a Apart barber hone and finish on films and balsa strop. I really want a new straight but have been restoring blades and have quite a collection of some of the respected named razors. I am thinking that I might sell a few of them and buy a new Dovo bismark or TI, but I really think that I want a Hart. That being said, I also want to get one nice stone to work with but have not researched enough to know what to get yet.
